2007 Wadena County & Itasca State Park MBWeekend

Note: The species on this 2007 MBWeekend bird list should be similar to those in Wadena, Todd, and Hubbard counties.

A Blue-winged Warbler contemplating his ancestry.

WADENA CO & ITASCA STATE PARK MBW SUMMARY

JUNE 15 & JUNE 16-17, 2007

For a couple of MBW leaders (a.k.a. Nimrods) bumbling our way through

relatively unfamiliar country, I think Craig Mandel and I did pretty

well on our June 15 tour around Wadena County. Each of us only got lost

once (I imagine some of you were tempted to fire both of us!), and we

ended the day with a respectable 107 species, with no fewer than 30 of

these not found on the main Itasca State Park portion of the MBW. It

was certainly a challenge dealing with the heat and humidity, all those

mosquitoes (some of the worst I've ever seen), and a pretty impressive

downpour in the afternoon, but we came up with several decent finds:

both Virginia Rail and Sora coming up to opposite sides of the same

road and offering my group very close views (Craig's group also had

both rails up close and personal); my group's total of 5 Black-billed

Cuckoos (including a pair posing in the scopes) and a somewhat

unexpected Yellow-billed Cuckoo found by Craig's group; excellent and

close scope views of a most cooperative Le Conte's Sparrow at our first

stop; and a few also-unexpected Dickcissels singing farther up the same

road.

Saturday's weather at Itasca State Park was just about ideal as we

covered both the park itself plus nearby Upper Rice Lake and vicinity

in the evening. Sunday, of course, was a different story as our

pre-breakfast excursion was mostly rained out, and in all (including

time well spent with a Blue-winged Warbler!) we probably ended up with

at least 3 hours less time than I had planned to cover the excellent

coniferous habitats in the Lake Alice Bog area east of the park. Still,

we managed to come up with 98 species during these two days: fewer,

perhaps, than in Wadena Co on Friday, but the habitats covered at

Itasca were less diverse. Those doing the Upper Rice Lake option were

treated to several pairs of nesting Red-necked Grebes and excellent

Sedge Wren views, and some of us stayed until dusk to see a Barred Owl

pose in a snag by Cabin 15 (with Jeanne & Steve reporting that more

Barreds arrived later to whoop it up in grand style). The warblers and

their songs, of course, were the highlight of the weekend, and we

worked on listening and learning the songs of 16 species: the

Blue-winged was certainly our best find, but memorable as well were the

great looks we had of Northern Parulas, Blackburnians, Pines

(especially the one practically begging for food at lunch!), Mournings,

and Canadas.

As always, thanks to all of you (especially Craig!) for coming and

making the success of MBWs possible.  - Kim Eckert

SPECIES LIST:

W = Wadena Co / June 15 = 107 species

C = Clearwater Co / mostly on June 16

H = Hubbard Co / mostly on June 17

Itasca State Park MBW (Clearwater & Hubbard Co's) / June 16-17 = 98 species

Composite total / June 15-16-17 = 128 species

Canada Goose   WCH

Trumpeter Swan   WCH

Wood Duck   WC

Mallard   WC

Blue-winged Teal   W

Ring-necked Duck   WC

Hooded Merganser   WC

Ring-necked Pheasant   W

Wild Turkey   W (female with young along Hwy 71)

Common Loon   WC

Pied-billed Grebe   C

Red-necked Grebe   C (many still nesting on Upper Rice Lake)

American White Pelican   WC

Great Blue Heron   WC

Green Heron   W

Turkey Vulture   WCH

Osprey   CH

Bald Eagle   WC

Northern Harrier   W

Sharp-shinned Hawk   C

Cooper’s Hawk   W

Broad-winged Hawk   WCH

Red-tailed Hawk   WC

American Kestrel   W

Virginia Rail   W (especially close views!)

Sora   W (ditto)

American Coot   W

Sandhill Crane   W (only 1 pair?)

Killdeer   W

Spotted Sandpiper   W

Wilson's Snipe   WC

Ring-billed Gull   C

Forster’s Tern   C

Black Tern   WC

Rock Pigeon   W

Mourning Dove   WC

Black-billed Cuckoo   W (my group)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   W (Craig's group)

Barred Owl   CH (by mysterious Cabin 15)

Chimney Swift   W

Ruby-throated Hummingbird   WCH

Belted Kingfisher   C

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   WCH

Downy Woodpecker   WC

Hairy Woodpecker   WC

Northern Flicker   WC

Pileated Woodpecker   WH

Olive-sided Flycatcher   C (heard-only near Douglas Lodge)

Eastern Wood-Pewee   WCH

Alder Flycatcher   WCH

Least Flycatcher   WCH

Eastern Phoebe   WCH

Great Crested Flycatcher   WC

Eastern Kingbird   WC

Yellow-throated Vireo   WC

Blue-headed Vireo   H

Warbling Vireo   WC

Red-eyed Vireo   WCH

Blue Jay   WCH

American Crow   WCH

Common Raven   WCH

Horned Lark   W

Purple Martin   W

Tree Swallow   WC

Northern Rough-winged Swallow   WC

Cliff Swallow   WH

Barn Swallow   WCH

Black-capped Chickadee   WCH

Red-breasted Nuthatch   WCH

White-breasted Nuthatch   WCH

Brown Creeper   C

House Wren   WC

Winter Wren   CH (heard-only)

Sedge Wren   WCH

Marsh Wren   C (heard-only at Upper Rice lake)

Golden-crowned Kinglet   H (heard-only)

Eastern Bluebird   WCH

Veery   WCH

Hermit Thrush   WH

Wood Thrush   C (heard-only Saturday evening)

American Robin   WCH

Gray Catbird   WC

Brown Thrasher   W

European Starling   W

Cedar Waxwing   WCH

Blue-winged Warbler   H (possibly a first documented record for the

area)

Golden-winged Warbler   WCH

Nashville Warbler   WCH

Northern Parula   CH

Yellow Warbler   WC

Chestnut-sided Warbler   WCH

Yellow-rumped Warbler   WC

Black-throated Green Warbler   CH

Blackburnian Warbler   CH

Pine Warbler   WCH (including one at eye-level!)

Black-and-white Warbler   WCH

American Redstart   WCH

Ovenbird   WCH

Mourning Warbler   WCH (best view by the big Red Pine)

Common Yellowthroat   WCH

Canada Warbler   C (2 unusually cooperative singing males)

Scarlet Tanager   WC (best view by the big White Pine)

Eastern Towhee   WH

Chipping Sparrow   WCH

Clay-colored Sparrow   W

Field Sparrow   W

Vesper Sparrow   W

Savannah Sparrow   WC

Le Conte’s Sparrow   W (close & cooperative)

Song Sparrow   WCH

Swamp Sparrow   WCH

White-throated Sparrow   WCH

Rose-breasted Grosbeak   WCH

Indigo Bunting   WCH

Dickcissel   W (probably not present every year here)

Bobolink   W

Red-winged Blackbird   WCH

Eastern Meadowlark   W

Yellow-headed Blackbird   WC

Brewer’s Blackbird   WC

Common Grackle   WCH

Brown-headed Cowbird   WC

Baltimore Oriole   WC

Purple Finch   WCH

House Finch   W

Pine Siskin   C

American Goldfinch   WCH

House Sparrow   W