This past year will go down as yet another outstanding birding year. As one
of my birding interests has become keeping track of warbler numbers, that is a
primary way I judge a year now. 2014 did not disappoint in that regard and
exceeded many of my expectations. The month of May resulted in 11 days with
20 or more warbler species: the first on May 8, the last on May 22, and the
highest on May 18 with 23 warbler species. Fall resulted in 24 days with 10 or
more warbler species: the first on August 18, the last on September 26, and the
highest on September 12 with 18 warbler species. Cumulative warbler counts
were mainly either high or consistent with past years. One slightly lower
cumulative count was Yellow-rumped Warbler during the fall. Whether it was a
coincidence or not, Yellow-rumped Warbler numbers were noticeably lower
compared to past years in Carver County after the reported Yellow-rumped
Warbler fallout in the Duluth area in late September. Regarding non-warbler,
the spring began with ideal habitat for waterfowl with preferred fields
flooded. Those ideal conditions led to high duck numbers. Goose and Tundra
Swan numbers were pretty good, but numbers have been better in the past.
Coming into any year I don't expect to see a particularly high number of
migrant thrush in Carver County especially compared to some areas south of
Minnesota that report thrush fallouts during migration. This spring was an
exception to my past springs. A few species I did not have much luck with
this past fall were Lincoln's, White-crowned, and Harris's Sparrow. I saw
very low numbers of all three species. Spring numbers of those species seemed
relatively normal though. Closing out the year, waterfowl numbers were a bit
better than I have come to expect in the fall here in Carver County. My
birding habits have changed, and when I'm going to be hiking somewhere I try to
spend a minimal amount of time driving. This led me to do the least amount of
rural birding during spring and fall seasons of the past several years.
Anecdotally, based only on my summer shorebirding, I thought summer rural
breeding bird(Savannah, Vesper Sparrow types) numbers seemed poor. Grasshopper
Sparrow numbers were poor this summer. I blame that entirely on the spring
burn at Rapids Lake MVNWR. I don't believe the grassland recovered soon
enough for some of the grassland species. I could be wrong about that though.
As for winter birds unless we have warmer weather and little snow, I don't
spend much time birding. I did see a late Hermit Thrush and Golden-crowned
Kinglet in mid-December as well as a decent flock of Common Redpoll along with
a couple of Bluebird on Christmas. Below are some of the counts from 2014.
Bring on spring...
Fall total shorebird counts(Carver and Sibley County)
Least Sandpiper 1560
Pectoral Sandpiper 579
Lesser Yellowlegs 446
Semipalmated Sandpiper 167
Solitary Sandpiper 115
Short-billed Dowitcher 57
Spotted Sandpiper 42
Stilt Sandpiper 34
Wilson's Phalarope 27
Greater Yellowlegs 23
Baird's Sandpiper 17
Wilson's Snipe 4
Semipalmated Plover 2
Willet 2
Red-necked Phalarope 2
Sanderling 1
Blue-headed Vireo new high spring total count of 43
Gray-cheeked Thrush new high spring total count of 31
Swainson's Thrush new high spring total count of 66
Warbler total counts (spring // fall)
Blue-winged Warbler 48 // 8 -- single day high count of 6 multiple days
Golden-winged Warbler 32(new high spring total) // 11 -- single day high count
of 5 on May 22
Brewster's Warbler 1(surely the same bird 4 days) // 0
Tennesee Warbler 423(new high spring total) // 331 (new high fall total) --
single day high count of 70 on May 22
Orange-crowned Warbler 21 // 60 -- single day high count of 9 on September 26
Nashville Warbler 202(new high spring total) // 250(new high fall total) --
single day high count of 24 on May 11
Northern Parula 42(new high spring total) // 9(new high fall total) -- single
day high count of 8 on May 11
Yellow Warbler 492 // 46 -- single day high count of 40 multiple days
Chestnut-sided Warbler 51 // 109(new high fall total) -- single day high count
of 11 multiple days
Magnolia Warbler 71(new high spring total) // 62(new high fall total) -- single
day high count of 8 multiple days
Cape May Warbler 21(new high spring total) // 1 -- single day high count of 5
on May 12
Black-throated Green Warbler 35(new high spring total) // 16(new high fall
total) -- single day high count of 5 multiple days
Yellow-rumped Warbler 911(new high spring total) // 254 -- single day high
count of 140 on May 17
Blackburnian Warbler 33 // 32(new high fall total) -- single day high count of
8 on May 22
Pine Warbler 3 // 2
Palm Warbler 138 // 12 -- single day high count of 28 on May 14
Bay-breasted Warbler 6 // 16(new high fall total) -- single day high count of 3
multiple days
Blackpoll Warbler 132 // 5 -- single day high count of 24 on May 23
Cerulean Warbler 2 // 0 single day high count of 1 multiple days
Black-and-White Warbler 97(new high spring total) // 96(new high fall total)
single day high count of 10 multiple days
American Redstart 313 // 355 -- single day high count of 30 multiple days
Prothonotary Warbler 4 // 9 -- single day high count of 3 on August 22
Ovenbird 81(new high spring total) // 64(new high fall total) -- single day
high count of 12 on May 14
Northern Waterthrush 92(new high spring total) // 65(new high fall total) --
single day high count of 17 on May 17
Connecticut Warbler 6(new high spring total) // 0 -- single day high count of 2
on May 22
Mourning Warbler 15(new high spring total) // 14 -- single day high count of 8
on May 23
Common Yellowthroat 184 // 238 -- single day high count of 20 on May 23
Wilson's Warbler 88(new high spring total) // 75(new high fall total) -- single
day high count of 10 on May 22
Canada Warbler 23 // 41(new high fall total) -- single day high count of 9 on
May 23
Black-throated Blue Warbler 0 // 2
John Cyrus
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