[mou] Sharp-tailed and Le Conte's Sparrows, Le Sueur County

[rdunlap@gac.edu]

Now is the time to be looking for migrating Le Conte's and Nelson's =20
Sharp-tailed Sparrows in southern Minnesota. Around 5:30 this evening =20
I found both at the Kasota Prairie in western Le Sueur County. I was =20
walking the edge of a pond that had a thick shrubby perimeter, and =20
found two Le Conte's and one Nelson's Sharp-tailed. Also in the =20
prairie itself I found a few more Le Conte's.

I always seem to find Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows on the edges of =20
ponds or lakes that have thick shrubby perimeters of willows, sedges, =20
or cattails. Le Conte's can also be found in this habitat. In the past =20
few years, however, I have found Le Conte's in almost any kind of =20
grassland, wet or dry, at this time of year. For the next two weeks, =20
I'd say you've got a pretty good chance of finding a Le Conte's if you =20
walk a prairie in southern Minnesota. It's probably getting towards =20
the end of the Nelson's Sharp-tailed migration though...maybe another =20
week for them.

Bob Dunlap, running out of birds to find in Nicollet County