[mou] MRVAC Olmsted County - Field Trip Report - 5/9/2006

[CRAIG MANDEL]

May 9, 2006

Led a field trip to Olmsted County today.  With the early rain we started
the trip a little to the West of Olmsted County, at Rice Lake State Park in 
Steele County.
Which turned out to be a very good move.  There were many migrants in the 
park, including
many Swainson's Thrush's and a good mix of Warblers and Sparrows.  From
there we worked our way over to Dodge county and were surprised to find a
Western Kingbird, which if accepted.  I believe would be a first county 
record.  We also
encountered a mix of Warblers and Thrush's, most just in wooded lots around
farm houses.  From there we headed to Oxbow Park in Olmsted county.  We did
not pick up any Warblers there, but did enjoy White-crowned, White-throated
and Harris's Sparrows by the feeding station at the nature center.  We ended
the day at Lake Byllesby, where we enjoyed observing large numbers of 
Caspian
and Forster's Terns, but did not see a single shorebird there.  Here were
some of the species observed by the group:

@ Western Grebe - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park
@ Caspian Tern
@ Red-headed Woodpecker - Olmsted County - Oxbow Park, at feeder by nature
center
@ Great Crested Flycatcher - Olmsted County - Oxbow Park
@ Western Kingbird - 10:00am - Dodge County - 1/10 of a mile East of the
intersection of CR 1, (120th Avenue) & CR G (595th Street).  The bird was
observed hawking insects from a low fence, for several minutes and then
disappeared from our vantage point.
@ Eastern Kingbird - Dodge County - Claremont Sewage Ponds
@ Yellow-throated, Blue-headed & Red-eyed Vireo's - Steele County - Rice
Lake State Park
@ Wood Thrush - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park, Dodge County - NE
corner of the intersection noted for the Western Kingbird.
@ 16 species of Warblers - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park -
Golden-winged, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green,
Blackpoll & Wilson's were a few of the species we observed.
@ Bobolink

Craig Mandel, Minnetonka, MN
EgretCMan@msn.com