It appears the strong west winds have guided the Brewer's Blackbird flocks to
Carver County slightly early this fall. There was a blackbird flock of mainly
Brewer's(some Red-winged) with 1250-1500 birds this morning southwest of Mayer.
A 2nd flock of only Brewer's Blackbird with around 250 birds was along Salem
Ave feeding in the road and in the farm field that was being plowed at the
time. Also in that field were a couple hundred Franklin's Gull with around a
hundred Ring-billed. There were almost no shorebirds in the New Germany area(1
Killdeer) but there were some Tree Swallow, 2 Western Meadowlark, and a Vesper
Sparrow in that area. It is still a bit early for migrant waterfowl(besides
Mallard) across Carver County with Ruddy Duck being the most numerous along
with a few Wigeon and Hooded Merganser and my first of fall Lesser Scaup. A few
lingering Blue-winged Teall were still around also. My first of fall
Bonaparte's Gull was back as well. I did not check the Lake Waconia area but
with the number of gulls around in other areas of the county, I would think
that there would be a good number on that lake now. At Carver Park this
morning there were Golden-crowned(3), Ruby-crowned Kinglet(3), Hermit
Thrush(1), Yellow-rumped Warbler(10), Fox, Song, Lincoln's(1), Swamp,
White-throated, Harris's(4), White-crowned(3) Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, and a
couple small migrant flocks of Red-winged Blackbird. At Rapids Lake MVNWR this
afternoon there were Brown Creeper(1), Winter Wren(1), Golden-crowned(2),
Ruby-crowned Kinglet(11), Hermit Thrush(1), Tennessee(1), Orange-crowned(5),
Palm(2), Yellow-rumped(23) Warbler, Chipping(1), Clay-colored(1 adult),
Field(1), Savannah(3), Fox, Song, Lincoln's(1), Swamp, White-throated,
Harris's(10-12), White-crowned(3) Sparrow, and Dark-eyed Junco. Overall the
number of Fox Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and junco today had dropped
compared to the past week or two
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