Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
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-RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *May 15, 1997 *MNST9705.15 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: May 15, 1997
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (612) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel (tony@mill2.MillComm.COM)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)
This is the Minnesota birding report for Thursday May 15th sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. As always, to skip this recording and leave a message you can press 5 on your touch tone phone. For information on joining our state wide bird organization write the M.O.U. at 10 Church Street SE, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, 55455.
This tape has been inundated with calls in the past week, with most reporting on recent spring arrivals. And since I have received nearly four times as many calls as what I would expect in a typical week, I can only report here on the more unusual sightings and then comment on migration trends for the other species.
Birds showed up in force over the past few days and many migrating species as well as summer residents are being easily found around the state as they arrive to inspect prospective nesting sites and set up their homes and small businesses.
The most interesting report I have is of a male TOWNSEND'S WARBLER seen and heard in a yard in western St. Paul on May 15th. The bird stayed around only for a brief time and could not be relocated later that afternoon despite extensive searches. If this warbler does return or is located elsewhere this tape will be updated immediately. And a YELLOW- THROATED WARBLER has been visiting Marsha Moreen's feeder in Minneapolis. The location is 5546 45th Ave S, Minneapolis. Birders are welcome but please respect the home owner and bird only from the alley.
Also on the 15th Bob Janssen found an adult LITTLE GULL and an immature THAYER'S GULL at the north end of Minnesota Lake in Blue Earth County. Both gulls were very near the Faribault County line and occasionally wandered into that county as well.
CATTLE EGRETS have been reported from three locations; Twenty-eight birds were seen along state highway 7 one and a half miles east of the town of Correll in Big Stone County, one bird was seen west of the town of Dawson on U.S. highway 212 in Lac Qui Parle County, and two birds were seen at a pond in the area known as Sioux Vista in Scott County on the 10th. A Pair of CINNAMON TEAL was reported by Steve Westen on May 10th from near the town of Etter in Dakota County. Neither bird was relocated by Steve the following day.
Peder Svingen found a FERRUGINOUS HAWK on May 10th near the town of Tyler in Lincoln County, and on the 12th he found another FERRUGINOUS HAWK near Kilen Woods State Park in Jackson County.
On May 10th a PIPING PLOVER was found by Dave Cahlander at the Renville sugar beet ponds along U.S. highway 212 in Renville County. Another Piping Plover was seen by Bob Janssen at a large reservoir along Olmsted county road 11 on May 12th. Among the twenty species of shorebirds reported from Rock County on the 11, one PIPING PLOVER was seen, along with 175 AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS, 5 WILLETS, and 6 HUDSONIAN GODWITS. And an AMERICAN AVOCET was seen on the 12th in Jackson County.
All the typical thrushes -- including a few late HERMIT THRUSHES -- have been reported by callers, as have all the vireos and most of the warblers. An EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE was seen by Nancy Overcott on the 6th near her home in Fillmore County. 24 species of warblers were seen in Winona County on the 14th. A BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was seen be several observers on the 15th along the parking lot fence east of the main building at Wood Lake Nature Center in south Minneapolis. And Bob Ekblad reported a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER in his yard in Rochester, Olmsted County on the 11th. A LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH was seen in the town of Plymouth in Hennepin County on the 11th, though I have no details. Another LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH was found on the nature trail at Prairie Island in Winona County on the 14th. A WORM- EATING WARBLER was found at the Minnesota River Valley NWR on the 15th, just below the retaining wall near where the controlled burn has just been completed. I have a second hand report of this same species being found here on the 14th so perhaps the bird will be around for a while. A second WORM-EATING WARBLER was reported from Golden Valley in a park on the 2600 Block of Winetka Ave on May 13th. And a KENTUCKY WARBLER was seen briefly at Bredesen Park in Edina, Hennepin County by Robin Bliss on the 11th.
Nearly half the callers to this tape reported finding HARRIS' SPARROW. This is certainly one of the best springs for this species. WHITE- CROWNED, WHITE-THROATED, CLAY-COLORED, CHIPPING and LINCOLN'S SPARROWS are also being seen in good numbers. Unusual are the three LAPLAND LONGSPURS reported May 9th from Spring Lake Regional Park near Hastings in Dakota County.
A SUMMER TANAGER has been seen at Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park in Hennepin County. The bird was seen on the 14th. SCARLET TANAGERS returned to Wood Lake Nature Preserve in Hennepin County on the 14th.
Some of the other commonly reported migrants arriving in the last few days include SORA, VIRGINIA RAIL, BLACK TERN, FORSTER'S TERN and COMMON TERN, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, ALDER FLYCATCHER and LEAST FLYCATCHER, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, INDIGO BUNTING, BALTIMORE ORIOLE and ORCHARD ORIOLE, and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday May 22nd. If you have birds to report, please leave your name and phone number plus a brief but specific message which includes the name of the county where your sighting took place.
