Hi All,
I literally spent the entire day today (Saturday, 10/29) birding and exploring new areas in southwestern Minnesota. Despite the rather dismal weather, I turned up 79 species on the day (20 species of waterfowl overall, including all 3 Scoters) and added 5 new birds to my growing Minnesota list. Some highlights by location below: South Heron Lake - Jackson Co. (aforementioned) 2 fem/imm. Surf Scoters 2 Western Grebes Talcot Lake - Cottonwood Co. 11 species of waterfowl (~1600 individuals), including 1 American Black Duck (at the dam on the northeast side) 1 Common Loon 9 American Avocets - scoped from the parking area listed as 423rd St., viewed at the far north end of the lake on the spit/sandbar 7 species of sparrows, including 21+ Fox Sparrows 3 Great-tailed Grackles in a large flyover flock of mixed icterids, which also included 40+ Rusty Blackbirds PRAIRIE FALCON (adult) - along county rd 2 north of Edgerton, Pipestone Co. - blasted just above ground level in front of my vehicle, moving SE. Was able to slam on the brakes and get a decent look at the bird as it continued on. Split Rock Creek State Park - Pipestone Co. (such a wicked cool park, this certainly won't be my last visit) 1 "abieticola" Red-tailed Hawk (with a full crop) 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Hermit Thrush 25 Rusty Blackbirds 5 Purple Finches Lake Benton - Stony Point Park - Lincoln Co. (east end) 18 species of waterfowl of over 5,000 individuals, including 1 White-winged and 2 Black Scoters (all fem/imm) and 2 Common Mergansers. 4 Common Loons 3 Horned Grebes Lake Hendricks - Lincoln Co. 760+ Northern Shovelers (waterfowl here was, intriguingly, almost entirely Shovelers) 3 Common Loons 400+ Franklin's Gulls I also putzed over to the SD side of Lake Hendricks and immediate area and discovered a large concentration of Franklin's (1200+) and Ring-billed Gulls (900+) following a combine/tiller tandem in a field, which was very cool to observe. A beautiful chocolate colored Western "calarus" Red-tailed Hawk was a nice surprise as well. Danny Akers Spirit Lake, IA [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
