Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
|
Previous reports: March
11
18
22
, April
1
7
15
22
27
, May
4
9
13
.
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore | Detroit Lakes
-RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *May 17, 2001 *MNST0105.17 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: May 17, 2001
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://biosci.umn.edu/~mou/
Reports: (763) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel (ahertzel@uswest.net)
This is the Minnesota birding report for Wednesday May 16th, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. This tape is being updated a day early to report on the many interesting sightings that have come in since Monday's unscheduled update.
On May 12th, a GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE was found by Cindy and Vern Krienke and Wally Swanson near the public access on the south side of Swan Lake in Nicollet County. To get to the access go west out of Nicollet on U.S. Highway 14 for just over a mile to the entrance road. Walk the handicapped hunter road west of the parking lot to the handicapped hunter boardwalk. The Grackle was seen in the trees to the west of the boardwalk entrance.
On May 12th, Bob Russell found a singing male LARK BUNTING in a field on the west side of Stearns County road 11 approximately a mile and a half south of the Melrose exit of I-94. Also of note was the BLUE-WINGED WARBLER singing in the southwest corner of the small marsh at the south end of Little Lake Watab. This lake is in the southwest corner of St. John's University campus at Collegeville.
In the 13th, a WORM-EATING WARBLER was reported from Rasmussen Woods, a city park in Mankato, Blue Earth County. It was singing at the border of the wetland and the cottonwood trees. Also on the 13th a KENTUCKY WARBLER was discovered at the Nelson Fen southwest of Rochester in Olmsted County. It was found in the western part of the fen just east of a grove of aspen and buckthorn and near two paper birch.
Dave Nietzel found a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD at Frontenac State Park in Goodhue County on May 12th at the park's main picnic grounds. And on the 16th a Northern Mockingbird was in Duluth near the Sky Harbor airport at the end of Park Point.
I have a second-hand report of a NORTHERN HAWK OWL seen May 15th in Lake of the Woods County. Go south of Baudette on highway 72 for about 13 miles, then west on highway 16 to its junction with county road 145. The bird was sitting on a "Dead End" sign at this intersection.
Most interesting was the BLUE GROSBEAK found in Pine County on the 13th. It was seen along State Line Road north of Danbury in Burnett County, WI, 3/8s miles south of North Markville Road.
A LITTLE BLUE HERON was found by Anthony Hertzel on May 16th in the Ramsey County open space northeast of the junction of I-35W and county road I. There are three east/west bike paths which intersect the main north/south bike path. It was seen in the marsh along the northern most east/west path about 100 yards east of its intersection with the main path. He also reports that a BELL'S VIREO was along the main path about 50 yards south of the middle east/west path. A Bell's Vireo was at the Roscoe Prairie in Stearns County just northeast of Paynesville on May 14th. Walk the state trail on the south side of the prairie for about a quarter of a mile. The bird was on the Nature Conservancy prairie side of the trail.
A YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON was found in Meeker County at Pigeon Lake on May 13th. Pigeon Lake is on state highway 13 south of the town of Dassel. A CATTLE EGRET was also seen in the area. Two Cattle Egret were seen in Olmsted County on the same day at the East Landfill Reservoir. And a Cattle Egret was in Anoka County on the 16th. Jim Ratechek found it on May 16th along Lexington Ave. about a quarter of a mile north of County Road J. In Yellow Medicine County, two SNOWY EGRETS were seen on May 12th west of Granite Falls in a stream just north of the intersection of US Highway 212 and state highway 67. On the 13th, another Snowy Egret was at the 140th St. marsh in Dakota County.
At Big Stone NWR in Big Stone County, a FERRUGINOUS HAWK was reported on May 15th by Bill George along the Auto Tour Road.
Three RUDDY TURNSTONES were at the Swimming Beach in French Regional Park, Hennepin County, on May 14th, along with several CASPIAN TERNS. BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS were found at Agassiz NWF in Marshall County on the 13th.
ACADIAN FLYCATCHERS have returned to Elm Creek Park in Hennepin County. One was heard singing along the Creek trail on May 13th by Bill Marengo. This trail is east of the Eastman Nature Center.
The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday May 24th.
Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MOU-net@biosci.umn.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info mou-net) to majordomo@biosci.umn.edu.
