[mou] Sherburne NWR +

[Pastor Al]

With family gone & Labor Day off, had an opportunity to bird extensively
around Sherburne NWR (7 locations), Princeton, Foley (empty)/Gilman ponds
and around home over the weekend.  Most days were rather quiet (both before
and after the storms), but total (89) wasn't terrible.  List follows, with
occasional observations:

Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican (320 on the Auto Tour Friday night, 100+ on Orrock
Lake Saturday)
Double-crested Cormorants (200+)
Great Blue Heron (no Green Herons all weekend)
Great Egret
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Ring-necked Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Wild Turkey (two on the cemetary road that has just opened)
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Yellowlegs species (3/4 of a mile away at 60X on the Auto Tour)
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper (one, would give it a 90% probable ID based primarily on
length of feathers beyond tail)
Pectoral Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Nighthawk (five over Mahnomen trail Friday night)
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker (Sherburne CR 3 near ponds)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
GC Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird (only two all weekend)
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven (5th or 6th time this year I've found one in the general NWR
area - always a different spot - this time on the back side of Blue Hill
Trail - over the winter one even spent time in the church parking lot on
Highway 2 - Craig Mendel noted one was nesting this spring)
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch (number moving through as well as residents)
White-breasted Nuthatch
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet (have had a small flock/group every month of the year
in the coniferous area on Blue Hill Trail, bit of a puzzle)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (personal first of fall)
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin (Monday did not see for four hours of birding)
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Golden-winged Warbler (most warblers were individual, no mixed flocks
greater than 10-15 birds all weekend)
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Pine Warbler (beautiful look at a fall plumage bird from 10 feet in the
evergreens)
Black & White Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler (very light necklace)
Scarlet Tanager (yellow only)
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow (six in home fields)
Field Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting (actually brown bunting)
Bobolink (single in the home fields)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Good birding to all!

Al Schirmacher
Princeton, MN
Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties