This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday, October 20, 2016 sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. You may also hear this report by calling (218)847-5743 or 1-800-433-1888.
We are slowly descending into cold weather in the northwest, but many places have yet to get a truly cold night. Here is Thief River Falls, we have had a killing frost, but at this house near the river, it has not dropped below 30 degrees yet. The backyard is full of dark-eyed juncos today. We had a big influx of American robins one day this week, but they have cleaned up the apples and left. Charlene Nelson in Grant County reported a WHITE-FACED IBIS at the North Ottawa impoundment on October 17. Wayne Perala was there also and saw BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, GREAT EGRET, RUSTY BLACKBIRD and many species of sparrows. >From Otter Tail County, Alice Martin reported AMERICAN ROBIN, CEDAR WAXWING, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW , and DARK-EYED JUNCO on October 14. At the Agassiz Valley Impoundment on October 17, on the Polk County side, Sandy Aubol found AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, BROWN CREEPER, LAPLAND LONGDPURS, AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, DARK-EYED JUNCO, and RUSTY BLACKBIRD. West of the impoundment feeding on a not yet harvested sunflower field were several hundred SANDHILL CRANES. In the Marshall County side of the Agassiz Valley Impoundment, Sandy Aubol found a HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK on October 17. In the impoundment were about 40 plovers, most of them AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS, but including 2 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS. I was there on October 19, and did not find the HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK. The plovers were still there however, and there were hundreds of blackbirds feeding on a not yet harvested sunflower field, including RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, and COMMON GRACKLES, with a few EUROPEAN STARLINGS thrown in. There was good shorebird habitat and a mix of several species of shorebirds. Viewing is best in the afternoon. Here in Pennington County, on October 19, I found BROWN CREEPER, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and DARK-EYED JUNCO, and along MN 1 west of Thief River Falls, I saw two BALD EAGLES, and two BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES working on something in a field. A RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER was observed in Bemidji, Beltrami County, by Robin Reeve on October 19. Larry Wilebski in Kittson County reported on October 14 that he saw WILSON'S SNIPE, GREAT BLUE HERON, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, and NORTHERN SHRIKE north of Lancaster, a few miles south of the Canadian border. Please report bird sightings to Jeanie Joppru by email, no later than Thursday each week, at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> OR call the Detroit Lakes Chamber's toll free number: 1-800-542-3992. Detroit Lakes area birders please call 847-9202. Please include the county where the sighting took place. The next scheduled update of this report is Thursday, October 27, 2016. Jeanie Joppru Pennington County, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
