
Lily-livered lollygagging listers successfully add Blue Ox
(Bovinis azureus babeii) to their Beltrami County mammal lists.
Clearwater-Beltrami MBW Summary
June 15 - 16 - 17, 2018
There were times when it seemed we weren't seeing much, especially as we tried to find something to look at during the rain on Saturday, and trying places that weren't as active as we had hoped. But eventually it all added up and pieced together nicely as we somehow managed a grand total of 150 species for this MBWeekend and pre-MBW.
Friday's pre-MBW was especially successful since we came up with no fewer than 128 species (all but 2 of these in Clearwater Co), even though there were only a few places of real note that we visited. Our stop at Upper Rice Lake yielded nice counts of 69 Red-necked Grebes and 105 Trump(eter) Swans (a.k.a. Donald Ducks?), and that remote impoundment within the Red Lake Sovereign Nation featured several birds for our "non-Clearwater County" lists: e.g., American Bitterns, Green Heron, a baby-on-board Common Loon, an inexplicably-popular Belted Kingfisher, and heard-only Virginia Rails that refused to walk up into view in that tick-infested grass. In between, of course, was the day's best birding at the Skoe rice paddies. Here we found 13 duck species (including American Black Duck), 2 or 3 very surprising American Avocets, an apparent family of Marbled Godwits (with juveniles), at least 20 very late-lingering White-rumped Sandpipers, and a pair of Wilson's Phalaropes.
Our time on Saturday and Sunday morning in Beltrami Co featured more rain (and mosquitoes!) than in Clearwater Co, and our species total for the county was 118 (including Friday's Common Terns) – mostly due to fewer ducks and other water birds. But the always impressive Big Bog boardwalk on Saturday gave us a responsive Black-backed Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied (exceptional views) and Olive-sided flycatchers, Gray Jay, a distantly-heard Connecticut Warbler, and some close Palm Warblers on territory. En route from the parking lot to the boardwalk, there also were two fly-by Red Crossbills – along with one of the worst hordes of mosquitoes I can ever remember.
Sunday morning's loop in and around Bemidji mostly managed to avoid the rain, and en route to Bemidji State Park both groups had great looks at a close LeConte's Sparrow, a Red-headed Woodpecker along the same road, and some unexpected Dickcissels singing from two spots along Sunnyside Rd. Since the state park was on the quiet side, Doug suggested we move on to Three Culverts Rd, where things were more active. Along one stretch of this road we turned up a dozen species of warbler (including Northern Parula, Canada, Mourning, and an odd-sounding Blackburnian), and a bit later at another spot we tracked down some Black-throated Greens (for a total of 18 warblers on the weekend) as two Barred Owls serenaded us – with one of them finally emerging into view for all to see.
BIRD LIST
C = Clearwater Co pre-MBW, June 15
B = Beltrami Co MBWeekend, June 16-17
Canada Goose CB
Trumpeter Swan CB
Wood Duck CB
Blue-winged Teal CB
Northern Shoveler C
Gadwall C
American Wigeon C
Mallard CB
American Black Duck C
Northern Pintail C
Green-winged Teal CB
Redhead C
Ring-necked Duck C
Lesser Scaup C
Common Goldeneye CB
Hooded Merganser CB
Common Merganser B
Ruffed Grouse B
Wild Turkey B
Pied-billed Grebe C
Red-necked Grebe C
Rock Pigeon CB
Mourning Dove CB
Black-billed Cuckoo C
Chimney Swift CB
Ruby-throated Hummingbird CB
Virginia Rail C
Sora C
American Coot C
Sandhill Crane CB
American Avocet C
Killdeer CB
Marbled Godwit C
White-rumped Sandpiper C
Wilson’s Snipe CB
Spotted Sandpiper CB
Wilson’s Phalarope C
Ring-billed Gull CB
Black Tern C
Common Tern B (on the June 15 pre-MBW)
Forster’s Tern C
Common Loon CB
Double-crested Cormorant CB
American White Pelican CB
American Bittern C
Great Blue Heron CB
Green Heron CB
Turkey Vulture CB
Osprey CB
Bald Eagle CB
Northern Harrier C
Cooper’s Hawk C
Broad-winged Hawk CB
Red-tailed Hawk CB
Barred Owl B
Belted Kingfisher C
Red-headed Woodpecker CB
Red-bellied Woodpecker CB
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker CB
Downy Woodpecker CB
Hairy Woodpecker CB
Black-backed Woodpecker B
Northern Flicker CB
Pileated Woodpecker CB
American Kestrel CB
Merlin CB
Olive-sided Flycatcher B
Eastern Wood-Pewee CB
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher B
Alder Flycatcher CB
Least Flycatcher CB
Eastern Phoebe C
Great Crested Flycatcher CB
Eastern Kingbird CB
Yellow-throated Vireo CB
Blue-headed Vireo C
Warbling Vireo CB
Red-eyed Vireo CB
Gray Jay B
Blue Jay CB
Black-billed Magpie CB
American Crow CB
Common Raven CB
Purple Martin CB
Tree Swallow CB
N. Rough-winged Swallow C
Bank Swallow CB
Cliff Swallow CB
Barn Swallow CB
Black-capped Chickadee CB
Red-breasted Nuthatch CB
White-breasted Nuthatch CB
House Wren CB
Winter Wren B
Sedge Wren CB
Marsh Wren C
Eastern Bluebird CB
Veery CB
Hermit Thrush CB
American Robin CB
Gray Catbird CB
Brown Thrasher CB
European Starling CB
Cedar Waxwing CB
House Sparrow CB
House Finch B
Purple Finch CB
Red Crossbill B
Pine Siskin B
American Goldfinch CB
Chipping Sparrow CB
Clay-colored Sparrow CB
Vesper Sparrow C
Savannah Sparrow CB
LeConte’s Sparrow B
Song Sparrow CB
Lincoln’s Sparrow B
Swamp Sparrow CB
White-throated Sparrow CB
Yellow-headed Blackbird C
Bobolink CB
Eastern Meadowlark C
Western Meadowlark CB
Baltimore Oriole CB
Red-winged Blackbird CB
Brown-headed Cowbird CB
Brewer’s Blackbird CB
Common Grackle CB
Ovenbird CB
Northern Waterthrush B
Golden-winged Warbler CB
Black-and-white Warbler CB
Nashville Warbler CB
Connecticut Warbler B
Mourning Warbler CB
Common Yellowthroat CB
American Redstart CB
Northern Parula B
Blackburnian Warbler CB
Yellow Warbler CB
Chestnut-sided Warbler CB
Palm Warbler B
Pine Warbler B
Yellow-rumped Warbler B
Black-throated Green Warbler B
Canada Warbler B
Scarlet Tanager CB
Rose-breasted Grosbeak CB
Indigo Bunting CB
Dickcissel B
Also see the 2018 MBW summary
following the summary of the 2023 MBWeekend
__________
Beltrami County MBW Summary
June 21 - 22 - 23, 2023
Note that our Black-legged Kittiwake was an adult in summer plumage.
Except for a record of an adult a week earlier in Cass County,
all previous MN records have been of first-cycle immatures –
usually juveniles during fall migration. (Rose Shea photo)
Without looking at any weather data, I’d guess that I managed to pick the two hottest days this month for doing a MBW in this county. What was I thinking? On Wednesday and Thursday (as well as en route to Bemidji on Tuesday), the afternoon highs approached 90, with high humidity on Thursday especially, as it would hit 80 well before noon each day. At least it cooled off nicely on Friday morning. Such conditions tended to slow us down at times, though it was surprising to hear many birds still singing into the afternoon.
Given how large and sprawling Beltrami is, there were parts of some days when we seemed to do more driving than birding. That Big Bog country is just that: well, big – with few if any roads going to or through it. So it took longer than I would have liked to reach the better areas, even though we were based just a few minutes south of Lower Red Lake. As a result, we never managed to turn up such coniferous specialties as Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, or Connecticut Warbler.
But we still came up with a decent total of 133 species in all. True, this may be far short of the 150 we somehow managed to find on the June 2018 Beltrami MBW, which included more time in Clearwater County where there were more waterfowl and rice paddies. Also, birding the Big Bog boardwalk was more productive that year. At least this year provided those three exceptional rarities – a Piping Plover on the beach and Ponemah’s Lesser Black-backed Gull, both at Lower Red Lake, and that adult Black-legged Kittiwake at Waskish on Upper Red Lake! In all, we had no fewer than 9 species of gulls/terns at one or the other of these lakes, when only 4 or so would normally be expected.
I was also glad to finally see what that Moose River Impoundment looks like, at least from its gated ends, since there are hardly any places of note left in MN for me to visit for the first time. I’ll have to come back sometime between mid-July and mid-September when the gates are open to explore the rest of it. I also found it interesting that cuckoos, magpies, Golden-winged Warblers, and Dickcissels were relatively easy to find during this MBW, while at the same time we found hardly any cranes and no harriers at all. But none of that seemed to matter that much, not when we had no problem finding those birds that seemed to matter more than anything else to our intrepid county listers – cowbirds and meadowlarks!
Bird List
• Total = 133 species; 131 in Beltrami + 2 in Clearwater-only
• C = Clearwater Co. (morning of June 21)
Canada Goose C
Trumpeter Swan C
Wood Duck C
Blue-winged Teal
Mallard C
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Ruffed Grouse
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Black-billed Cuckoo C
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Virginia Rail C
Sora C only
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer C
Piping Plover
American Woodcock
Wilson’s Snipe C
Spotted Sandpiper
Black-legged Kittiwake
Bonaparte’s Gull
Franklin’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull C
Herring Gull C
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern C
Common Tern
Common Loon
Double-crested Cormorant C
American White Pelican C
American Bittern C
Great Blue Heron C
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture C
Osprey
Bald Eagle C
Broad-winged Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker C
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Merlin C
Great Crested Flycatcher C
Eastern Kingbird C
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Alder Flycatcher C
Least Flycatcher C
Eastern Phoebe
Yellow-throated Vireo C
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo C
Red-eyed Vireo C
Canada Jay
Blue Jay C
Black-billed Magpie C
American Crow C
Common Raven C
Black-capped Chickadee
Bank Swallow C
Tree Swallow C
Barn Swallow C
Cliff Swallow C
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing C
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Winter Wren
Sedge Wren C
Marsh Wren C
Gray Catbird C
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Eastern Bluebird
Veery C
Hermit Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
LeConte’s Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow C
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird C only
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Baltimore Oriole C
Red-winged Blackbird C
Brown-headed Cowbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Common Grackle C
Ovenbird C
Northern Waterthrush C
Golden-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat C
American Redstart C
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler C
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting C
Dickcissel
* * *
