North Ottawa Impoundment ~ Howard Towle photo
Traverse I MBW
April 7 in Traverse, Stevens, Grant, Big Stone
April 8 in Stevens, Big Stone, Traverse
From Craig... The weather played an important role on the Traverse County I MBW. On Thursday, we experienced NW winds of 25 mph, with gusts to 50 mph, and light snow for portions of the day. So, most of our birding was done from the vehicles. But what made this into one of those magical birding days were the sheer numbers of birds that the weather held in the area. Tens of thousands of geese, including Snow, Greater White-fronted, and Ross's were observed in flocks on the ground and in continuous skeins in flight. Tundra Swans were heard and seen in large groups as well. There were also fields with 100s of Lapland Longspurs, and one of our final sightings of the day was a flock of 1000s of blackbirds that descended on the town of Browns Valley.
The weather cleared for our Friday adventure, although at times the winds were so strong I found it nearly impossible to open my car door! Other highlights included the fleeing cottontail rabbit that just missed my head as it jumped past me at the White Rock WMA, and getting to see a couple of white-tailed jackrabbits.
Traverse II MBW
April 8 afternoon pre-MBW in Stevens, Pope
April 9 in Stevens, Big Stone, Traverse, Grant
April 10 in Stevens, Grant
While no one had a cottontail blown into their face on Traverse II, we did manage to see a mink in the middle of a Stevens County back road on Sunday morning. We also managed to escape the brutal winds that forced the first group to bird from the cars most of the time. Yes, it was too windy on Friday afternoon and on Saturday, but it was nothing we hadn’t seen before out on the prairie. Sunday even bought us nearly pleasant weather as the winds died down to barely noticeable, the temperatures flirted with 50 degrees (not the 30s that Craig et al. endured), and the rain promised in the forecast never developed. Naturally, we were able to come up with more species than Traverse I with the moderate weather, and the two groups combined produced a composite species list in the mid-90s.
At first, though, it looked like most of the geese on Traverse I had left the area, as we failed to come up with any huge flocks until late Saturday afternoon. Small numbers of all the geese were found, and a nice variety of ducks was seen in several places, along with the sights and sounds of both swan species. But finally we came across a flooded area in northeastern Traverse with an estimated 9,000-10,000 Greater White-fronted Geese, and a short time later we found all the Snow Geese at the North Ottawa impoundment. Our guesses put the number of Snows (mixed with Ross’s) at a minimum of 15,000, though there may have been over 20,000 of them, plus several thousand white-fronteds as well. As Howard’s photo above suggests, it was quite a sight (and sound!) when they all took off and resettled into a nearby part of the impoundment.
Other highlights on Traverse II were a lone (and injured?) Snow Bunting stumbling around on the ice on East Toqua Lake, nice looks at Lapland Longspurs (some of the males in near-breeding plumage) in a field and puddle near Wheaton, a pair of out-of-range Common Ravens at Pine Ridge County Park (that may have been nesting?!), and we ended our MBW with a lone Sandhill Crane flying across Hwy. 9 as we approached Morris. –KRE
Bird List
- Traverse I = 76 species (incl. 3 not seen on II)
- Traverse II = 91 species (incl. 18 not seen on I)
- composite total = 94 species
Snow Goose
Ross’s Goose
Greater White-fronted Goose
Cackling Goose II only
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
Tundra Swan
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Redhead
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup II only
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser II only
Wild Turkey
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
American Coot
Sandhill Crane II only
Killdeer
Least Sandpiper I only
American Woodcock I only
Greater Yellowlegs II only
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Common Loon II only
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican II only
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk II only
Belted Kingfisher II only
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Merlin I only
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven II only
Black-capped Chickadee
Horned Lark
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Cedar Waxwing II only
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
European Starling
Eastern Bluebird II only
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
House Sparrow
House Finch
Purple Finch II only
Lapland Longspur
Snow Bunting II only
Fox Sparrow
American Tree Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Vesper Sparrow II only
Song Sparrow
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Rusty Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird II only
Common Grackle
Yellow-rumped Warbler II only
Northern Cardinal II only
TRAVERSE COUNTY MBWs I & II SUMMARY
April 7-8 and April 8-10, 2022