The Minn Birding Weekends trip to Nobles and Jackson counties this past
weekend, March 25-26, encountered some difficult weather conditions and did not
turn up anything too unusual, but there were a few highlights worth noting…
- Waterfowl: Good numbers and variety of all the expected ducks, although we
curiously found no N Pintail. There were still a few lingering groups of Gr
White-fronted and Snow geese, but most notable was the flock of 55 Ross’s Geese
at the Brewster sewage ponds along with only 15 or 20 Snow Geese; I can’t
recall ever seeing such a high percentage of Ross’s (~75%) in a flock of white
geese.
- 1 Horned Grebe, 3 Herring Gulls, and 1 Common Loon on L Okabena in
Worthington.
- A few early Franklin’s Gulls at 2 locations.
- A pair of vocal and copulating E Screech-Owls in Worthington at a nest/roost
cavity. (Unfortunately, because the cavity is fairly visible, a specific
location cannot be given here to avoid the possibility of disturbance.)
- ~40 Lapland Longspurs grounded into view in a field south of Worthington.
- Sparrows were almost non-existent: 1 early Fox Sparrow, only 1 Song, and a
few Am Tree Sparrows among modest numbers of juncos.
- Blackbirds: Good numbers at several locations, including several Rusties and
just 2 Brewer’s; however, no Great-tailed Grackles or early Yellow-headeds were
found.
Finally, hardly any migrant raptors were seen because of the weather, and no
shorebirds other than Killdeer could be found on the handful of mudflats we
checked.
Kim Eckert, Duluth
http://www.mbwbirds.com
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