[mou] Wilkin And Clay County birding

[Andrew Longtin]

Mark,
	I got to see your Harrier flight this past Saturday in Stearns
county, they do this U loop and stall out at the top of the U with a small
barrel roll, at least this was what I saw a female Harrier doing.. I think I
was just a mile west of Elrosa on State Route 71 (DeLorme Page 45, D 7-8) it
was really cool looking that's for sure..

Andrew
---
Andrew Longtin
Corcoran (Hennepin Co.) Minnesota
Minnesota Ornithologists Union Member
    http://moumn.org/
Cornell Lab Member (PFW)
    http://birds.cornell.edu/pfw/
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory Supporter
    http://www.hawkridge.org/

ALongtin@worldnet.att.net
See My WEB pages at: http://home.att.net/~alongtin/Index.htm

NO SPAM NEEDED HERE PLEASE!!!!!




-----Original Message-----
From: mou-net-admin@cbs.umn.edu [mailto:mou-net-admin@cbs.umn.edu] On Behalf
Of Alt, Mark
Sent: Sunday, April 23, 2006 11:49 PM
To: mou-net@cbs.umn.edu; mou-net@cbs.umn.edu
Subject: [mou] Wilkin And Clay County birding

A trip west to attempt to film the spectacular breeding flights of Harriers
(their Latin name is circus!) and the wing-clapping flight of Short-eared
Owls gave me neither, but my day was filled with great birds! When I am
trying to get birds at dawn, I rely on GPS coordinates. Today I
reconnoitered myself to a spot SW of Lake Orwell in Ottertail County hoping
for Short-eareds and ended up in a cornfield. I was serenaded by thousand of
Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks, the Lark's bells chiming and tinkling
to announce the day. Very surreal, but instead of recording that on audio, I
left for other terrain as soon as it got light enough for me to see where I
was exactly(foggy). I headed for Wilkin County and Rothsay WMA, where I saw
14 Northern Harriers, but no courtship displays. I twice saw groups of
female harriers flying in loose formation, like Harris Hawks, but no
interaction between sexes was seen. 12 Greater Prairie Chickens were seen
and were still booming, but rather haphazardly. 2 Swainson's Hawks were
seen, LeConte's and Savannah Sparrows were all over, but mutually exclusive.
The fields with cows had Grasshopper Sparrows, the drier upland tracts had
Savannahs perched up everywhere; the canary yellow accents on their head
never looked so bright! The LeConte's and Grasshoppers were not to be seen
or Photographed, only heard today. A single Vesper Sparrow was seen well and
videographed. I got to watch Marbled Godwits several times as they foraged,
their coral and black bills probing hummocks of Bluestem as they wended
their way about the grassy terrain. I got to watch winnowing snipe for over
an hour. The trick is to look where the bird will be, not where the sound
is, like seeing jets that you hear first. They fly high enough (200-250 ft)
that the bird is well in front of the sound, and it is just a speck, you
will need binos to see it well. The bird has a strange rowing wing motion in
its flight pattern , you can see how this pattern would direct air flow
against the outspread tail feathers. The wingbeat does not seem to vary to
make the winnowing sound, but rather the tail feathers suddenly spread wide,
the snipe goes in to a bit of a power dive, not steep, but it really
accelerates. I think it is the airspeed that makes the tone of the winnow go
up as it progresses. The Snipe then inclines its flight angle, close its
tail feathers, the winnowing noise abates, and when the bird regains its
height, it repeats the process. It may be the most energy using courtship
display I have witnessed. The bird flies in big loops, but the winnowing is
done in a relative straight line flight. The bird seems to rotate slightly
as it winnows and stoops, perhaps this adds to the winnowing and tonal
change. I estimate the bird travels 100 yards in the 6 seconds or so of the
winnowing call, so they are probably close to 35 mph in airspeed. Great
birds, they sure sound like Boreal Owls in pith and cadence. Their tonality
has a reedy texture to it that is lacking in the Boreal's whistle-like call.
Lots of birds and they have only just begun to come north! Good Birding!
 
Mark Alt
Brooklyn Center, MN

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