[mou] Grebe City!

[Dave Bartkey]

  _____  

Hi everyone!

 

  After dropping my daughter and her friends off at the Owatonna Cinema late
this afternoon, I checked out Rice Lake State Park and Spindler's Pond in
Steele County. The latter had a mix of both Blue & Green-winged Teal and
Gadwall, along with 9 Greater Yellowlegs. 

 

  At Rice Lake, I was able to experience the "2008 Horned Grebe Phenomena".
>From just one spot, I panned left to right and counted 37 of them, but like
I said, that was just in one spot. They were all over the lake. If the day
had been calmer and warmer, I would have checked it over more thoroughly to
nail down a more accurate count, but if I were to estimate, I'd say there
were easily over one hundred there. 

 

  Other notes of interest from the lake included Eared Grebe, Red-necked
Grebe, Forster's Tern, Franklin's Gull, Canvasback, and a pair of lingering
Common Mergansers. 

 

  *I also observed a couple of loons, one in non-breeding plumage. My
immediate thought was Western Grebe because it had its head and bill tilted
upwards, but when I focused in, I realized it was a loon. Then my thoughts
were, "Maybe a Red-throated Loon due to the angle of the head and bill?"
After watching it for awhile, I could see that the bill looked somewhat
bold, and I THINK that I saw a flatness to the top of the head, indicating
Common Loon. BUT, my overall feeling was that this loon didn't have the
"bulkiness" of a Common Loon. I couldn't tell if it had a necklace like a
Pacific Loon or not because it was far out there, and the wind was so strong
that if I let go of my scope, it blew right over. Anyone exploring Rice Lake
may want to keep an eye out for this one. QUESTION: Do Common Loons retain
their non-breeding plumage this far into April or is this a "1st summer
phase?"  

 

Good birding!

 

Dave Bartkey

Faribault, MN

screechowl at charter.net 

 

 

  

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