[mou] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Friday, June 11, 2004

[Jeanie Joppru]

This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Friday, June 11, 2004
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.

A few warm days this week moved the migration north, and now we are
getting reports of the summer nesting birds. Wet conditions now are
prevalent over the northern part of the state, and many wetlands are too
wet for shorebirds. Gary Tischer from Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge
reported that the Auto Tour Route is now reopened, and the office will
be staffed on Sunday afternoon as usual this week.

Peder Svingen was at Felton Prairie in Clay County on Sunday, and he
reported that the ROCK WREN was still singing at the top of rock pile #
6006, the location where it was first spotted. Directions to the wren
are: From state highway 9, take Clay County Road 108 east. It will
become a gravel road in about three miles and at the 'T' go north. The
road will soon go east, and after a quarter of a mile look for the
gravel pit. The bird was singing on top of a rock pile labeled # 6006.
Joe Gartner was banding birds at the Buffalo River Bird Monitoring
station on Saturday June 5th. Among the species banded was a WHITE-EYED
VIREO. Other species banded included BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, WILLOW
FLYCATCHER, BROWN THRASHER, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, FIELD SPARROW and
SCARLET TANAGER. Mel and Elaine Bennefeld sighted a partial albino house
sparrow at the Ponderosa Golf Club in Clay County on June 4th.=20

>From Rydell NWR in Polk County, Alex Wendorf reported sightings for this
week of BROWN CREEPER, sixteen species of warblers, eight species of
sparrows including both WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROW, and many other locally nesting birds.

At Agassiz NWR in Marshall County, Gary Tischer noted that there is a
new brood of TRUMPETER SWANS this week. It is suspected that these are
the birds that nested there for the first time last year.

A report from Martin Kehoe received late this week included a THREE-TOED
WOODPECKER seen in a remote part of the Beltrami Island State Forest in
Lake of the Woods County on May 21st. SPRUCE GROUSE were seen daily in
the forest over the last month. A GREAT GRAY OWL was seen on June 5th,
also in a more remote part of the state forest. On June 6th, Zeann
Linder and I saw a singing male GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER along the
Faunce-Butterfield Road about a half mile east of seven-mile corner or 7
miles west of Norris Camp. Other species seen that day included
BROAD-WINGED HAWK, ALDER FLYCATCHER, HERMIT THRUSH, CHESTNUT-SIDED
WARBLER, BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, and PURPLE FINCH.

In Beltrami County,  a nice assortment of warblers was found on June 6th
including NASHVILLE WARBLER, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, BLACKBURNIAN
WARBLER, OVENBIRD, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, CONNECTICUT WARBLER, and
MOURNING WARBLER.

Thanks to Mel and Elaine Bennefeld, Gary Tischer, Martin Kehoe, Joe
Gartner, Alex Wendorf, and Peder Svingen 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, June 18, 2004.