2011 Mower & Freeborn Counties MBWeekend

Note: The species on this 2011 MBWeekend covering 6 southern Minn. counties in late July should be similar to those in Meeker & McLeod and neighboring counties.

STEELE-WASECA & MOWER-FREEBORN & OLMSTED-DODGE MBW SUMMARY

July 22 - 23 - 24 - 25, 2011

Steele-Waseca Co's pre-MBW

 

Our one-day trip to Steele and Waseca counties turned out very well, with a few moments of excitement. We observed 76 species in the two counties, plus the unusual, but uncountable, Egyptian Goose. Other highlights for the day included Sandhill Crane, Black Tern, Willow Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, and lots of Dickcissels. It was also interesting to see all the migrating swallows and a few other early migrants. Thanks go out to all the drivers, and to Linda Born, for getting us into the Janesville sewage ponds for a better look at the Egyptian Goose.  

Mower-Freeborn Co's MBW

The Mower and Freeborn counties portion of the MBW turned up most of the species of birds we had observed on the 22nd, with a few additional surprises. Our morning start at Myre Big Island State Park turned out well, with 50 species of birds being observed or heard there before lunch on Saturday. Some of the highlights were the singing Willow Flycatchers, American White Pelican, all six species of swallows, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Bobolinks. Lake Geneva offered us some distant looks at Pied-billed, Red-necked and Western grebes, and a very cooperative Virginia Rail. Shorebirds were scarce number-wise, with only a single flooded field found late in the day offering us looks at Solitary, Semipalmated, Least and Pectoral sandpipers, and a single Short-billed Dowitcher.

Our birding in Mower County began with a search for owls on Saturday night. While we did not turn up any screech-owls, several Barred Owls were heard at our last stop. On Sunday morning we started out at the Hormel Nature Center and added the usual feeder birds to our county lists plus a few flycatchers, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was observed by some of the group. The Eurasian Collared-Doves in Dexter were a nice find as were the Grasshopper Sparrow and Western Meadowlark found en route to lunch. Our time spent at Lake Louise State Park was nice with dozens of Dickcissels in the park. We missed our staked-out Western Kingbird but did find a family of Lark Sparrows and a Red-headed Woodpecker along the state trail where the kingbird had been reported. The Orchard Orioles along the entrance drive to the park was another highlight for the day, and it was fun to see all the Purple Martins in Austin.  

 

Olmsted-Dodge Co's  post-MBW

 

Our final day produced many of the birds observed on the previous days. We also got to see a number of Green Herons, and our time spent at Dodge Center Creek Park was great, with 6 species of woodpeckers observed there in a matter of minutes. We observed some Eurasian Collared-Doves in the town of Claremont and found a couple of Orchard Orioles by the gravel pits in Dodge County. In Olmsted County we added Yellow-throated Vireo to the list at Ox Bow Park and Belted Kingfisher at the County Road 9 marsh. Our final stop was at a small flooded field to the east of Rochester, and, while we did not see any new shorebirds there, Linda and I added the final bird for the Olmsted County portion of the trip as we watched a Ruby-throated Hummingbird chase a Killdeer: that was an interesting sight to see.  

Thanks for joining me for all or part of this four-day MBW, and I hope you all can join me on another one sometime soon.  - Craig Mandel

BIRD LIST (Composite list for all six counties = 105 species)

S - seen/heard in Steele Co on July 22 (61 species)

W - seen/heard in Waseca Co on July 22 (65 species) 

F - seen/heard in Freeborn Co on July 23-24 (81 species)

M - seen/heard on Mower Co on June 23-24 (70 species)

D - seen/heard in Dodge Co on July 25 (66 species)

O - seen/heard in Olmsted Co on July 25 (52 species)

Canada Goose     W, S, F, M, D, O         

Wood Duck     W, S, F, M, D, O

Mallard     W, S, F, M, D, O

Blue-winged Teal     S     

Ring-necked Pheasant     S     

Wild Turkey     S, F, M, D, O

Pied-billed Grebe     F

Red-necked Grebe    F

Western Grebe     F

Double-crested Cormorant     W, F

American White Pelican     W, F

Great Blue Heron     W, S, F, M, D, O

Green Heron     D, O

Turkey Vulture     W, F, M, D, O 

Osprey     F

Bald Eagle     F, D

Northern Harrier     S      

Cooper's Hawk     S, F     

Red-tailed Hawk     W, S, F, M, D, O

American Kestrel     S, F, M, D, O

Virginia Rail     F

Sandhill Crane     S 

Killdeer     W, S, F, M, D, O

Spotted Sandpiper     W, F, M, O     

Solitary Sandpiper     S, F, M, O

Semipalmated Sandpiper     F  

Least Sandpiper     S, F, M, O

Pectoral Sandpiper     F, O

Short-billed Dowitcher     F    

Franklin's Gull     F

Ring-billed Gull     W, F, M     

Black Tern     W, F 

Rock Pigeon     W, S, F, M, D, O     

Eurasian Collared-Dove     M, D    

Mourning Dove     W, S, F, M, D, O     

Barred Owl     M

Common Nighthawk     M

Chimney Swift     W, F, M, D, O

Ruby-throated Hummingbird     W, S, D, O     

Belted Kingfisher     M, O

Red-headed Woodpecker     F, M     

Red-bellied Woodpecker     S, F, M, D      

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker     D     

Downy Woodpecker     W, S, F, M, D, O 

Hairy Woodpecker     W, D       

Northern Flicker     W, S, F, D     

Pileated Woodpecker     F, D

Eastern Wood-Pewee     W, S, F, M, D   

Willow Flycatcher     W, S, F, D

Least Flycatcher     F, M

Eastern Phoebe     S, D, O      

Great Crested Flycatcher     W, S, F, M, D, O     

Eastern Kingbird     W, S, F, M, D, O  

Yellow-throated Vireo     O

Warbling Vireo     W      

Red-eyed Vireo     W, S, F, M, D, O

Blue Jay     W, S, F, M, D, O

American Crow     W, S, F, M, D, O      

Horned Lark     W, S, M, D

Purple Martin     W, S, F, M     

Tree Swallow     W, S, F, M, D 

Northern Rough-winged Swallow     W, F, M, D     

Bank Swallow     W, S, F, M, D, O

Cliff Swallow     W, S, F, M, D, O  

Barn Swallow     W, S, F, M, D, O

Black-capped Chickadee     W, S, F, M, D, O

White-breasted Nuthatch     W, S, F, M, D, O

House Wren     W, S, F, M, D, O

Sedge Wren     W, S, F, M, D

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     S, F, M, D 

Eastern Bluebird     W, S, F, M, D, O

American Robin     W, S, F, M, D, O

Gray Catbird     W, S, F, M, D, O

Brown Thrasher     M, D

European Starling     W, S, F, M, D, O   

Cedar Waxwing     S, F, M, D, O

Yellow Warbler     F

American Redstart     F, O     

Common Yellowthroat     W, S, F, M, D, O      

Chipping Sparrow     W, S, F, M, D, O

Clay-colored Sparrow     W, S, F, M   

Field Sparrow     W, S, F, M, O

Vesper Sparrow     W, S, M, D, O

Lark Sparrow     M

Savannah Sparrow     W, S, F, M, D      

Grasshopper Sparrow     M

Song Sparrow     W, S, F, M, D, O

Swamp Sparrow     W, S, F, M, D, O

Scarlet Tanager     W, S

Northern Cardinal     W, S, F, M, D, O

Rose-breasted Grosbeak     S, F, D

Indigo Bunting     W, S, F, M, D, O

Dickcissel     W, S, F, M, D

Bobolink     F, M

Red-winged Blackbird     W, S, F, M, D, O      

Eastern Meadowlark     S, F, D

Western Meadowlark     M

Yellow-headed Blackbird     F    

Common Grackle     W, S, F, M, D 

Brown-headed Cowbird     W, S, F, M, D, O      

Orchard Oriole    W, M, D

Baltimore Oriole     D

House Finch     W, S, F, M, D, O   

American Goldfinch     W, S, F, M, D, O      

House Sparrow     W, S, F, M, D, O