The recent June listserv reports and photos of Kentucky warbler and mourning warblers in Battle Creek Park are important for the MN Breeding Bird Atlas project. As you know the five years of data collection ends this year and data needs to be entered by September. Battle Creek Park in Ramsey Co is in priority block T28R22a. I volunteered for this block and I will be submitting my data and reliable reports others have provided me.
The MNBBA has Observed, Possible, Probable, and Confirmed categories of breeding behavior with different behaviors/activities sorted to each. It is most desirable to observe behaviors (N=11) that constitute the "confirmed" category and to "upgrade" previous observations. The singing male warblers could be recorded as either Possible or Probable breeding evidence --- "probable" if singing more than 5 days apart in suitable habitat at the same location. I made notes on the emails about these birds. Distribution maps in field guides indicate that Ramsey Co might be the northernmost breeding range of KEWA and the southernmost range for MOWA (for this longitude). Many of you looked for the KEWA and MOWAs and spent a lot of time in the park. I have a couple requests re. contributing to the data for this priority block. Could you send me an individual email if : 1) the KEWA or MOWA's sang at the same location --- five or more days apart 2) you observed KEWA or MOWA in any activity other than single male singing-e.g. territorial defense, female with the male, carrying nest material, copulation 3) you observed any other breeding behavior of ANY bird in or near Battle Creek Park in the last five years (that's right) There are a few common birds that undoubtedly nest in the park where I am without evidence of breeding or with 'low-grade' evidence--- including least flycatcher, common yellowthroat, goldfinch. To save you time, you could respond with the species and your observation and I could let you know if I 'have it' already. If not I would ask you for the month/year and some details to confirm the i.d. and the evidence code. I will be entering my data to MNBBA soon. A more complete record of breeding birds for this block 2009-2013 will only benefit the project. Again please send me your info directly [[email protected]]. I will acknowledge receipt. Lastly, the evidence on these two warblers and a lot of other birds might have been submitted already for this BBA block. If you have submitted data directly to MN BBA, no need to send to me too. I will see it in the system. If you are unfamiliar with the MNBBA go to: mnbba.org Thanks to Julian Sellers, John Zakelj, John Hockema, Andrew Nyhus for the emails and photos. Gordon Andersson St Paul Remember that birds can't breed without a wetland, a forest, or a grassland. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
