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Beltrami County pre-MBW  ~  June 18, 2010

(Summary by Craig Mandel)

I would like to thank you all for joining me on the Beltrami County portion of this Minnesota Birding Weekend. We were very lucky that the big storms went through on Thursday; otherwise, I believe we could have broken the windiest-ever MBW record. As it was, it was still quite windy with gusts in the mid-30 mph range. The intermittent rain also made for difficult birding at times. Doing a number of loops in the county offered us a nice variety of habitats, and I think everyone's favorite spot was the bog boardwalk.

Bird List: 89 species in Beltrami Co (+ 2 in Lake of the Woods Co only)

Canada Goose

Mallard

Common Goldeneye

Ruffed Grouse

Common Loon

American White Pelican

Great Blue Heron

Green Heron

Turkey Vulture

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Killdeer

Ring-billed Gull

(Herring Gull - Lake of the Woods only)

(Rock Pigeon - Lake of the Woods only)

Mourning Dove

Chimney Swift 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Pileated Woodpecker

Olive-sided Flycatcher - heard-only on the boardwalk

Eastern Wood-Pewee - heard-only

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Yellow-throated Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Tree Swallow

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Bank Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallow

Black-capped Chickadee

Boreal Chickadee - seen well along the boardwalk

Red-breasted Nuthatch

House Wren - heard-only / leader-only

Winter Wren 

Sedge Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Eastern Bluebird

Veery

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Gray Catbird

European Starling

Cedar Waxwing

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Pine Warbler

Palm Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Connecticut Warbler - singing bird heard, and sort of seen, along the boardwalk 

Common Yellowthroat

Scarlet Tanager

Chipping Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow - heard and seen along the boardwalk

Swamp Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Bobolink

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

Brewer's Blackbird

Common Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Lily-livered lollygagging listers successfully add Blue Ox (Bovinis azureus babeii)

to their Beltrami County mammal lists during a 2014 MBW.

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Also see the 2010 pre-MBW summary

following the summary of the 2018 MBWeekend.

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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