through 1979 our Big Day route began in

the Crosby/McGregor area , went east to

Duluth, and then headed southwest to basi-

cally follow the old St. John's to Marshall

route . In 1980, 1981, and again in 1983 ,

we have been trying a different itinerary

which begins at areas in the Fergus Falls

vicinity and ends at Lake of the Woods .

The principal locations covered in 1983 in-

cluded the Anna Gronseth prairie and Map-

lewoo? State Park during pre-dawn hours ,

areas m and near Itasca State Park early in

the morning, Mahnomen Co. Rd . 39 on

the north side of White Earth L. , the Fel-

ton p~airie, the Crookston sewage ponds,

Agassiz N.W.R., the Warroad vicinity of

Lake of the Woods, and Hwy . 310 in

northern Roseau Co .

The long day began with disappointment

at 12: 15 a.m. when we failed to hear any

nighthawks over downtown Fergus Falls

and to see or hear any Eastern Screech-

Owls at a staked out Battle Lake nest. We

drove back through Fergus (this time the

nighthawks were calling) and headed for

the Anna Gronseth prairie-marsh tract in

Wilkin Co . Here we heard Virginia Rail,

Sora, Sedge and

Conte's Sparrow ,

bMutarsthhereWrweenrs~

and Le

no Yel-

low Rails calling as we had in 1981 . Our

pre-dawn nocturnal birding ended at 3:30

after more disappointment at Maplewood

State Park as virtually nothing was to be

heard in the relatively cold and windy con-

ditions, and we drove north to Itasca State

Park with a total of II species .

After waiting out some heavy down-

pours , we began birding in earnest at the

Lake Alice bog just east of Itasca State

Park as it began to get light. Unfortu-

nately , few warblers and such were singing

on territory in the bog - either it was too

cold that morning or many species had yet

to arrive on territory due to the cooler than

normal spring . However , we did manage

to spot Northern Goshawk, Gray Jay and

Boreal Chickadee here , all difficult birds to

get on a May Big Day , and in the park

Paul heard Red Crossbill , another easily

missed species . But things really picked up

as we chanced upon an excellent wave of

migrants along the main park drive. Here

we found just about everything missed in

16

the bog , especially four thrushes , five vir-

eos and 21 warbler species , and we headed

west from Itasca with no fewer than I03

species by 8:15a.m.

As in previous Big Days, our brief drive

along back roads in southern Mahnomen

Co . just north of White Earth L. was re-

warded with species difficult to get in

northwestern Minnesota. Our prizes this

time were Hooded Merganser and Com-

mon Goldeneye (tough to find in late

May), side-by-side views of Sharp-shinned

and Cooper's Hawks, Eastern Bluebird,

and Henry was the first to hear a slightly

out-of-range Field Sparrow . As we con-

tinued west to the prairie at 9:45, our total

was now 120.

Because we were 45 minutes behind our

anticipated schedule (the biggest challenge

on a Big Day is not merely to find a lot

of birds , but to find them as you constantly

race the clock), we decided to forego the

Waubun marsh and head directly to Felton .

Here we not only gained several minutes

of precious time , but we also found the

needed Swainson's Hawk, prairie-chicken,

Western Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike and

Chestnut-collared Longspur. At 11:30, now

only a half hour behind schedule, we

turned north towards Crookston with 140

species, our best total ever for this time of

day!

Although the sewage ponds at Thief

River Falls had been good to us on our

1980 and 1981 Big Days, we skipped them

in favor of those at Crookston which we

heard were much better. In order to save

time, we also decided to skip a stop at the

Agassiz Dunes on the way; this was a most

fortunate decision since the gates at the

Crookston ponds were closed, and we had

to take extra time to walk in to them. But

the hike and time were well worth it , as

we flushed a White-faced Ibis from the

grass and spotted a good variety of water

birds, including both scaup, Bufflehead

and several shorebirds, plus an unexpec-

tedly late Water Pipit. It was 2:15 when

we left, still 30 minutes behind schedule,

but we now had 164 birds listed and were

still on a record-setting pace.

On the way to Agassiz, we changed our

minds again about Thief River Falls and

took valuable time to briefly look over the

The Loon Vol. 56