I departed the viewing platform on the MN side of Salt Lake a little after 9:00 PM without having seen the gull-billed tern reported yesterday. As I posted earlier, I had attempted earlier from the west side with no observation either. In the late afternoon, I drove west and scouted the chain of larger water bodies along the edge of the coteau from Lake Alice south of Hwy 212 then drove north and looked for terns on Wigdale, School, Bullhead, Round and Crooked Lakes. I observed no terns of any type on any of those lakes. I returned to Salt Lake about 7:15 PM and remained there at the observation deck until I departed for home just after 9:00.
There were nice numbers of shorebirds - mostly white-rumped sandpipers, but also semi-palmated, pectoral, least, and dunlins. There were also good numbers of Wilson's and red-necked phalaropes on the lake. A small number of Franklin's gulls and black terns were present when I departed. Hopefully, the gull-billed tern will be sighted again either on Salt Lake, or on other water bodies to the west in SD where observers reported it heading. Good birding all!! KC Jensen Volga, SD Sent from my iPhone ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
