Murray - Cottonwood - Brown - Watonwan MBWs Summary

September 22 - 23 - 24 - 25, 2022

Linda Sparling photo

So, as you describe our four consecutive one-day MBWs to anyone, feel free to complain all you’d like about the weather, especially on Thursday and Friday with the winds and rains that made the birding difficult much of the time. But you might want to think twice before saying we didn’t see all that many birds – or at least make sure your audience doesn’t see the above photo! I’m told this was in the vicinity of Fulda in Murray County (Panda’s birthplace in 1975, by the way), and that these were almost all cowbirds with some starlings mixed in. After doing sample counts along some sections of the wires, I’d estimate there are close to 1,000 individual birds visible in the image, and you’ll need to multiply that total if this picture shows just a part of the wires laden with birds in the area. Since I wasn’t there at the time, what would you think about reporting, say, 10,000 Brown-headed Cowbirds on your eBird report? How much trouble would you then be in with Bruce Fall and Cornell?         

This spectacle aside, however, it’s true that the birding overall was on the slow side most of the time, even after the weather improved on Saturday and Sunday morning (we cut short our day in Watonwan and quit around noon due to that afternoon’s forecast of high winds). I would have guessed that the cold front passing through with NW winds just before and during these MBWs would have stirred up some migration, but for some reason that mostly didn’t happen. For example, during our 3 1/2 days, we could only manage 8 warbler species, and 3 of those were represented by just one individual each. Flycatchers, thrushes, and sparrows also tended to be conspicuous by their relative absence. At least our total of 11 shorebirds (including Black-bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, and Long-billed Dowitcher) and 13 raptors (with Barred Owls, 3 kinds of falcons, and a leader-only Swainson’s), and we did come up with a decent total of 107 species overall.

Bird List

M = Murray County (Sept 22)

C = Cottonwood County (Sept 22-23)

B = Brown County (Sept 24)

W = Watonwan County (Sept 25, morning only)

Canada Goose          MCBW

Trumpeter Swan          MCBW

Wood Duck          MCBW

Blue-winged Teal          MCBW

Northern Shoveler          CB

Gadwall          C

American Wigeon          MC

Mallard          MCBW

Northern Pintail          C

Green-winged Teal          CBW

Redhead          B

Hooded Merganser          C

Ruddy Duck          B

Wild Turkey          CBW       

Ring-necked Pheasant          MCB

Pied-billed Grebe          MCBW

Eared Grebe          B

Rock Pigeon          MCBW

Eurasian Collared-Dove          MCBW

Mourning Dove          MCBW

Sora          MCW

American Coot          MCBW

Black-bellied Plover          C

American Golden-Plover          CB

Killdeer          MCBW

Least Sandpiper          B

Pectoral Sandpiper          CB

Semipalmated Sandpiper          C

Long-billed Dowitcher          B

Wilson’s Snipe          MB

Spotted Sandpiper          M

Lesser Yellowlegs          CB

Greater Yellowlegs          MC

Franklin’s Gull          MCBW

Ring-billed Gull          MCBW

Double-crested Cormorant          MCB

American White Pelican          MCW

Great Blue Heron          MCBW

Great Egret          C

Turkey Vulture          MCBW

Osprey          C

Northern Harrier          M

Sharp-shinned Hawk          CW

Cooper’s Hawk          MC

Bald Eagle          MCB

Broad-winged Hawk          MCBW

Swainson’s Hawk          C

Red-tailed Hawk          MCBW

Barred Owl          B

Belted Kingfisher          MCB

Red-bellied Woodpecker          MCBW

Downy Woodpecker          MCBW

Hairy Woodpecker          MCBW

Northern Flicker          MCBW

Pileated Woodpecker          B

American Kestrel          MCB

Merlin          CBW

Peregrine Falcon          B

Eastern Wood-Pewee          M

Eastern Phoebe          CW

Blue-headed Vireo          MC

Philadelphia Vireo          MCB

Warbling Vireo          M

Red-eyed Vireo          MB

Blue Jay          MCBW

American Crow          MCBW

Black-capped Chickadee          MCBW

Horned Lark          CB

Bank Swallow          MC

Tree Swallow          MC

Barn Swallow          MCBW

Ruby-crowned Kinglet          MCBW

Cedar Waxwing          MCBW

Red-breasted Nuthatch          MCBW

White-breasted Nuthatch          MCBW

House Wren          MB

Sedge Wren          W

Marsh Wren          M

Gray Catbird          MCB

European Starling          MCBW

Swainson’s Thrush          C

American Robin          MCBW

House Sparrow          MCBW

House Finch          MCB

American Goldfinch          MBW

Chipping Sparrow          MCB

White-throated Sparrow          CBW

Vesper Sparrow          CB

Savannah Sparrow          CBW

Song Sparrow          B

Lincoln’s Sparrow          W

Swamp Sparrow          CW

Yellow-headed Blackbird          M

Western Meadowlark          C

Red-winged Blackbird          MCB

Brown-headed Cowbird          MCB

Brewer’s Blackbird          C

Common Grackle          MCBW

Tennessee Warbler          MC

Orange-crowned Warbler          MCBW

Nashville Warbler          MCB

Common Yellowthroat          B

Northern Parula          M

Bay-breasted Warbler          B

Palm Warbler          MW

Yellow-rumped Warbler          MCBW

Northern Cardinal          CBW