I had a great outing late this morning at Afton State Park (Washington County). The best bird was a YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO cooing from the first ravine north of Trout Brook. I was also able to relocate the PROTHONOTARY WARBLER reported by Dale Trexel yesterday, which was singing out toward the river from the river trail, just south of the bridge that crosses Trout Brook. I also detected at least three HOODED WARBLERS, including a cooperative female who gave me excellent visuals. There were males singing from three different locations, though it is possible that one of them moved from where I heard it the first time. Another interesting find was a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH calling from behind the visitor center. They have been known to nest there in the past, but I hadn't detected any there yet this year, and I have never found them at that particular spot. Another highlight was two singing male SCARLET TANAGERS, one of which gave me pretty good looks. They are on territory there every year, both in the portion of the park near and just north of the visitor center (where I found them today), and on the Trout Brook Loop. Full eBird list is below.
Pete Nichols Cottage Grove Washington County Afton SP, Washington, Minnesota, US May 31, 2015 10:18 AM - 12:38 PM Protocol: Traveling 4.0 mile(s) Comments: <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.8 Drove main park road to visitor center (2 miles) and hiked approximately 2 miles. 45 species Canada Goose 3 Mallard 2 Wild Turkey 1 Turkey Vulture 1 Mourning Dove 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Heard cooing in the first ravine north of Trout Brook. Red-bellied Woodpecker 4 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 1 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 3 Great Crested Flycatcher 8 Eastern Kingbird 1 Red-eyed Vireo 9 Blue Jay 5 American Crow 7 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 3 Tree Swallow 4 Cliff Swallow 4 Black-capped Chickadee 8 Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 White-breasted Nuthatch 3 House Wren 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2 Eastern Bluebird 2 American Robin 5 Gray Catbird 2 Cedar Waxwing 15 Ovenbird 4 Blue-winged Warbler 3 Prothonotary Warbler 1 Hooded Warbler 3 Eastern Towhee 12 Chipping Sparrow 2 Clay-colored Sparrow 1 Field Sparrow 3 Song Sparrow 1 Scarlet Tanager 2 Northern Cardinal 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1 Indigo Bunting 5 Red-winged Blackbird 8 Eastern Meadowlark 3 Brown-headed Cowbird 7 American Goldfinch 15 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
