A four-day Minn Birding Weekend (MBW), October 11-12-13-14, was just completed today after covering parts of Mower, Freeborn, Faribault, and Martin counties along the Iowa border. To say the least, the weather on the first 3 days was quite unpleasant with 20-30 mph winds, “high” temperatures from the mid-30s to low 40s, and steady snow showers for most of Oct 12 in Freeborn Co. But the group still managed to come up with a composite total of 115 species, which included several highlights:
- 2 adult Ross’s Geese: Oct 11, Lyle sewage ponds (Martin Co); and at least 2 Cackling Geese also present - At least 170 Greater White-fronted Geese: Oct 13, flooded area along 110th St W of Walnut Lake WMA (Faribault Co) - 4 Sandhill Cranes: Oct 12, NE end of Geneva Lake (Freeborn Co) - 13 American Avocets: Oct 13, E side of Minnesota Lake (Faribault Co) - Including the avocets, there were 8 shorebird species: among these were 8 Long-billed Dowitchers, Pectoral and Least sandpipers at the Gr White-fronted Goose location - A count of 830 Franklin’s Gulls in one flock: Oct 12, Albert Lea Lake (Freeborn Co) - Red-breasted Nuthatch: Oct 14, Cedar Park in Fairmont (Martin Co) - Total of 8 warbler species, incl Tennessee, Nashville, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, and Black-throated Green Kim Eckert, Duluth MBWbirds.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
