Curiosity got to me about a possible expansion in both the range and population of the Blue Grosbeak, so today I did some investigative work around ideal habitat between Danube and Renville in northern Renville County. This tract of land is several miles long and is between US Hwy 212 and 840th Ave one mile to the north and consists of large east-west gravel deposits that have been mined and abandoned. The habitat is perfect for Blue Grosbeaks as proved by me finding one on nearly every north/south road that intersected the gravel deposits. There were a total of 5 Blue Grosbeak males this morning. Querying eBird (once these sightings have been approved) will show you a map of how these birds are all roughly at the same lattitude at one-mile intervals. Undoubtedly the gravel terrain between each north-south road contains more Blue Grosbeaks.
BLGR 1: 300th St, NE corner of gravel pit on west side, same bird I found on 7- 30-14 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19296589 BLGR 2: 300th St, dirt piles by RR tracks, 200 yards east of the road. This bird was found by Ron Erpelding and Herb Dingmann and was a heard-only bird. Ron and Herb had just come from viewing the one further north on 300th St., and we ran into each other as they were listening to this bird http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19296632 BLGR 3: Danube Brush site, just north of Danube on Co. Rd. 1 (290th St). This bird was singing from the power lines along Co. Rd. 1 and also sang from trees around the dumping area of the brush site itself. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19296523 BLGR 4: 280th St where the road intersects the gravel deposits, bird was singing from the west side of the road. It is possible I heard another male singing from the east side of the road. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist? subID=S19296708 BLGR 5 (sub-adult male): 270th St. where the road intersects the gravel deposits, singing from atop a dead tree on the west side of the road. http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19296757 I also received word from Ron Erpelding that he and Herb found another Blue Grosbeak male at the Gneiss Outcrops SNA near Granite Falls in Chippewa County. He may have more information on where that bird was located. Josh Wallestad http://www.aboywhocriedheron.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
