Explore Minnesota Birding Report February 18, 2011
During the month of February, keep an eye out for great gray and snowy owls, as well as snow buntings, lapland longspurs, hoary redpolls, and American tree sparrows. Open water areas along rivers are great for viewing Canada geese, trumpeter swans, and mallards - if you look closely, you may also see common goldeneyes, American mergansers, and American black ducks. And the section of the Mississippi River between Red Wing and Wabasha in southeastern Minnesota offers an abundance of sites to view bald eagles. Anyone wanting more information on southeastern Minnesota phenology, should check out the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center blog site.
The following is a list of significant sightings:
A Spruce Grouse was found by Paul Roisen and David Lambeth on February 17 along Lake County Road 2, roughly two miles north of the Sand River. They also reported a flock of about 200 Bohemian Waxwings on the 16th in the town of Meadowlands near the Sax-Zim Bog in St. Louis County. A flock of up to 500 was in Ely in St. Louis County on the 17th. They were seen along Main Street near Pillow Rock. And as many as 800 were reported by Sparky Stensaas on the 15th along Northfield Street near Woodland Avenue in Duluth.
On February 12, Peder Svingen found Great Black-Backed Gull, Glaucous Gull, and Thayer's Gull at Canal Park in Duluth.
Jan Green reported a group of four Long-Tailed Ducks on the 17th at Stoney Point in southeastern St. Louis County.
Reports of spring migrants have been coming in slowly, with Greater White-Fronted Geese, Northern Harriers, Horned Larks, Red-Winged Blackbirds, and Rusty Blackbirds seen moving north. And a few Bald Eagles are already incubating eggs in some southern parts of the state.
