Setting out early this morning, the major lakes and sloughs are still mostly covered in ice. Edges tend to be open, but due to the recent snows, there are no mudflats for shorebirds. As was anticipated, the best sites will be flooded fields. And there are plenty.
Snow is pretty much gone. Montevideo was expected to flood, but as of this afternoon, it has not, and the water is receding. Many low-lying township (dirt) roads in the territory are closed and flooded, particularly those north of 212 along tributaries of the LqP River. This includes Lac qui Parle County Park, and the Lower Campground of Lac qui Parle State Park. Salt Lake itself is still about 80% ice-covered, with few birds there this afternoon. We can't access it from the north. I would expect the ice to start breaking apart on Saturday. There was a lot less snow in the northern territory, so roads aren't so bad any more. 4 wheel drive should not be needed for the most part. In the southern part of our range, Sioux Nation WMA is still iced, and the roads leading to it from the north are flooded over. I met Ron Erpeldging at Plover Prairie this morning to search for Sharp-Tailed Grouse, but we found none. There were plenty of Snipe, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Song Sparrows, and... best of all... several pairs of MARBLED GODWITS flying and calling between Plover Prairie extending eastward in the wet, short pastures towards Louisburg. We noted a conspicuous lack of Green-Winged Teals, though otherwise, the Usual Duckspects are here in abundance. It will be a crap-shoot to guess which flooded fields they'll be frequenting by Saturday. Haydenville WMA was full of waterfowl this morning, but the mud islands are gone. It will be best viewed in the evening, as viewing it in the morning means looking straight into a low-angled sun. Tree Swallows and Yellow Headed Blackbirds are back. Chorus and Leopard Frogs are calling. There was 1 Rough-Legged Hawk soaring over Plover Prairie, one of two I saw today. Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks are here. I spotted 5 Merlins in central Lac qui Parle County. Great Egrets, American Bitterns, Bonaparte's Gulls, and Trumpeter Swans are also in the area. Lots of Flickers. Bald Eagles are on nests around the territory. I did not relocate the White Faced Ibises previously reported by Daniel Orr and Ken Larson, at 470th south of Hwy 7, at the edge of Lac qui Parle WMA west of Correll. I spoke to Garrett Wee this afternoon, and he said that Miedd Lake and Cottonwood Lake have high water with no shoreline; there are no shorebirds of note in the southern part of our range, but he did find a Long-Eared Owl at Miedd Lake earlier this week. The dam at the south end of Lac qui Parle Refuge/State Park was conspicuously devoid of waterfowl at Noon today, though there were quite a few Pelicans. Christine Kleven at the Lac qui Parle SP Visitor Center told me this afternoon that a female EVENING GROSBEAK is still showing up sporadically at the feeders there; she has a habit of appearing around 9:30 AM and again around 11:30 AM. I was pleasantly surprised to learn this, and glad I stopped in! This is one wayward Grosbeak! Christine has a picture of it, from this week. Common Redpolls and Juncos are still around in western Yellow Medicine County, near the Gary SD border. The latest I've ever seen! Eastern Bluebirds are here. Woodcocks are PEENTING tonight in western Yellow Medicine County. -- Jason M. Frank Founder and Vice President, Luddite Ornithologists League (LOL) [email protected] >From the Lovely Land of Lac qui Parle https://turnstonecreations.smugmug.com/ Sent from my invisible blue Homing Pigeon ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
