(Posted by Jason Frank <[email protected]> via moumn.org) Short-Eared Owls are out hunting this evening in the Mound Spring SNA/WMA area in western Yellow Medicine County.
They really like to spend the winters in the western Yellow Medicine/Lac qui Parle area. Since 2009, I've found a few breeding pairs out here in late spring, but for the most part they tend to be absent during the warmer months. Beginning in November, it's not uncommon to find half a dozen or so swooping over the WMAs at twilight. Bolson Slough, Sweetwater, Gollnick, Big Stone, Salt Lake, Antelope Hills, Plover Prairie, Sioux Nation, and the fenlands between Gary and Clear Lake SD are all consistently reliable sites, for anyone who may be interested. Over the past 2 days, I've seen small flocks of Surf and White-Winged Scoters mingled with big rafts of more typical ducks (Mallards, Gadwalls, Scaup) on Bolson Slough WPA along CR 12 in Lac qui Parle County, and also on Lake Francis a few miles west of Gary, SD. Bolson is one of the relatively deeper sloughs in the area. This is the first time I've seen Scoters of any type out here, spring or fall. The weather's been wild this week with conditions changing by the hour. Thanks to everyone who's reported them elsewhere; I don't think I'd have been looking so hard without the intel! Jason Frank Lac qui Parle ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
