[mou] Collegeville IMBD day and Albany Sewage Pond drawdown notice

[wildchough at aol.com]

30+ observers enjoyed a quiet but productive Intrnational Migratory Bird Day scouring the St. John's University Arboretum and found 105 species.  16 warblers were recorded including 2 potentially territorial Blue-wings in the oak savanna section.  Highlights included 5 Red Crossbills seen at dawn in the pines just east of the church along the road leading to the prep school, 3 Ospreys, Red-breasted Nuthatch (small breeding population at St. John's apparently continues), and a Stearns County rarity, an Eastern Towhee found by Tom Kroll and seen by others, the first county record that I know of in a couple of decades (!!) despite their abundance in Sherburne County just to the east.  Black Terns were present on Friday evening but not today.
 
The Albany sewage ponds, at least the easternmost pond, were being drawn down this afternoon and had already attracted 60-70 shorebirds including 30 Wilson's Phalaropes.  This site should be visited during the next week as shorebird migration moves towards its peak,  Check out the eagle nest in an oak in the field to the southwest with at least one chick present.  Bob Russell
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