Hang in There

I haven't been birding much lately, and that is a direct result of grad school. But hang in there, I'll be searching for Winter Wren around the cities sometime in the next few days. On Friday or early Saturday morning I'll be heading north to the boreal forest. I've tried to make this trip happen two times already, but each weekend has been rained out. Lets hope this weekend is clear!

Targets up north include Ruffed Grouse, Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Great Gray Owl, American Three-toed Woodpecker and Northern Goshawk (and perhaps a couple others I am forgetting). With so many options, I hope to run into at least a few.

Oh, There They Are

Today was a lot better for finding migrants than yesterday. I spent a couple hours this morning at Old Cedar Ave Bridge area near the Minneapolis Airport. Things started off with a bang. Right as I exited my car, a group of at least 30 Franklin's Gulls were moving along the river.

Once I got into the woods, things were a lot slower and it was hard to pick up any migrants other than Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers. I kept going and finally heard the unmistakable calls of Rusty Blackbirds somewhere near me. I tracked them down and had a total of 5 birds chasing each other. My first new photo bird in a long time!

Rusty Blackbird

I then ran into a big group of White-throated Sparrows and was sure I would get a Harris's in the bunch. I worked them over and over again, but alas, no Harris's. I turned around and took a different path back, one I had never been on before. That is when I spied a flock of sparrows flitting about the road. I was disheartened to see they were mostly Song Sparrows; but then a White-crowned. Then it finally happened. A youngster Harris's Sparrow came in to investigate some pishing.

Harris's Sparrow

Two new photo birds in one morning right here in Minneapolis! Can't complain about that.

On the way back I found another flock of sparrows that held yet another Harris's! I'll likely see them everywhere now. Also had a getting-lateish Blackpoll Warbler that eBird flagged. Here it is.

Blackpoll Warbler

Now I just need to track down a Winter Wren. Still a lot of reports of them flowing through eBird so I imagine I'll see one sooner rather than later... I hope.

New Photo Birds are Everywhere!

... everywhere except where I am looking that is. The past few days have seen a huge rise in the amount of Harris's Sparrow, Winter Wren and Rusty Blackbird reports on eBird. I finally had some time to go look for them. Of course, they chose to hide today.

I did re-find a Le Conte's Sparrow at the General Mills Research Natural Area near Minneapolis. Apparently there were 50 White-throated Sparrows and 6 Harris's Sparrows yesterday, but I couldn't find either.

Le Conte's Sparrow

Le Conte's Sparrow was not a new photo bird, but was only the second one I have seen this year. The other was in Florida in the winter, so it was a welcomed sight. It is hard to ever tire of these gorgeous sparrows.

I'll be out birding around the cities tomorrow if the weather cooperates. It looks like it is going to rain for the majority of the day, but hopefully I can get some birding in between storms. I also hope to be birding on Sunday and Monday. Fingers crossed!

Pledge Update

It has been a while since I have updated folks with how the fundraising has been going. Huge thanks to the eBird team for supporting this endeavor by advertising it on their website. With the generosity of many birders and wildlife enthusiasts, we have raised $7.15/bird species photographed, along with another $110 in flat-rate pledges. With the birds I currently have photographed, this comes out to almost $4000 for Hawaiian bird conservation! Hopefully we can get a few more pledges throughout the rest of the year. Lets get to the $5000 mark!

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting this big year! I'm having a blast and the money will go to a very important cause. There is still plenty of time to contribute, and all pledges are 100% tax deductible! See here for more information.

Thanks again! I'll be birding for the majority of the coming weekend, so look for more updates soon.

Persistence Pays Off!

I'm glad I talked myself out of bed this morning considering my first class didn't start until noon. And I only had to hit the snooze button once. Then it was off to my new favorite birding spot around the Cities; the Old Cedar Ave Bridge trails. I've been getting out every spare minute I have desperately trying to find a Philadelphia Vireo. It seems everyone in the area has been seeing them except me. They won't be around too much longer, either.

I walked the trails, enjoying the few remaining fall warblers that are trickling through. However, when it came time to head back I had only seen Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos. On the way back, I ran into a good group of chickadees with a few scattered migrants flitting in the tree tops. I worked the flock and got a brief view of a Philadelphia Vireo! Too fast for pictures. I waited and waited with no additional sightings. Finally, I heard it call and tracked it down. I overexposed the picture, almost beyond recognition... almost.

Philadelphia Vireo

Some bright eastern Warbling Vireos can look similar to Philadelphia Vireos, but this bird shows a bright yellow throat (a great field mark for Philadelphia), a dark contrasting hood, and, possibly most importantly, dark lores.

I was extremely happy to see and photograph one of these before they are all gone. Check back soon, I'll be birding hard this weekend!

The Last of the Geese

My last get-able goose of the year (if I don't go to the east coast this winter) came in the form of a Ross's Goose. Two had been reported the past two days from Hugo, MN, just outside the Twin Cities. This morning, before class, I made a quick trip over to see if they would continue.

Upon arrival, the two small white geese were mixed in with some Canadas. I inspected them both closely as hybrids or intermediate birds are not uncommon. One bird looked great for a pure Ross's, while the other one left me with some uncertainty.

First, we have the good-looking adult Ross's Goose.

Ross's Goose

Notice the short, thick neck, round head, small triangular bill that is straight at the base, and no noticeable "grin patch".

The second bird however, has a few intermediate traits.

Small, white goose

At times, this looked great for a Ross's, but depending on posture, other times it did not. In this photo, it looks more Ross's-like. In the field, it appeared to have a slightly longer, thinner neck and less-round head. It also has a small "grin patch". The base of the bill is mostly straight. Interesting...

Ross's Goose is my 539th bird photographed this year. This photographic big year is an effort to raise awareness and funds for the American Bird Conservancy's work with endangered Hawaiian birds. To see how you can help, click here.

Still waiting to see a Philadelphia Vireo. I better hurry, the window is closing...

Nothing New

Saturday morning I went to Felton Prairie in Minnesota to look for Greater Prairie-Chickens and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. It was very windy, cool and shortly after arriving the storms came through. I had a flyover longspur give a rattle call, but only heard it once and never got a visual, hence no pics. I also didn't have much luck with the Chickens, until a helicopter flew over and flushed at least 12 birds! I followed them, but they never came out into the open. I had to try to get id-able pictures in flight, but I failed miserably.

 I did, however, have fun with sparrows. There were a ton of Savannah Sparrows, a handful of Vesper Sparrows, a few Lincoln's Sparrows, and a Grasshopper Sparrow.

Grasshopper Sparrow (above) and Savannah Sparrow (below)

So, it looks like the Chestnut-collared Longspurs have taken off already. Guess I'll have to take another trip up there for the Chickens.

Tomorrow morning I'll go look for the reported Ross's Geese just outside town, before I go to class. Wish me luck... the way things have been going lately, I'm going to need it!

Plover

I haven't been getting much birding in lately. With grad school and a surprise visit by some non-birding friends, my birding has been minimal. However, after watching the Lions win their home opener, I thought I would see if I could go score a new photo bird. An American Golden-Plover or two have been seen at Purgatory Creek Wetland near Eden Prairie west of Minneapolis. I took the drive and quickly came up with a few shorebirds, including the Plover. It was somewhat distant, far enough that digiscoping was necessary.

American Golden-Plover

This was my last easy shorebird for the year. If I get really lucky, I could get a Red Phalarope yet, but I am not counting on it.

Now if I could just turn up a Philadelphia Vireo. Everyone else seems to be seeing them...

The Terning Point

It is quickly becoming obvious I am going to have to change the way I have been birding, especially now that it is fall migration and breeding birds are no longer singing or on territory. All summer I've been spoiled. I was able to simply go to an area where a target bird was nesting and, more often than not, I could find them. Now, that strategy isn't working.

With that in mind, I have been birding a lot the past few days. I had four targets that would have been nice, two of which I thought I had a decent shot at. The targets were Common Tern, Philadelphia Vireo, Connecticut Warbler and Black-billed Cuckoo. The first two on the list were birds I thought I could turn up. My hope was that with the violent storm that came in from the west, mixed with a cold front dropping temps nearly 20 degrees, Wisconsin Point might be dripping with migrants.

So, on 8/31 I left St. Paul very early. First stop was Mille Lacs Lake, one of four places in the state that Common Terns nest. After scouring every possible vantage point of the lake on the east side, I finally got on some Common Terns. They were pretty distant so I resorted to digiscoping.

Common Tern

After slaying my first target, I moved to Wisconsin Point. Because I had already enjoyed the Jaeger show that continues there (5+ Parasitics), I decided to look for passerines. It was really hot but I was able to find a few scattered migrant flocks that held 14 species of warblers. I then moved to Park Point where I picked up another two species of warbler, but not much else. I did some lakewatching in the evening and saw at least two distant Jaegers... and then the storm rolled in!

My friend Skye and I then caught up, got some dinner, and hung out with Erik Bruhnke.

Today, we birded Wisconsin Point bright and early. We started lakewatching and had a Franklin's Gull come in close. Hearing the warbler call notes from the woods behind us, I couldn't help it and had to go passerine birding again. Were there Connecticut Warblers and Philadelphia Vireos to be had?

The woods weren't as birdy as I had hoped. There was certainly no fallout. I kept bumping into small migrant flocks when an interesting warbler popped up. I got a good look, and some pictures, and finally concluded it is a Mourning Warbler with a pretty bold (but still broken) eye ring.

Not a Connecticut Warbler

I have one more day before I start fall classes. Tomorrow, I'll spend the morning birding just outside the cities. There has to be a Philadelphia Vireo around here somewhere!

Minnesota Birding

Having settled in to my apartment (kind of) in Minneapolis/St. Paul, I decided I needed to get out and explore the area. I saw a post of some Buff-breasted Sandpipers at the A&L Sod Farms just north of Minneapolis on 8/24, so today (8/25) I ventured north. It didn't take long to find the Buff-breasted Sandpipers, three in all. Unfortunately, they were distant. Amazingly, my 400mm lens did a better job than my digiscoping setup, but not by much.

Buff-breasted Sandpipers

Back to cleaning/setting up my apartment for the rest of the day. I'm considering a drive to Duluth tomorrow morning for Common Tern and some lakewatching. Maybe venture to Sax-Zim Bog. Check back soon!