[mou] Chokio BBS (the adventures continue)

[Robert_Russell at fws.gov]

On 14 June 2008 I ran the Chokio BBS route which starts on the west side of
Fish Lake, Stevens County and heads west on gravel roads into Traverse
County, ending 6 miles NNE of Barry.  The landscape is almost entirely flat
with a high water table but that doesn't stop the farmers from draining,
ditching, and filling most of the wetlands.  Actually had a farmer stop and
ask me if I knew of any heat detection devices that could spot pheasants on
the nest before the hay combine ran over them. Said he felt terrible about
killing so many.   And then the absolute low point of my BBS career was
watching a crop duster complete his herbicide job on a wheat field, circle
me twice, fly farther north a good half mile to another job, with me
proceeding west, only to hear a roar and see him in the rear view mirror
100 feet behind me, 25 feet over the ground, and dumping a load of
herbicide on the road and my unmarked government truck!!  And who said the
locals weren't open enough to saying hello first in rural Minnesota.
Having my Zeiss 10x40's handy though he made a slight booboo in judgment as
I easily could read his numbers and law enforcement was notified.  Not sure
if there is a law against spraying people but my hair has been weed free
all month.  Seems a bit presumptuous to greet any visitor to your land that
way but maybe he'd seen some black helicopters recently and was a bit edgy.

This count had only been run 6 times previous to this year.  I had 715
birds of 55 species, 2nd lowest bird count but average species total.
Highlites included 16 Upland Sandpiper (mostly in croplands and what last
year was alfalfa), 14 Eastern Kingbird (2nd highest ever), 10 Warbling
Vireos (2nd high), 39 Horned Lark (tied my highest total but way below the
107 and 88 of the 2 counts in the early 1990's), 28 Vesper Sparrows, 3
Orchard and 6 Baltimore Orioles, and 18 Bobolink.  I had 1 Western Kingbird
and have missed them  some years but the counts in the early 1990's had 14
and 5, respectively, mirroring a pattern seen elsewhere that this species
has seriously declined in many areas of the state.  Just plain lack of
foraging habitat and food would seem to be the cause of the decline.  Even
some grass on the landscape is better than no grass and the industrial
farms along this route allow no edge whatsoever, are rimmed by huge
drainage ditches deep enough for an occasional lost duck, and have only a
handful of species on their stops, mostly Vesper Sparrows, a few Horned
Larks, and an occasional Killdeer.  Bob Russell, USFWS, Ft. Snelling
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