[mou] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Friday, September 5, 2003

[Jeanie Joppru]

This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Friday, September 5,
2003 sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. You
may also hear this report by calling (218) 847-5743 or 1-800-433-1888.

As of September 1st, it really feels like fall in the northwest.
Mornings are cool, bordering on cold, and brisk winds are starting to
bring down the leaves. A little color is barely starting to show up on
the trees which are alive with invisible chips and chirps. Migration is
happening, though not as actively as some birders would wish.

Topping the list of interesting sightings this week is the juvenile
SABINE'S GULL found by Peder Svingen at the Red Lake Falls wastewater
treatment ponds on August 30th. A subsequent visit on the 31st revealed
that the bird had departed along with several species with which it had
been hanging out. This is a first county record and one of only a few in
the northwestern part of the state.

The Minnesota Birding Weekend led by Kim Eckert found 162 species on the
weekend in northwestern Minnesota. This included an AMERICAN AVOCET at
the Thief River Falls wastewater treatment ponds, two EURASIAN
COLLARED-DOVES at the corner of State St. and 4th Ave. in Thief River
Falls, a basic-plumaged RED KNOT at Agassiz NWR along the county road,
and a PRAIRIE FALCON in Kittson County.

Also in Kittson County the Kim Eckert group reported a GREEN HERON,
numerous species of ducks including COMMON GOLDENEYE, a SWAINSON'S HAWK,
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE, WESTERN KINGBIRD, COMMON RAVEN, CHESTNUT-SIDED
WARBLER,  ORCHARD ORIOLE and many other species.

Among the Roseau County birds reported were SHARP-SHINNED HAWK,
BROAD-WINGED HAWK, MERLIN, CASPIAN TERN, COMMON TERN, PHILADELPHIA
VIREO, SCARLET TANAGER, and 14 species of warblers.

At Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in Marshall County, the story was of
15-20 species of shorebirds showing up on various days. The weekly
survey revealed the presence of both BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, and AMERICAN
GOLDEN PLOVERS in small numbers, increasing numbers of STILT SANDPIPERS,
both LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, and both WILSON'S
PHALAROPE, and RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. Shorebird habitat is now best along
County Road 7, as the interior pools are getting too dry. The TRUMPETER
SWAN family was again seen at Agassiz this week. An AMERICAN BLACK DUCK
was found at Tamarack Pool, and both BROAD-WINGED HAWK and COOPER'S HAWK
, and 19 species of warblers were reported from Agassiz also. Larry
Johnson in rural Marshall County reported a flock of 10 COMMON
NIGHTHAWKS circling over a field near his home on September 4th.

Bob and Pat DeWenter, in Bemidji, Beltrami County, have a RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKER frequenting their feeder, and an occasional EVENING GROSBEAK
. This is a bird that we have seen very little of in the past few years.
Pat Rice reported a WOOD DUCK, and SORA at the edge of her lakeshore
yard.

In Cass County,  Pat reported several species of warblers, and vireos
including a YELLOW-THROATED VIREO. The Walker wastewater treatment ponds
yielded sightings of COMMON GOLDENEYE, and COMMON MERGANSER among other
species.

14 species of shorebirds were observed at the Thief River Falls
wastewater treatment ponds on Saturday, August 30th. Many hundreds of
ducks were there also. A MARSH WREN was heard singing near the lagoons,
and a GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was spotted just down the road. Many BOBOLINKS
were moving through Pennington County in large flocks on the weekend .
The warbler migration has been hard to see in this county so far, but I
spotted several warblers in the yard on Thursday morning, so maybe we
will have a wave after all.

Shelley Steva saw two BALD EAGLES in Red Lake County on Wednesday. A
GREEN HERON was seen in the county on the 30th, and on the same day,
several species of shorebirds including RED-NECKED PHALAROPES were seen
at the Red Lake Falls wastewater treatment ponds. Also there were a
number of BLACK TERNS. Both of these species and the Sabine's Gull
reported earlier were gone by the 31st.

In Polk County , Shelley Steva saw a COMMON LOON along Highway 59 south
of Erskine on Friday.=20

Mary Wyatt reported that shorebirds were down to a very few at Hamden
Slough, Becker County, this week but the COMMON MOORHENS have been seen
twice this week. Migrating warblers are still going through the county,
and in addition Mary has seen RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, INDIGO BUNTING, and
SCARLET TANAGERS.

Joe Gartner reported from Clay County that the banding crew from the
Buffalo River Bird Monitoring Station captured a RUBY-THROATED
HUMMINGBIRD, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, a GRAY CATBIRD , and a number of species
of flycatchers and warblers on August 28th.

Thanks to Pat Rice, Pat and Bob DeWenter, Shelley Steva, Joe Gartner,
Peder Svingen, Mary Wyatt, Larry Johnson, Mary Broten, and Kim Eckert
for their reports.

Please report bird sightings to Jeanie Joppru by email, no later than
Thursday each week, at ajjoppru@wiktel.com OR call the Detroit Lakes
Chamber's toll free number: 1-800-542-3992. Detroit Lakes area birders
please call 847-9202. Please include the county where the sighting took
place. When reporting by email please put "NW Bird Report" in the
subject line of your message. The next scheduled update of this report
is Friday, September 12, 2003.