[mou] Minnesota River Valley - St. Peter - Redwood Falls - 4/24/2006

[CRAIG MANDEL]

April 24, 2006

Was out for a full day of birding for the first time in about 2 months.
Spent the day birding along the Minnesota River Valley with Jeanne and Rick
Specht.  We did not encounter any unusual birds and overall the birding was
rather quite.

We started our day at the St. Peter Sewage ponds.  While there is good
habitat for shorebirds there, we only observed a single greater Yellowlegs
there.  But this should be a good spot as things pick up.  We also found 6
or 7 flooded fields along the North side of the Minnesota River between
Courtland, in Nicollet County and Morton in Renville county.  There were
American White Pelicans and a mix of waterfowl throughout the area but the
only shorebirds were a few Killdeer.

We did see some small flocks of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Ruby-crowned
Kinglets and had singing Clay-colored and Field Sparrows in a few locations.
Our last bird of the day was a small flock of Chimney Swifts near Jordan.

Craig Mandel, Minnetonka, MN
EgretCMan@msn.com