Minnesota Statewide RBA

Previous reports: June 11 18 25 , July 2 9 16 23 30 , August 6 .
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
-RBA
*Minnesota
*Minnesota Statewide
*August 6, 1997
*MNST9808.06

-Birds mentioned
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: August 6, 1997
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (612) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Minnesota statewide birding report for Thursday August 6th sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

On July 31st a WESTERN TANAGER was reported by Bill Conroy along an inaccessable section of the Elbow River in St. Louis County.The location given was about two miles west of Elbow Lake, or midway between Elbow Lake and U.S. highway 53 east of the town of Gheen.

Shorebirds continue to move through the state in good numbers. At Minnesota Lake in northeastern Faribault County, thousands of SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, STILT SANDPIPER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS can be found along the shoreline and on the island in the lake's northwestern corner.

Several callers have reported WILD TURKEYS along the Minnesota River Valley and into the Minneapolis St. Paul areas. I suspect most of these birds are wild decendents of birds released several years ago by the DNR.

A NORTHERN HARRIER was seen at Afton State Park by Bob Amos on August 1st. The first of two sightings was at the prarie area in the northwestern corner of the park. The second sighting on the same day was in the prairie in the southern part of the park near where the group camp road branches off from the main road.

I have two unusual reports, both are second-hand and unsubstantiated. The first is of a BLACK RAIL reported from Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield, Hennepin County. The bird was reportedly seen at the western end of the boardwalk and also the western observation deck to the northwest of the boardwalk. Some of the details suggest the observer may have been looking at another species.

The second report is of an AMERICAN DIPPER seen July 24th along the Brule River in Cook County. This bird was apparently seen only briefly, about 3/4 of a mile upstream from the parking lot at Judge C. R. Magney State Park. Both the plumage description and the stated size of the bird might better fit other species, such as a female Hooded Merganser.

For information on joining our state wide bird organization write the MOU at 10 Church Street SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, 55455 or e-mail us at MOUMembers@aol.com. The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday August 13th.

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MnRBA@linux.winona.msus.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info end) to mnrba-request@linux.winona.msus.edu.




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