Sometimes Big Days are planned months ahead of time. Sometimes Big Days are
kept on a tight schedule, allocating a certain amount of time per location and
species. Sometimes they run midnite to midnite. Sometimes sane people call
them off, when the forecast is for a ridiculous amount of rain. Sometimes.
I've always wanted to a Wabasha County Big Day, but in many years, there is
little shorebird habitat, so I have warned folks that when there is a good
shorebird year in Wabasha county, I will call an audible (it is not often that
I am confused with Peyton Manning), and a Big Day will happen fast.
While I love birding my home county (Winona), I have to admit Wabasha excites
me, perhaps not unlike a mistress, what with her giant Lake Pepin, and quality
prairie habitat at Weaver Dunes. I've birded it a lot, and figured we could
pretty much wing an itinerary. With the changeover of shorebirds at County
Roads 24 and 30, we thought it would be a good idea to hit this area more than
once.
Andy Nyhus and I started at 5:30 AM, a very civil time in the Big Day scheme of
things, and ended before 10PM on Monday May 12, 2014. We found no Casual or
Accidental species, but were able to relocate many rare regular species that
had been found on the 2 preceding days, and made a few serendipitous
discoveries on Big Day itself. For a complete list of species seen, go to
moumn.org, and query the sightings database for ANy (Andrew Nyhus).
Summary by family:
Ducks: 14 (lucky to have some late lingerers)Shorebirds: 19 (not including
White-faced Ibis)Raptors: 8Warblers: 23Sparrows: 15Swallows: All
6Woodpeckers: All 7
The Day:
CR 29 (US 61 to Winona County line):
This road is the first good area when coming from Winona. We had Ruffed
Grouse, Wild Turkey, a smattering of songbirds, and, an unplanned bonus was
hearing Sora and Virginia Rail, as birds singing from the marshy sloughs of the
Whitewater River below are audible. Common Nighthawk was also nice to pick up
at this early hour. A local landowner came up to see what we were up to, and
when Andy started explaining a Big Day, the landowner said, "Yeah, I've seen
the movie; have a good day fellas." I'm surprised (and somewhat grateful) how
many non-birders watched the Big Year.
MN 74 (US 61 to Winona County line):MN 74 runs along the north side of the
Whitewater River and it's fantastic marshes (the Dorer pools) and unlike CR 29,
it runs quite close to the wetlands. Black Tern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, and
Common Gallinule nest here most years (the wetter the better, generally), and
these species were found in short order. A winnowing Wilson's Snipe and a
singing Orchard Oriole were nice birds found en route. Total species so far:
77 (7AM)
Flooded fields along CRs 24 and 30:We were a little dismayed to find out how
much the nights rain had raised the water levels, and how many birds had left
one field, but most of these species were refound in nearby fields. 17 of our
19 species of shorebirds were found here, including Hudsonian Godwit, Willet,
Black-bellied and American Golden Plovers. The White-faced Ibis found the day
before was still there. Birds that don't probe the mud, like Bobolink and
Savannah Sparrow, of course were in the area, too, adding to the day's total.
Peterson Lake:A large backwater of the Mississippi, this spot had some key
species of lingering waterfowl, including Common Loon, Red-breasted Merganser,
Canvasback, Common Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck and Lesser Scaup. Being a weekday,
there was little boat traffic, which we believe contributed to our success. We
drove around some pines in the area, and lucked into a Red-breasted Nuthatch.
Krueger Recreation Area:An immense forest, we thought we would really clean up
on woods birds here. As it turned out, Warblers came gradually throughout the
whole day, and Krueger played a relatively small role. It was here we ran into
Pat Pagel, who mentioned her regular Tufted Titmice at her feeders. We were
unsure about soliciting tips during the Big Day, but as this was not a "hot
tip" (Titmice are year-round residents in Wabasha County), we reluctantly
accepted general directions to the general area where she lives, and later in
the day were able to find a singing bird away from anyone's feeders.
Greenfield Cemetery:Just west of Kellogg along CR 18, Andy had discovered this
spot yesterday, and had a singing Pine Warbler. It was still singing away in
some pines just outside the eastern edge of the cemetery fence. There are huge
White Pines here, and it is gated, set back from the road a bit. A gem. We
also added Cedar Waxwing and Cape May and Palm Warblers for the day.
Plainview, Carley State Park:Driving to and from these areas was an excuse to
pick up more agricultural birds (Western Meadowlark, Red-tailed Hawk, American
Kestrel, Ring-necked Pheasant) and represents some of our only time very far
away from Hwy 61. Plainview has been known as the spot for Eurasian
Collared-Doves for years, but we failed to find any. We did pick up
Ruby-throated Hummingbird at feeders here, and thankfully it reminded us about
Carley State Park which we ended up birding a bit. A pair of Swainson's hawks
were circling above the entrance, and we added our last "low hanging fruit" in
the migrant warbler department - Black-throated Green and Blackburnian.
Lake City:Peregrine Falcons and Purple Martins are 2 species that lured us to
this northern edge of the County, with Peregrines nesting at the grain
elevators and Martins along the lake. We spent some time at the point, and
eventually found all 4 species of regular terns as well as Herring Gull.
Weaver Dunes/Pritchard Lake:Andy had located a Red-shouldered Hawk nest on the
road to the West Newton boat ramp. As expected the road was flooded out, and
we had to throw on our knee boots to walk the road, but we found the nest. On
our way back at a differrent boat ramp, we were able to find Prothonotary
Warbler. At the dunes proper, Lark, Grasshopper and Henslow's Sparrow, as
well as Loggerhead Shrike were all easily findable, but the Bell's Vireo was a
no show. Conspicuously absent from our list was Belted Kingfisher (can be a
pesky bird on Big Days) and Double-crested Cormorant. In an act of
desparation, we headed to the boat ramp at Pritchard Lake (another marshy
Mississippi River backwater) near Weaver Dunes. It ended up being one of the
best decisions of the day. At first it seemed slow, but then we added 4 new
species in short order. First, Andy finally got it through Dedrick's thick
skull that not all the oompah-loompah sounds out there were Northern Shoveler,
but American Bittern! Then a Warbling Vireo (also conspicuously absent earlier
in the day) popped up in a bush. And while scanning waterfowl, Dedrick caught
sight of a large flock of black and white birds - 11 American Avocets settling
down in the middle of the lake! We've seen swimming avocets before, but it
always floors us. While in awe of this, a Belted Kingfisher flew right by the
boat ramp, cackling away. Andy and I were cackling away as well.
Wrap-up:Well, it was almost Woodcock O'clock, and we still hadn't seen a
Double-crested Cormorant all day, so we drove downriver to Minneiska, and on
our way back towards Weaver Dunes, we found a flock of pelicans with some
cormorants roosting on a snag. We made it back to Weaver Dunes area where we
heard a Great Horned Owl and American Woodcock. A nighttime visit to the Dorer
Pools proved worthwhile for Barred Owl (and lots of frogs!) but not for Least
Bittern. We tried for Whip-Poor-Will at Krueger Recreation Area but hear none.
And we were okay with that. We were tired and happy with the amazing day we'd
had.
Dedrick Benz and Andy NyhusWinona, MN
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