A Golden Opportunity for Sparrowing

Being in northern Minnesota puts one in striking distance of multiple great birding opportunities.  And in the case of this birder, it also puts him in close proximity of many relatives.  Therefore the decisions must be weighed carefully; there is no room for making a foolish birding decision with a limited amount of time to bird.  The Sax-Zim Bog venture was savvy and efficient as it was en route to our destination.  With some successful owling in the Bog, I didn’t feel the need to go back.  Instead, there were two other options that were now vying heavily for my attention: go to the Isabella area in Lake County after reports of gobs of Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpeckers, Northern Hawk Owls, and Boreal Chickadees or go back to Duluth to try to see Minnesota’s 10th only Golden-crowned Sparrow.  Time and distance would not allow me to do both.  The boreal birds were really appealing to me, but I instead made the more logical, albeit less fascinating, decision to go after the sparrow.  The boreal birds will always be boreal, but the Golden-crowned Sparrow will not.  Also, being up north only put me 1.5 hours away from Duluth instead of the normal 3.5 hours away.  It was the right thing to do.

One of my benchmarks for deciding to chase a rarity is whether or not Randy chases.  If he’s never seen it, then it’s an incredible bird.  2014 has been unbelievable as Randy has added seven state birds when he normally gets one maybe every couple years.  The Golden-crowned Sparrow was one such bird.  Being on opposite ends of the state did not allow us to chase together, but that didn’t stop us from joining forces at dawn last Saturday in Duluth.  I was glad to not be going about this alone as this Sparrow had been showing up sporadically at Jeff Newman’s feeders on Regent Street.  Some birders had been traipsing all over alleys and surrounding blocks in their efforts to locate the Golden-crowned.  That seemed like a daunting proposition.

So the plan was to be at the house at first light to hopefully see the Sparrow grab its first meal for the day.  As we stood on the sidewalk (birders were not to go on the lawn) in the pre-dawn of a cloudy day looking to the feeders in the backyard, we could barely make out the silhouette of the first bird to land on the ground.  Just as it did, the homeowner, Jeff, came out his door to announce the identification he made from his much closer view from inside the house.

“White-throated Sparrow!”  Back inside he went.

That silhouette flew and was replaced by another.

“Golden-crowned Sparrow!” Jeff proclaimed as he came out his front door for the second time in as many minutes.  With the shared lifer now under our belts, Randy and I were no longer waiting on the bird but on the sun for some better looks at what we traveled so far to see.  Here is one of those sketchy first looks in the dim morning light.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Just as other birders had said, the Sparrow did not spend much time feeding.  Instead, it hung out in two cedar trees near the feeders.  Now the sun and the branches were conspiring against us.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

But eventually things started looking up as the morning progressed and the bird came out into the open for brief spurts.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Then, finally, after an hour there was decent light and a perfectly-perched bird.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

With a lifer and an okay photo, it was time to move on with the day.  Randy and I split.  He went for that Common Eider while I contemplated my next move.  It was now 8:00, and I didn’t have to be anywhere until 2:00.  I was tempted to go to Isabella, but the distance and my lack of experience in that area caused me to decide against it.  Instead I opted to hang out in the Sax-Zim Bog for a few hours which was on my way home. My next post will detail some of the random good birds I found in the Bog and in other parts of the Iron Range.

Minnesota’s Not-So Common Eiders and some Big Bonus Birds

1966.  That was the last time a Common Eider had been reported in Minnesota.  Now two juveniles show up on Lake Superior in Duluth, and a third one shows up an hour up the shore at Silver Bay.  Birders of all stripes were flocking up north and churning out continual updates on the ducks.  Yet all week neither Steve nor I hadn’t even brought up the idea of a chase.  The White-winged Scoter on Green Lake changed that.  Now face-to-face and excitedly bantering about sea-ducks, we decided that we, too, would make a fast trip to Duluth – going up and coming back on the same day.  It is a life list after all and neither Steve nor I had another 50 years to wait for another return of the Common Eider. So a week ago last Sunday Steve picked me up from church and we made the 3.5 hour haul up north.  A week before this I was returning from Duluth.  Crazy.

There was an eerie lack of reports on the Eiders this Sunday, either positive or negative. We brushed it off, but when we got to Duluth and reached the 21st Ave exit, we were nervous that this would be a bust.  Steve nervously tapped the steering wheel as he looked for a place to park.  In a matter of minutes we parked, piled on the cold-weather gear and optics, and walked to the shore.  The icy, gusting wind was coming straight off the lake and biting any exposed skin and drilling the cold into our bones.  What was stinging worse, though, was that we were not seeing the Eiders.  Now what? With no throngs of birders looking today, do we keep searching the vast shoreline in Duluth alone or do we go another hour further north to hopefully see the Silver Bay Eider?  It was a horrible dilemma and a decision had to be made fast.  Finally Steve and I settled on walking the lake walk.   With the wind coming in as strong as it was, we were looking for a cove or anything that would provide a calm area for a duck to be.   The wind was blowing into our faces the whole time and body parts were going numb.  Then, it was like somebody hit a defrost button when Steve said, “Hey, what’s that?”  There on the water was a duck bobbing up and down in the surf that crashed against the ice-covered rocks.  Too small for an Eider, but the perfect size and coloration of a juvenile Harlequin Duck!  Wow, neither of us expected this lifer on this trip.

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

It wasn’t the mature Harlequin drake I hope to see someday on the North Shore, but this was a tough-to-get addition for the life list.  The Harlequin was hanging out almost right next to the ice-covered rock on the point below.

Steve Lake Superior

Satisfied with one heck of a consolation prize – if it came to that – we continued walking down the lake walk.  As we got to a larger cove across from the Essentia Health building, I spotted the biggest duck I’ve ever seen in my life.  I didn’t even need binoculars to know that we had found what we came for – the Common Eider.  I looked for the second Eider that had been accompanying this one, but all I could see was this loner.  It was absolutely huge.  According to Sibley, it is the largest duck in North America

Common EiderAgain, not a mature drake, but when a duck waits nearly 50 years to make an appearance, you try not to complain.  And actually, it is so intriguing that some fools risk hypothermia and broken bones trying to get better looks.

Josh

It was worth it.

Common Eider

Common Eider

Common Eider

We were ecstatic – we got what we came for and had seen our third sea duck in two days. Literally and figuratively, the wind and sun were now at our backs as we walked back to the car.  We again got to enjoy the Harlequin as it motored with the waves further up shore.  Can you find it?

Lake SuperiorHarlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck

As if we hadn’t had enough excitement for the day, we got to the car and read an email from the listserv that a flock of Bohemian Waxwings had just been found in Floodwood, which was a half-hour away.  Steve had an interest in looking for Bohemians up in Beaver Bay, but we decided that was too far up shore.  Floodwood, though, was not too far out of the way on our way home.  So we went to Floodwood, and we found the Bohemian flock. Steve got his third lifer of the day, and I finally got to get more than just a fly-by look at this bird.  It would have been nice if they came closer to the ground for some better photos, but these will have to do for now.

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

It was finally time to head home.  We had a couple other nice northern Minnesota bird sightings including Common Raven and Ruffed Grouse.  We were hopeful that we would bump into an owl or two as we cruised south through the boglands along Highway 73 just before dark. We never did see an owl, but it didn’t matter because we were on our way home from a monumental day of birding.

A Scoter Kind of Day

All of last week I had been reading reports of a stunning find for Minnesota – three Common Eiders had shown up on Lake Superior, the first time since 1966. So last Friday night when Melissa came home from chaperoning a dance I told her I was thinking about getting up in a few hours to head back to Duluth after going there just a week ago.  I agreed with her response that I was crazy.  So I dashed my Eider dreams and settled for a Snowy Owl search, a more local, reasonable way to get in a good birding fix on a Saturday morning.

So it was an owling I went on this snowy morning.  I was finding fun birds like my first-of-fall flock of 100+ Lapland Longspurs and Snow Buntings, a group of 8 Wild Turkeys (all jakes and toms), and over a dozen of these guys which I haven’t been seeing much of all year.

Ring-necked Pheasant

I wasn’t seeing what I was seeking.  It was disappointing because I thought my chances were good.  As my Snowy Owl route eventually brought me closer to Spicer, I thought about heading into Willmar to try for some better Varied Thrush photos or even to check up on a older report of a Northern Mockingbird in town.  However, as I drove around the very large Green Lake, I noticed that it hadn’t iced over yet unlike the smaller lakes and ponds.  Gears shifted completely – suddenly I had the urge to look for Scoters.

I stopped at the public beach at Spicer and walked up to the calm water.  There was some debris in the water right by shore that I hadn’t looked at twice.  That is, until that debris started moving.  I was startled to see this family of Trumpeter Swans.  Not an Eider, not a Snowy Owl, but still another fun bird to add to the morning’s outing.

Trumpeter Swan

As neat as swans are, I didn’t come here to see them.  So I scanned the lake to the east past Zorbaz Restaurant where I saw a large group of waterfowl at a distance.  The naked eye showed that most were Canada Geese.  The zoom on my camera revealed a couple of ducks I would have liked a better look at, but I just couldn’t make any IDs.  Then an interesting bird right near the pylons at Zorbaz caught my eye.  It dove and then wouldn’t come up.  I was hoping it was a Scoter. After a long wait I never did see it resurface.  Finally, I gave up and went to the public boat landing to check out the lake from there.  That unknown bird was bugging me, so I decided to go back to see it.

Well, I saw it and was greatly disappointed.  Pied-billed Grebe.  It doesn’t get more boring than that.  I took one last scan to that group of geese and waterfowl to the east.  What’s this trucking my way through the blustering snow?  I see a very dark duck, low to the water, with a wide bill.  It’s V-shaped wake was getting bigger as the duck was cruising toward me.  Could it be? It turned its head revealing two big white spots on its head.  Holy smokes, it is! A White-winged Scoter!!

White-winged ScoterEvan and I just got this lifer exactly one week earlier on Lake Superior where it is not a rare duck.  Here, though, in the middle of the state, this was a spectacular find.  There previously had only been three instances of this bird in Kandiyohi County.  And the cooperative duck just kept coming my way!

White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoter

I immediately called Steve, who was just hanging out at home.  He scrambled to get to Spicer. I kept an eye on the duck until he and his son, Riley, got there.

Steve

Steve and I were elated – a Varied Thrush and a White-winged Scoter in the county in the same week.  It was a dream.  What was I looking for again? Snowy-something-or-others?

Amazingly this White-winged Scoter has hung on and is still present at the writing of this post.  Many county-listers came out to see the duck after my posting to the listserv.  More importantly, though, several birders finally added this duck to their life lists.  Helping others get a lifer like this is one of the things I enjoy most about a good find.

I have been out to Green Lake several times since my initial discovery.  Only one of those times, though, was to check on this duck.  No, there was another big draw that kept bringing me back – more on that later.  Anyhow, each time I’m at the beach in Spicer, I see my duck and can’t help but take a photo or two or five. Some days were cold and windy.

White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Other days were colder and placid.  Much of Green Lake was covered in ice in these next shots, and I suspect that the open water and the Scoter will be gone in the next day or two.

IMG_1479

White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Even though I’ve had more than my share of good finds, this is one of my all-time favorite discoveries.  The rarity of it, the fact that I set out to find a Scoter and succeeded, and that so many people got to enjoy it makes this a very memorable find. And it came in a crazy week of birding.  Indeed, there was another rare bird that kept drawing me back here.  But even beyond that, Steve and I managed to add TWO more sea duck lifers after we saw this Scoter!  More on all that later.

Varied Thrush Redux and a Turkey Remix

Since the Varied Thrush has been continuing for a week now in the same backyard where it first showed up, I wanted to try for some better photos than my blizzard, Bigfoot-style shots.  So Evan and I stopped by the house today before I had to drop him off for school. We were not disappointed and did not have to wait long to see the Varied Thrush.  Evan got a lifer. I got the best shots I could get before we had to hustle off to school.

Varied Thrush

Varied Thrush

Varied Thrush

Now you’d think this would be the bird Evan was most excited about today.  Well, you’d be wrong.  Evan had a project for school that was due today – he had to decorate a cut-out turkey with the stipulation that no crayons, colored pencils, or markers could be used. Things could be glued, taped, or adhered in any way possible. We were wondering how to solve this dilemma when I had a burst of inspiration. Ever the opportunist, I pulled out the turkey tail I had in the freezer from a turkey I shot a couple years ago that had been driving my wife crazy as she would rummage in the freezer for this or that.  In a single shot, I made both my wife and son happy.  Melissa and Evan have likely created what will be the envy of the entire 2nd grade class.

Evan

 

The Varied Rushes and Thrushes of Birding

It felt pretty good to find that Snowy Owl before the landscape turned completely white and making search efforts all the more difficult.  It did NOT feel good to arrive home and immediately work on frantic, last-minute winter preparations in the the dark by raking the yard one last time and cleaning out the garage so we could park the vehicles. Snow was coming.  Lots of snow.

Sure enough, when we woke up the next morning, we were in the middle of a nasty winter storm that was living up to all the hype.  As expected, school was called off for Evan. I was staring out the window and contemplating the work of snow removal when I got a stunning text from Steve: “Varied Thrush in Willmar!”

Holy smokes!  Steve and I had been talking about how this was one of our winter chase birds and now here it shows up right in town!  I didn’t even think about the horrible road conditions and reduced visibility.  I just hopped in the SUV and went to town.  Evan was too content to stay at home in his PJs than to join me.

Before I had even gone a mile I was thinking what a fool I was.  I could hardly see 50 feet, and there were large drifts covering the road.  Still, I bounced along and strained to see ahead.  I was determined to see a Varied Thrush, a winter vagrant from the likes of Washington and Oregon that can show up in basically any yard in the rest of the country during the winter.  A Varied Thrush!

Apparently the bird landed in the yard of the Halbritters who just happen to be birders themselves.  Such a smart bird to go where it knew it would be appreciated and get the accolades it deserved!  Steve and I waited inside the Halbritters’ house hoping for a glimpse.  Each minute that passed made me more nervous about the trip home.  I needed to get back on the road as the storm was still intensifying.  After about 15 minutes I decided I would drive around the block to look in the area, and then I would call it quits.  I told Steve this would guarantee the bird would appear.  I hadn’t even made it all the way around the block when Steve called to say it showed up.  It took me seconds to rejoin him and get my Varied Thrush lifer.

Varied ThrushBlizzards make for bad photos, but they more than make up for it with good birds!

Varied Thrush

November birding has been HOT, and there are several more blog posts to come.  Hang on for more good birding!

My Kandiyohi Twohee

Last weekend I did some lifering on my own.  Normally I don’t write about such outings, but one of my finds was just too good to not share with the bird nerds at large.  And this bird wasn’t even a lifer.  My target for the day was the Winter Wren, a little brown bird that is quite unremarkable except for the fact that it has evaded my life list. Checking eBird, I had seen reports at our latitude of this stub-tailed gnome of the northern coniferous forests.  So I decided it was time to head to Robbins Island Park in Willmar and follow Ron Erpelding’s advice of walking around the edge of the small slough in the woods there to find this skulker.

It was a horribly windy day, but the slough was tucked in a depression in the woods making it a calm, sunny place.  The birds loved it.  I immediately saw all kinds of activity.  Most of the birds were White-throated Sparrows, but I also saw Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  And there was this curious Eastern Phoebe.

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe

I followed Ron’s advice and made one complete lap around the slough, walking through tangled brush and grass at the edge of the cattails.  My hopes were lifted at the end of my first loop when a wren flushed up.  I could see it was a House Wren because of its lighter coloration and longer tail.  Then almost immediately another wren popped up.  This one was dark and small…but a much bigger, more active bird stole my attention away from what I am claiming as my Winter Wren lifer.  There, ahead of me, in a brush pile was an obvious Eastern Towhee thrashing about in the branches!  I could not believe my eyes.

Eastern TowheeThe brownish coloration on the head and back indicated it was a female.  The male is jet-black instead of brown.  Male or female, it didn’t matter.  This was a good-looking bird and a very rare bird for our county.  How rare? I looked back through the database of bird sightings at the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union’s website and determined this was only the sixth unique Eastern Towhee to ever be documented in Kandiyohi County. Personally, this was only the second Eastern Towhee I’ve ever seen.  They just aren’t common in Minnesota as a whole.  This was also my second towhee species for Kandiyohi County – in a weird-twist of birding fate last spring, I found the even more rare vagrant Spotted Towhee before I ever saw an Eastern Towhee.  Both of these finds were the first of their respective species to be documented in eBird for Kandiyohi.  It’s always fun to make a solid contribution to the birding history of the region.

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

Below is a map from Robert Janssen’s Birds in Minnesota that shows the range of the Eastern Towhee, or Rufous-sided Towhee as it was formerly called.

Rufous-sided Towhee range map in Minnesota - Credit Robert Janssen in Birds in Minnesota

Rufous-sided Towhee range map in Minnesota.  Credit: Robert Janssen’s Birds in Minnesota

The Eastern Towhee dwells in deciduous forests, and this range map coincides very nicely with the hardwoods or deciduous forest biome of Minnesota, shown in the blue section of the map below.  The Arrowhead region is the pinelands or coniferous forest biome, and the large green section is the prairie biome.  Kandiyohi County is primarily in the prairie biome, but the northern part of the county clips that blue hardwoods section.  So it is possible to find the Eastern Towhee in parts of the county, but it is extremely uncommon.

The biomes of Minnesota. Credit - Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The biomes of Minnesota. Credit – Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

 

The bottom line is that the Eastern Towhee is a very good bird here.  And it made for a very fun birding outing.

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

Other than the towhee, I’m pretty sure I saw a couple more Winter Wrens skulking into grasses.  I definitely did not get solid looks or pictures but they had the right GISS (General Impression of Size and Shape).  It was not a solid lifer by any means, but one I feel confident in counting. Regardless, it was not the best bird of the day.

I called Steve right away when I found the Eastern Towhee because I knew he would need this bird for the county.  We never could refind it for him, but he was able to see it the next day in the exact same spot.  A rare bird is fun in itself, but it’s always nice when a good find can be shared with someone else.

Arrr! This be the feeder of RUHU, the Red-bearded Pirate-bird!

It was inevitable.  You knew it, I knew it.  I spent a day pretending I didn’t know it and actually thought I was being an adult when I decided against going on another five-hour round-trip to the same place to try again for the Rufous Hummingbird.  The inner birder-child won out last Friday, though, as I found myself checking to see if I had any unused comp hours at work to be able to get off early enough to get down to Le Sueur before the RUHU went to bed.  Friends at work continue to be enablers for this birding disease of mine as they agreed to cover my last two classes of the day.  With the extra time, I was able to pick up both kids, take care of the dogs, and hit the road with the sun still high in the sky.  We even stopped to pick up Melissa for yet another family-style bird adventure.

So what could cause all the angst?  What could be worth the fast-paced, high-stress hassle?  What could cause me to stop licking my wounds and go back for potentially more pain? This.

Rufous Hummingbird in Le Sueur, Minnesota

Rufous Hummingbird in Le Sueur, Minnesota

We had to wait nearly 20 minutes for our first glimpse of the bird when it made a brief appearance at the feeder.  It was not very active on this day and would disappear for another 15-20 minutes before our next sighting.  It was no small thrill to be waiting alongside a couple of Minnesota birding legends, Bob Janssen and Dave Cahlander. I’ve got Bob’s Birds in Minnesota book and am looking forward to his upcoming book on birds of Minnesota State Parks.  This was a second author sighting in as many months; I’m going to have to start carting around Evan’s bird book library for autographs.

Rufous Hummingbird

So, Evan got his lifer RUHU, and I got my MN RUHU.  Pretty sweet deal all around. Another interesting aside is that Evan is working on some electives in Cub Scouts to earn some patches for his uniform.  Several of them involve birdwatching; one in particular was keeping a week-long list of species he had seen.  When he started the list, we couldn’t have imagined in our wildest dreams he would be writing down Rufous Hummingbird.

Rufous Hummingbird

It was nice of the sun and the bird to cooperate for a brief moment to give me a shot of RUHU’s beautiful gorget.

Rufous Hummingbird

Though we did not get to see the Rufous chase away any Ruby-throats from the feeder he plundered and pillaged, it was clear that no RTHU dared to challenge RUHU, the Red-bearded Pirate-bird.  He was a fireball in every sense of the word.

After enjoying a couple more brief sightings, we headed to Mankato so Evan could stop at a Barnes and Noble to pick up his next book in a series he’s reading.  It was just our luck to visit on International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th).  The kids enjoyed listening to a store employee all decked out in piratewear read a pirate story in a pirate voice.  It was topped off with a treasure hunt around the store.  No fewer than three adults chortled/gaffawed/giggled when the pirate asked the kids if they wanted to look for her booty.

Since I have many teacher friends who visit this blog, I would be remiss to not mention that Barnes and Noble offers an educator discount.  My astute wife had the presence of mind to ask about it.  When I learned the discount was a hefty 20%, I hustled on back to the bird section and bought my first Sibley’s.  I think I’m a real birder now.

IMG_0799

So avast me mates and get ye to the B ‘n N fer some real book treasure to fill the bowels of yer ship!  And if ye should see Red-beard, the pirate-bird, raise yer glass of grog to his pirattitude and toss ‘er back in celebration!

A Tern for the Worse – One Screwed-Up Trip

More often than not you come to this blog to read about our great birding triumphs.  But we are also fully transparent and are thus required to document our most epic and comical failures.  Anyone who has birded for any length of time knows that failure to produce is all part of this game and such missteps or miserable attempts can be just as memorable as the glorious moments.  It is in that spirit that I will tell the story.

A little over a week ago an interesting report came in of a Least Tern down in Luverne in Rock County.  I generally don’t get too excited about terns, gulls, or even shorebirds – at least not to the point of going on a lengthy chase.  Luverne was nearly three hours away; it definitely was not happening.  Then I learned that the Least Tern is considered a “casual” species in Minnesota and that there are very few records of it here.  Furthermore, to see one elsewhere, I’d have to visit someplace like the Florida coast in the summer.  Now the bird was becoming more appealing.  I looked up the picture and noticed that the Least Tern is quite distinctive with its yellow bill.  Even more appealing.  But then I heard that this particular Least Tern was a juvenile – definitely an attribute for the “con” column.   A long trip for an immature bird that might not stick around?  Forget it.

The reports kept coming though.  The tern was hanging on and something very interesting happened.  One birder reported that there were now two Least Terns and that one was a breeding plumaged adult!  And the birds were hanging out all day. Now I was interested. Phone calls and texts were exchanged with local birding buddies, but ultimately three of us ended up going down separately in three vehicles.  I opted to go alone so I could turn the chase into an overnight camping trip with the kids at Blue Mounds State Park.

I was confident we’d see the tern in the morning.  The bird(s) had been around for nearly three days by this point.  Plus our chase record was strong with only one big miss on a Painted Bunting a couple years ago.  Even then, though, we managed to walk away with a consolation Purple Finch lifer.  I tend to choose chases that have a high probability of success, and this chase had the right elements for just such an outcome.  So as I rode along with two kids, a van full of camping gear, and one of my two labrador retrievers riding shotgun (she was not part of the original chase/camping plan), I was excited that in just a couple hours I’d be looking at a sparkly, brand-new bird, and a very rare bird besides.  We’d see the bird, and fifteen minutes later the kids and I would be having fun camping and swimming at the reservoir at Blue Mounds.  It was going to be perfect.

We got to the site in Luverne around 10:00 in the morning and pulled up behind Randy who had made it down there sometime within the previous hour.  Randy had mixed news for us.  He saw the bird (the juvenile) – saw it fly away not fifteen minutes earlier. My optimism was undaunted.  I was confident the bird would return.  We searched nearby wetlands with Randy to see if we could dig it up.  The kids and I returned to the original site a couple times but had no luck in locating either of the Least Terns.

One reason I thought this would be a fun trip for the kids was that I remembered the city of Luverne had a massive park down by the Rock River with multiple playgrounds.  Despite my memory, there would be no park adventure on this trip.  The entire park which was lush green in my memory was now entirely covered in black soil and roped off as crews worked feverishly to get it into park shape again.  What was going on?  Then I remembered.  This area of the state had massive flooding this spring.  Undoubtedly the grass and greenery were destroyed in the stagnating waters left behind.

So it was off to Blue Mounds to set up camp and do some swimming. We were going to have fun one way or another on this trip.  But we hit another snag when we checked in at the park office.  The park ranger asked us if we were aware of the water situation.  Uh, no. The water supply, she said, was contaminated with E. coli.  Even though that sounds utterly terrifying, it was a manageable fear since they had all the water shut off save the toilets and since they’d give us drinking water at the park office.

After we had camp set up and had checked on the Least Tern spot unsuccessfully a couple times, I decided that it was time to let the kids do some swimming at the reservoir. With kids suited up we made our way to the… mud puddle? Wait, where’s the reservoir? This place was only suitable for frogs and the few Pectoral Sandpipers poking around. The beach was hundreds of feet away from the “water.”   What was happening?  Finally I figured it out when we hiked down to the dam;  the spring flooding had overpowered the dam, knocking a gaping hole in it and depleting the reservoir.  This was turning out to be one sorry trip, and I was turning into one liar of a father.

The kids and I did do a little bit of hiking.  After all, Blue Mounds State Park is the most reliable place in the state to see Blue Grosbeaks.  Even though I had seen a gross amount of them in recent weeks, it was still fun to find six Blue Grosbeaks at Blue Mounds.  Most were near the Interpretive Center’s parking lot, but a couple were found at the north end of the prairie near the swimming area.

Blue Grosbeak

Blue Grosbeak

Blue Mounds is also famous for Common Nighthawks that swoop over the prairie and make their booming call late in the evening or early in the morning.  It is not hard to find them perched during the day. This particular nighthawk was taking a rest in the same tree as the Blue Grosbeak above.

Common Nighthawk

Common Nighthawk

Can you find the Blue Grosbeak and Common Nighthawk in this photo?

Can you find the Blue Grosbeak and Common Nighthawk in this photo?

Another fun bird that is not hard to find at this park is the Dickcissel.  Interestingly, this Dickcissel was perched in the same small, dead tree with the Blue Grosbeak and Common Nighthawk in the first two photos.  Apparently the two former birds don’t mind sharing territory with each other.  And the nighthawk couldn’t care less that these two birds were singing their heads off while he tried to close his eyes and dream sweet nighthawk dreams.

Dickcissel

Dickcissel

The list of uncommon birds that are not too hard to find at Blue Mounds continued with several singing Field Sparrows.  I was showing Evan this particular Field Sparrow through the LCD display on the camera and pressed the shutter button while the bird was singing. Evan thought that was pretty neat to photograph it in the act of singing, even using the phrase “epic photo.”

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Another bird we had the pleasure of viewing, when binoculars and camera were not in hand of course, was a Red-headed Woodpecker in a dead tree right by a walking path. It did not care that we were 15 feet away.  Steve has told me I’m a magnet for these birds. I’m starting to believe him.  What I am certainly a magnet for is rain at Blue Mounds State Park.  As you can see in the photos above, conditions were not optimal for photography, birding, or even camping.  Rain was setting up shop for the day, and I had a sickening feeling that this trip was going to turn into the disastrous Blue Grosbeak hunt of 2013.  But a lack of good weather, terns, playgrounds, swimming beaches, and safe drinking water did not deter these two from having a good time even though I have no idea what they were doing here.

Evan Marin

We never did see the Least Terns on any one of our dozen+ trips to the tern spot that day. Hope stayed alive for a check in the morning, but it was time to put the current day to bed and get some rest.  At least that was a sure thing.  Or so I thought.  For somebody who teaches future doctors and engineers and such, sometimes I just don’t think.  I figured the three of us in a three-man tent on a full-sized air mattress would be no problem until I put the plan into action.  The mattress was not wide enough for the three of us, so I turned the mattress sideways. What I gained in shoulder room was offset by the loss of body length I could fit on the mattress. My shorter companions had no problem, but my legs hung off the end by over a foot. Uncomfortable but fine.  But then you throw in a couple of karate-chopping sleepers and a 65 lb. lab that wants on the bed and it was a red-eyed, muscle-aching disaster.  It was topped off by a close lighting storm that had me scrambling to get two sleepy kids and a dog into the van where we would attempt to sleep the last couple hours of the night.  I didn’t care about a Least Tern by that point.  Instead I was once again thinking how the desire for a bird could cause such misery.  The new day and the trip home couldn’t come fast enough.

Dawn finally came and with it was the thought that this trip had nowhere to go but up.  I was wrong again.  You see, the previous day I noticed that my two-front tires were balding really bad.  I shouldn’t have made the trip down on them, and I certainly wasn’t going to drive home on them.  So I made arrangements at the Luverne Ford dealership to get a couple of new tires that next morning.  I figured it would be fine because the kids and dog and I could take a nice walk while we waited.  The day had a different plan.  The continuing rain forced us to wait for our van in the one-car showroom of the dealership…with a big dog.  But a 6 in. by 6 in. TV playing Sponge Bob, a couple of cookies, and one firm hand on a short leash got us through the tire change.  Actually all the folks at Luverne Ford were incredibly hospitable and friendly telling me sweet lies about how well-behaved my kids were and how nice my dog was.  The truth is that the kids and dog did very well considering the circumstances.  And it truly is better to be safe as they say.  Did I mention that on the trip down to Luverne the previous day I had to call 911 to report a semi coming into my lane?

Finally we were out of there.  We checked the tern spot one last time but again came up short.  It was time to head home.  I took a longer route home in an effort to do some eBird documentation for some reported Blue Grosbeaks that other birders had found far north of their usual range.  I only managed to turn up one.  I was thrilled to be able to see and document a couple more Red-headed Woodpeckers.  I was never able to get any photos, but I did see and photograph another uncommon bird, the Upland Sandpiper, another bird I’ve been seeing more of this year than in the past.

Upland Sandpiper

Upland Sandpiper

The trip had some good birds for sure, just not the new one we were hoping for.  What we didn’t have in birds, though, we made up for in stories to tell.  I will be curious to someday hear the kids’ recollections of the disastrous Least Tern chase of the summer of 2014.  The Least Tern won this battle, but another life bird would become the hero and bring a satisfactory close to the summer the next week.

The Loggerhead Shrike – Threatened in Minnesota but Living Large in Kandiyohi County

Loggerhead Shrike along Co. Rd. 118 about 2 miles east of MN Hwy 9

Though it looks a lot like its Northern Shrike cousin which can be found pretty regularly in the winter months all over Minnesota (they’ve even been in my yard couple times), the Loggerhead Shrike is a summertime bird that is tough to find in Minnesota.  Really tough. Other birders in the county often recall Loggerhead sightings in the county as a rate in birds seen per decade.  It’s a rare event indeed.  In fact, the Loggerhead Shrike is scarce throughout the state and was deemed a Minnesota threatened species by the DNR in 1984 and is now being considered as a Minnesota endangered species.  Recent surveys by the DNR have found fewer than 30 nests in the state.  This species used to be more common.  Its decline in population has been attributed to grassland habitat loss through more rural development, more intensive row-crop farming, and the encroachment of brush and shrubs on grasslands.  Additionally the increased use of pesticides may be cutting down on the shrikes’ food supply since they prey on insects.

I have had the good fortune of seeing Loggerhead Shrikes a couple times in Minnesota – twice at Felton Prairie in Clay County and once along a roadside near Herman in Grant County.  But I had been wanting to see one in Kandiyohi County.  Joel Schmidt found one earlier this spring, but it was probably just passing through because I was never able to get on it.

Jeff Weitzel also had seen one in the county by Willmar High School this spring.  I chased after that one a couple times but could never locate it.  Then, a couple weeks ago I got a text from Jeff that he saw one again at the high school and I later found out that he’d seen a shrike off and on there throughout the summer.  I went out that day several hours after I got the text and was able to get my Kandiyohi County Loggerhead.  A great bird to see anywhere in the state, but especially fun to see one just a few miles from home.

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

Joel Schmidt went to see the bird the next day and amazingly he found three shikes! Better yet was that two of them were juveniles.  This was an historic find because the Loggerhead Shrike has never been known to nest in Kandiyohi County before.  It was a banner day.

I went out the following day to hopefully see all these birds to document this finding for eBird.  I lucked out.  Not only did I see Joel’s three, but I found one more for a total of four birds!  The three juveniles obliged me by posing together briefly in the same tree.  How do you like that photo documentation, eBird?

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

Loggerhead Shrike

I enjoy this bird a lot. To not only see one close so to home but also to know there is a little Loggerhead factory going on is quite special.  The habitat at the high school is ideal because there is nearly a half square mile of undeveloped prairie land interspersed with tree rows and sporadic shrubs.  Much of this land is owned by the school or is part of the Willmar Wildlife Management Area.  Because Loggerhead Shrikes have strong site fidelity when it comes to nesting and because this land will remain undeveloped, I am hoping that we will have many Loggerhead Shrikes for years to come.  The more I bird the more I have come to understand how fragile certain species are and how important conservation is for the maintenance and revival of such species.  This little success story is encouraging for future birds and birders.

By-product Birds of a Blue Grosbeak Search

As much fun as it’s been to find Blue Grosbeaks, I’ve had some other fun bird sightings while prowling the countryside looking for those blue birds.  This is a quick post (a quick post is a fun post) where I’ll display these bonus birds in ascending order of rarity.

First up is an adult male Orchard Oriole.  Prior to this summer I had never seen a mature male.  Now I seem to run into them regularly, and this one even let me take a couple pictures before it disappeared.

Adult male Orchard Oriole

Adult male Orchard Oriole

Orchard Oriole

What could be better-looking and more rare than an Orchard Oriole?  How about this fine Red-headed Woodpecker.  Seeing these guys never gets old.  I have to stop for every one.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker

But what could possibly top a Red-headed Woodpecker? Read on, and you’ll see. Randy and I were out driving the southern part of Kandiyohi County checking out a probable Blue Grosbeak site (at least it looked that way on the satellite photos).  It turns out the site was a bust, far from Blue Grosbeak habitat.  It was a huge marsh.  All was not lost, though.  Since Randy was driving I was checking out all the hawks we’d see. Normally I don’t check hawks too closely because we basically just have Red-taileds. I’m sure glad I took the time to look up at this hawk though because it was a Swainson’s!  I couldn’t believe it.  I just saw one for the first time ever a couple weeks prior and now I see one in Minnesota, in my own county no less!  Randy can only recall seeing a Swainson’s Hawk four or five times Kandiyohi County in his 25 years of birding.  It was a magnificent sight.

Swainson's Hawk

Swainson’s Hawk

Swainson's Hawk

The Blue Grosbeak hunt goes on.  Finding Blue Grosbeaks has been fun, but with birds like these it’s fun even if we don’t find any.  But the Blue Grosbeak hunt isn’t the only thing that’s been going on bird-wise around here.  Coming up, we’ve even managed to squeeze in a couple lifers and document a historic nesting record for Kandiyohi County.