This morning around 10:45 I found a Common Gallinule along the Morris District Wetland auto loop (off of CR10 a few miles east of Morris). Just after you pass signpost 6 along the auto loop, stop and scan the wetland to your right. The Gallinule was about midway along the length of the wetland, and on the far side. This bird has already lost its red shield (Sibley says Feb-Sep), so you will need to look for a non-white bill and the white stripe along its flank to distinguish it from the many Coots also present. There was a young bird in close proximity which I suspect was also a Gallinule, but with the distance I was unable to confirm.
Five Buff-breasted Sandpipers were present on Shakopee Lake off of CR4 in northern Chippewa County. Enter the county park off of CR4, and there is a large mudflat barely visible to your right through the trees as you reach the park. I was able to see them from the park through a small hole through the trees but donned some boots to go down to the lakeside for a good view. Many other shorebirds were also present. The northern end of the Shakopee Lake bumps up into Swift County, and a stop along the county line road there produced 4 more Buff-breasted Sandpipers. Also of note: I found several Red-breasted Nuthatches in all three counties, so there appears to be an irruption going on for them also. Herb Dingmann St. Cloud ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
