[mou] Snowy, LE owls and others

[Benjamin Fritchman]

This morning I took off from Fargo very early. I went south down Hwy. 75, 
and in southern Wilkin County, the fields were flooded completely in some 
areas on both sides of the road, and it was in one of those spots(1/4 mile 
south of 440th St. on Hwy. 75) that I flushed a Snowy Owl from the roadside. 
It was about 4 A.M., so it was pitch black. I turned around, and luckily, 
because there was no dry land for a long way, the owl returned to the 
roadside and I got great looks at it in my headlights.
I ended up at Salt Lake at dawn, and was greeted to a lake teeming with 
waterfowl. Unfortunately no geese other than Canada. 17 species were 
present, no rare ones.
After scanning the ducks, I walked the cedars about 1/2 mile north of the 
Lake. I heard a YR Warbler and started to follow the sound when I flushed a 
Long-eared Owl. I eventually found two YR Warblers, and just the one 
Long-eared Owl.
Then I headed back north to Fargo, and birded my way back. GWF Geese were 
found in small numbers around Mud Lake in Traverse County, along with a 
Greater Yellowlegs. 200 GWF Geese and 10 Cackling Geese were found in Wilkin 
County along Hwy. 75, a couple miles south of the Snowy Owl spot. Tundra 
Swans were everywhere in Traverse, Wilkin, and Clay counties.
Also had a Vesper Sparrow near Big Stone NWR in northern Lac Qui Parle 
County.
No white geese the entire day!!

Ben Fritchman
Fargo, ND
NDSU