[mou] Black Dog on 9-20 Gulls, Swifts, and Swallows

[Alt, Mark]

Peter Schmidt and I birded Black Dog Road in the Minnesota River Valley,
off of 35 W yesterday and found a flock of more than 2,000 gulls. They
were about 80% Ring-billed Gulls, with Herring making up the remainder.
The only exceptions we noted (far out from the west outflow of the
reservoir) were two Franklin's Gulls( a single 1st winter and 1 adult),
and we spent a great deal of time on a gull that had a head marking like
Franklin's when viewed from the right side, but proved to be a
Ring-Billed with either a tar or oil stain or some patchy melanism. Two
Chimney Swifts were seen overhead and three species of Swallows were
coursing over the eastern end of the lake -Tree, Barn, and Rough-winged.
Large flocks of Warblers were found, with about 60% Yellow-Rumped, 35%
Palm, and a smattering of Black and White, Tennessee, Nashville, and a
Blue-headed Vireo. A Merlin flew over.

Mark Alt
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Project Resources Group
Best Buy Co., Inc.