Apologies for the overused pun here, but it truly is fitting. And apologies on further delaying reports from the Tommy D trip in order to cover an outing that happened after his departure, but there has been a tern of events. Apologies again.
I really hate &*%$ Terns. I am, of course, still licking the wounds from the Gull-billed saga that you just read about, but newer readers may not know about that other horrible, awful, no-good, rotten Least Tern chase to Luverne two years ago. Not only did we miss the bird by 15 minutes and see Randy get that one minutes before us just like he did with GBTE, but then there was the accompanying camping trip that put Murphy’s Law to the absolute test. That trip was so miserable, I’m not even going to link to the post on it. Look it up if you want to cringe.
Anyhow, this past Friday I was still recovering from the hardcore birding trip Tommy and I had last week. The Gull-billed Tern fiasco actually seemed like a distant memory because of all Tommy and I experienced together (we’ll get to that, I promise). Then as I was contemplating chasing yet another rarity, a Yelow-breasted Chat, something bumped the Chat in the priority queue: a report of an ARCTIC TERN less than two hours from my house in Big Stone County (the bump on MN’s west side). This was a stunning find by Bob Ekblad who had gone to look for some reported Black-necked Stilts, another casual species in Minnesota.
Despite being burned by two rare Terns in the past, I only hesitated for a moment before throwing the kids in the car and making a run out west. It looks like things finally terned out for me. The Arctic Tern was right where it was reported, resting on the beach of a small wetland. Even from this distant photo, you can see just how short the Arctic Tern’s legs are and how gray its breast is.
Arctic Tern is casual in Minnesota with most records showing up in Duluth. I never really expected to add this to my life list because A) I’d have to be in Duluth at the right time and B) I’d have to be standing next to an expert birder who could help me differentiate this species from the Common Tern while it flew in the distance.
So not only was it a thrill to add this unexpected (as in ever) lifer, but there was a driveway to a farm place that put me within 30 feet of the Tern where I could study the field marks for myself up close! Here I could see the stubbier, all red bill compared to the Common Tern’s longer, black-tipped bill. Additionally, I could see the white stripe under the eye and above the gray breast/cheek.
I had thought the Tern was resting on its belly, but I guess its legs are just that short that it only appeared that way. I was hoping to catch the Tern in flight to see the diagnostic dark trailing edge of the primaries. I didn’t get to see it fly, but some other birders did see it fly and captured that field mark in photos. The bird appeared quite lethargic to me, understandable considering the Arctic Tern is famous for its migration from the Antarctic to the Arctic breeding grounds and back each year, a minimum of 24,000 round-trip miles as the crow flies. And we all know Terns don’t fly like Crows. Research with tracking this species has shown that they typically put on 44,000 miles a year. This bird was probably quite wore out and chose the most random of stops to rest.
Keeping the Tern company was an American Avocet which is not that rare of bird this far west in Minnesota. Avocets have almost become something of a trash bird on this blog this year. Who would’ve thought?
Since the Black-necked Stilts are a good bird for MN and since they had been relocated while I was on my way to the Tern, I decided to check up on them too. The Stilts would not even be a state bird, but I won’t pass up a chance to see some easy ones that are nearby. They are still quite revered here and have not attained the trash nickname of ‘Mud Poodles’ as they have in some other states.
Three great birds, two of which were casual species and one of which was a lifer, made for a great day of birding. Terns out I made the right decision to chase when I did. Unfortunately for Randy and Steve, they were not able to relocate either the Arctic Tern or the Black-necked Stilts the next day.
I still hate Terns, just slightly less so than I did before. The urge to swear when talking about them is gone. Also, I hate Chats now too.
I was hoping for lifer Short-billed Dowitchers, but an Avocet is a nice consolation. Evan and I enjoyed watching this bird for 15 minutes while it chowed down.
My addition of Gray-cheeked Thrush to my life list has always been tainted with doubt–mostly because I never obtained a photo to back up my sighting. While the kids admired the local Chickens and while I was Thrush sorting, I was still keeping an eye out for the main thing. It was proving harder than I thought, especially since other birders saw it just a minute before I arrived. Finally I spotted the tie-died wonder, a first year male. It wasn’t the coveted bright red adult male, but a cool lifer nonetheless. My camera had difficulty focusing on its mottled plumage.
I was not anticipating such a great distance to the bird. The distance coupled with heat waves emanating from the soil made photography difficult. The temptation to trespass was real. But those tiny green specks in the soil are brand new corn plants. I did not want to tick off some farmer. I did ask a couple of neighboring residents about who owned the land and was bummed to find out the owner didn’t even live around this spot. So, I did the best I possibly could given the circumstances.
Despite the distance, this was a thrilling bird to see. It is a life bird I always imagined getting as a speck on Lake Superior and being nothing more than a check mark on my life list. I had another fun find while seeing the Loon: Janet Timmerman whose yard I was just in the day before. We shared a laugh over the double chase and enjoyed the Loon together for a bit.
To a non-birder this is pretty drab bird, but it can be quite flashy when it flies revealing a striking white and black pattern. I watched the bird for over a half hour hoping to catch a glimpse of it flying, but it never did. Eventually I had to get back to the house. Flashy wings or not, the Willet never fails to impress Minnesota birders because it is such an uncommon migrant. As such I posted Joel’s sighting on FB. I love posting birds like this because we are such an underbirded county–good birds may attract a few visitors who in turn could find something great in the home county.
As I was Teal-gazing, though, someone answered the Willet ad in the classifieds. Visiting birder Brad Abendroth struck out on the Willet but instead discovered a whopping 23 American Avocets at that pond!
The birding fun doesn’t end there. Later in the day I took the kids on a short hike at my Gray Partridge spot. As we walked a fence-line in 20 mph winds we got lucky and kicked up a single Gray Partridge from just 2 feet away! It startled Marin pretty good; she wanted to walk behind me after that. Evan enjoyed seeing this lifer. Based on the deep rusty color of the outer tail feathers, it must have been a male. When I saw the two the other day, one had bright rusty outer tail feathers like this and the other had lighter-colored ones, possibly indicating a pair. If that’s the case, perhaps the female we didn’t see today was sitting tight on a nest. We can only hope.
Getting to the scene a few hundred yards down the trail, I heard the bird immediately. Several birders and I strained to locate it. One lady claimed she saw it.
Before we left, I thought I heard the soft bee-buzzzz call of a Blue-winged Warbler. Nah, couldn’t be…
If two unplanned lifers weren’t enough, how about a third?! Several Terns caught my eye right away when we got to the ponds. Their bills looked excessively reddish and other clues were leading me to the conclusion that I was looking at Common Terns, which aren’t so common in Minnesota compared to the excessively common Forster’s Tern.
I spent much time agonizing over this ID after the fact as Common and Forster’s Terns are incredibly similar looking. Many hours were spent scouring images on Google, studying Sibley, etc. Common Terns have reddish-orange bills while Forster’s Terns have a straight-up orange color. The red really popped when I looked at these birds.
Dunlin were excessively plentiful and quite striking in full breeding plumage.
There was a lot going on with the shorebirds, both in numbers of birds and numbers of species. Wilson’s Phalaropes and White-rumped Sandpipers can be seen in my photos, but I didn’t focus any of my photography efforts on them. I probably could have spent hours photographing all these shorebirds, but I wanted to take another crack at that White-eyed Vireo and the day was already getting long for the non-birders. It was time to head back to New Ulm and hit the trail one last time.
The Blue-winged Warbler was another great consolation prize in a day full of consolation goodies. It felt good to get better photos of this species.
So, we went to see a White-eyed Vireo and failed in that regard. However, this day was an unimaginable lifer and FOY grab. Getting four lifers (WEVI, HUGO, SAND, COTE) in a day instate is unheard of at this stage in our birding. Topping it off with some incredible shorebirds like the Avocets and Turnstones as well as the Blue-winged Warbler really made for an exciting day back on our old stomping grounds.
It was fun to see the male exhibiting the behavior described in the field guide, which is sitting out in the open on the ground and always in a perfect western setting.
I don’t recall the name of the road we traveled where we saw this Chestnut-collared Longspur, but whatever it’s called, I’ve dubbed it Longspur Road.
We ended up seeing a second Curlew a little later, but neither were very photogenic.
This next photo was not completely orchestrated by me. Evan really did discover the lesser end of a Greater Prairie Chicken all on his own. The smiles are 100% natural. Oh, to be 8 again.
And one of the birders who helped us find this bird was none other than Stan Tekiela!
6. Chestnut-collared Longspur
I had texted Steve and got him on the road right away. I knew that he’d probably want this one for his county list. While we waited for Steve, Evan and I kept trying to get good looks and photographs of this bird. I knew Evan was digging this new bird since he was with me the whole time in the chilly 42 degree weather of wind and spitting rain. A couple times we went back to the vehicle to warm up. When my fingers would thaw, I’d head back out again to try for better photos. I figured Evan had his fun and would just stay in the car, but when I was out doing my sneaking, I’d look back and see that he had left the comfort of the car for just one more look.
Who could blame him with a bird like this?
Several times I would sneak over the dike to try to get good photos. The bird would spot me, vocalize an alarm, and then fly out and land in the water about 20 feet from shore. It would then feed and work its way back to the shore.
