[mou] Henslows - Fillmore & Freeborn, Mute Swan - Fillmore, Ruddy Turnstones - Blue Earth Co., YBChat? - Faribault Co.

[Herb Dingmann]

Ron Erpelding and I spent the last 5 days birding through southern
Minnesota.  Lots of good birds, with some of the more notable ones
below.
 
Henslow's Sparrows at Beaver Creek WMA in Fillmore County.  This
"colony" must be doing really well.  We heard 10 or 12 of them without
ever leaving the roads.  There must be many more of them further inside
the WMA that were too distant to hear.
 
Henslow's Sparrow at Myre-Big Island State Park in Freeborn County.
This bird was heard along the west side of the entrance road. Go past
the entrance building, then stop about 100 yards before the road bends
left.
 
In Fillmore County, a Mute Swan flew across the road in front of us,
circled a couple of small distant ponds, and then came back to a gravel
pit pond right alongside the road where we had good looks at it.  Note
that this was less than 20 miles from Stewartville in Olmsted County
where one was reported last week but was suspected to be not wild.
 
Four Ruddy Turnstones were found at the Mapleton sewage ponds in Blue
Earth County.
 
Lastly, we heard what we suspect was a Yellow-breasted Chat near Walnut
Lake in Faribault County.  The bird was repeating a soft four-note call
that we couldn't identify.  It eventually stopped and then began
repeating a new call that sounded to me like a soft "Whip-poor-will".
But it would not show itself and finally quit singing all together.   If
anyone's interested in pursuing it, the exact location is one mile north
of I-90 on CR119, where an un-numbered gravel road crosses CR119.  The
bird was in the northeast corner of this intersection behind the tree on
this corner.  The entire corner is covered with very thick brush.
 
Herb Dingmann
St. Cloud
 
 
 
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