I had to get out birding on my birthday so I headed to Lake Byllesby this morning while my wife watched the kids. There were a lot of birds but they were widely scattered and patchy and it took a little patience and a scope to pick out the different species.
Highlights: Hudsonian Godwit- I had to scan the mudflats with my scope for a long time before I saw it. The bird was at the far east end of the mudflats where it becomes deeper water and with a scope I was able to just get good enough views for identification. Black-bellied Plover- Same area as the Hudsonian Godwit but closer to the north shoreline. White-rumped Sandpiper- Two birds seen just down from the cemetery were associating with Wilson's Snipe and Killdeer but they were flushed by a Sharp-tailed Hawk and went to a different location. I was tipped off to this species by fellow birders. Snow Buntings- flyovers (I was surprised by this find!) American Pipit- flyovers Dunlin- 4 Pectoral Sandpiper- 6 Rusty Blackbird- a flock drinking on the side of the lake I saw no American Golden Plover, Bonaparte's Gull, Sanderlings or yellowlegs that were reported yesterday but I saw at least 60 Killdeer and about 8 Wilson's Snipe. There were also Fox Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, and American Tree Sparrows in the area. There was one unidentified large flock of shorebirds flying around the lake and many flocks of passerines flying around north of the lake which may have contained Lapland Longspurs but I could not get good enough views. Overall a great day to be out! Good Birding, Jason Caddy Minneapolis ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
