It appears that April 6 may be the main thrust of Tundra Swans over the area.
I counted a total of 682 Tundra Swans in multiple flocks mainly heading due
west over different areas of the Rapids Lake refuge this morning.
Rapids Lake MVNWR select morning count
Canada Goose 150+(may have let a few small flocks slip by without paying
attention)
Trumpeter Swan 8
Tundra Swan 682 (Flocks of 86, 75, 64, 52, 50, 45, 42, 41, 39, 35, 33, 32, 23,
17, 16, 12, 10, 8, and 2)
Wood Duck ~15
Mallard ~30
Blue-winged Teal 2
Green-winged Teal 24
Ring-necked Duck 17
Lesser Scaup 36
Bufflehead 8
Common Goldeneye ~25
Hooded Merganser ~25
Common Merganser 4
Great Blue Heron 1
Killdeer 5
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Ring-billed Gull ~25 (more arriving as the morning progressed)
Belted Kingfisher 4
Eastern Phoebe 6
Brown Creeper 2
Winter Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 3
Hermit Thrush 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
American Tree Sparrow 2
Fox Sparrow ~20
Song Sparrow ~25
Dark-eyed Junco ~75
Red-winged Blackbird ~100
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Rusty Blackbird 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 6
Along 150th St. south of Cologne there were 175+ Tundra Swans(small
number obscured) along with many many ducks. Yesterday I estimated
1300 ducks at this location. Today there appeared to be more. The
dominant species were Mallard, Ring-necked Duck, and Lesser Scaup. Also
present were Gadwall, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail,
Canvasback, Greater Scaup, Bufflehead, and Hooded Merganser. I would think
that there would be some Redhead mixed in as well, but it appears that Redhead
is the common species that is giving me a harder time to find this spring.
Highlights earlier this week
Thursday April 4 Rapids Lake MVNWR
Greater White-fronted Goose ~40
Tundra Swan 239
Franklin's Gull 1
Rusty Blackbird 2
150th St.
Greater White-fronted Goose 22
Friday April 5 Rapids Lake MNVWR
Tundra Swan 57
Green-winged Teal 45 (a high total of this species for me)
Turkey Vulture 1
Tree Swallow 4
Chipping Sparrow 1
Rusty Blackbird 45 (probably more than count)
New Germany area
Lesser Yellowlegs 2
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