[mou] birding around

[Steve Weston]

WILLET
HENSLOW'S SPARROW (Wisc)

Last Saturday (6/16 - a week ago) I was in a field in SE Lakeville (access the field from Pilot Knob by going east on 180th Street and turn north at one of the dead ends.  Public access to the field is ok.  I found several singing Dickcissels and Clay-colored Sparrows and a Willow Flycatcher.  A pair of Spotted Sandpipers can be found along the drawn down pond to the east of the field.  More Dickcissels were heard singing in fields along Pilot Knob to the north.  this is may be the only site in Dakota County out of about a dozen that I have checked where the Dickcissels have returned to a location where I found them last year.  I am hoping that my visitors have been premature to catch the late arriving Dickcissels.

Monday (6/18) I visited a high quallity prairie field in a subdivision that they are just beginning to develop on the north side of Randolf in southern Dakota County.  Access it off of Hwy-56 just north of the church.  In one field I could count up to 13 displaying Bobolinks at one time.  Probably twice that number (or more) were sitting in the grass.  I don't think I have seen a higher density of Bobolinks.  But, that may be a result of an adjacent field having been mowed.  In addition there were several Dickcissels, as well as Grasshopper Sparrows, Vesper Sparrows, Savanah Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, and Eastern Meadowlarks.  While I was there, a female Northern Harrier cruised by.

Earlier that day I was surprised to find a Common Loon in pond on the west side of I-35w and the CR-C exit in Roseville.  My second thought was that it was a cormorant, but a second look confirmed my initial ID.  It was not there a couple of days later when I went by.

I try to ID the roadkill as I pass.  Lots of Opossums.  This week I found a beautiful Broad-winged Hawk on Hwy 7 in Victoria just east of Rolling Acres Road.

On Friday I sent to Galesville, Wisconsin, which is east of Winona and so far out of town, that I decided it was unlikely that I could make it back in time to find more work.  So, the strong pull of birdy places to explore easily outweighed the weak pull of distant work.  My first stop was the Trempeleau Wildlife Refuge. The first meadow on the wildlife drive yielded one or two Henslow's Sparrows and several very active Grasshopper Sparrows.  there were lots of Eastern Meadowlarks, Brown Thrashers, and eastern Towhees.  I also saw several Black Terns at the river, a Blue-winged Warbler, and a small flock of Turkey.

This time of year I try to stop at Sand Creek, if I have a chance to get out to the point.  When I reached the river and scoped the point, just as a Bald Eagle threw the gulls on the point to flight. One of the gulls flashed a stange pattern on its back.  Crossing my fingers that the Bald Eagle would continue on his way and that everyone would settle back down, I headed out to the point.  The strange patterned gull was a Willet in breeding plumage.  Whether heading north or south, I have no idea. 

In the shelter by the river an Eastern Phoebe flew from its nest as I approached.  And in the same nest from which she fledged at least a couple of young when I visited a couple of weeks earlier, I found five eggs in the second clutch of the year.  Near-by I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker carrying food to a begging youngster.  In one tree I counted a least nine Orioles.

Tomorrow, I will see what else I can find.

Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net    
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