[mou] Mille Lacs, Sherburne, Eastern Bention Counties Report

[Pastor Al]

Over the last few days (niches of time while not in office), birded a radius
of my southern Mille Lacs County residence - Sherburne NWR (Auto Trail, Blue
Hill Trail, 175th Avenue), Pioneer Park, Highway 2 Ponds, Foley & Gilman
Sewage Ponds and roads in between.  Following is a list of 88 species seen &
heard, with occasional comment:

Common Loon (Auto Trail, mother & adolescent)
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican (diminished numbers)
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron (very common & vocal)
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Redhead (single bird has been at Highway 2 ponds all summer)
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle (Osprey last week as well)
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Ring-necked Pheasant
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Black Tern
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (had been a few weeks since last sighting)
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker (somewhat surprisingly, on the Auto Tour)
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Alder Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch (can pick up RB at the dunes)
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet (coniferous stand on Blue Hill Trail, small flock
there since I moved here in 12/03)
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Golden-winged Warbler
Yellow Warbler
American Redstart
Common Yellowthroat (note low numbers of warblers - although we have 10
nesters in the area, becoming increasingly difficult to locate - hear or
pish out - typical, but frustrating)
Scarlet Tanager
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow (first week I've missed Clay-colored in a while)
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink (although was good to see a small flock, circumstances weren't -
flushed by zealous non-resident mower in our new development - who asserted
that "there aren't any birds left there" - dozens, including many immatures,
scattered - although we are likely to keep our five acres for breeders and
feeders, will probably lose many species now that homes are being built)
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Orchard Oriole (Auto Tour, first right turn)
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Good birding to all!

Al Schirmacher
Princeton, MN
Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties