[mou] Am. Pipits, Horned Larks, and Lapland Longspur - North Branch, Chisago Co.

[cjsteiny at comcast.net]

On this beautiful Saturday, my friends and I birded at the sod farms near North Branch in Chisago County.  We found both of my target birds - American Pipits (about 50) and Lapland Longspur (one for sure, which we saw close up) - plus many Horned Larks, 4 Ring-necked Pheasants, a Red-shouldered Hawk (sitting in the middle of one of the sod fields for twenty minutes, preening itself!), 3 Sandhill Cranes flying overhead, a Northern Harrier, and a Northern Shrike along with 25 other species for the day.
Directions:  Take Hwy 95 east from North Branch.  Turn north on Jeffery Ave.  At the intersection of the first gravel road going east (Keystone Ave.), see a field to the immediate north east of the intersection with turned-up dirt.  The Pipits and Larks were amongst the dirt clods and seemed to favor the edges closest to the adjoining sod field.  As we viewed them from Keystone Ave., several ventured as close as 5 yds. to where we were standing on the edge of the road.   It was a delightful day of birding.

Cheri Steinmueller
(Jane Wicklund and Barb Wojahn)
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