WELCOME PACIFIC

     I barely got done working today without having to take a break. If we work 8 hours or more, we are required to take a break. I just docked my work truck with a minute to spare. A quick jaunt home and then a drive down to Lake Nokomis had me hunting for the Pacific Loon. I didn't need to hunt too long to finish the trifecta. Now I have seen all 3 of the loons common to Minnesota; Common Loon, Red-throated Loon, and Pacific Loon. The Pacific becomes my 313th Minnesota bird matching my Minnesota Birds Life list which is also at 313. A dozen birds that are not common to Minnesota are on my Life List meaning I only need a dozen more "Regulars." 

    The thing that was irregular about the whole experience today was the confusion. Was there 1 Pacific Loon or 2? Was there a Common Loon or were there 2? I reached into my bag of tricks and contacted my good birding friend Doug Kieser to sort out all the mess. He informed me that many people have been reporting 2 Pacific Loons but there really is only 1. The photo below shows a Common Loon in non-breeding plumage on the right. The Pacific Loon is on the left; much smaller. Again, not a good photo but I once again had excellent views in my spotting scope. Money well spent!!!

The Quest for the Minnesota Regular Species Continues.....

An idiom is a phrase with a meaning that cannot be deciphered by the individual words. 

Like the phrase "I took a stab at it."

I took a 2nd stab at the Long-billed Dowitcher on Thursday, May 4th.

It was again spotted (on Ebird) at the 140th Street Marsh down in Rosemount so I was itching to go again.

Melinda agreed to ride along and she was actually the one who first spotted it.

First just the one and then two; a brief appearance moving in and out of some sedge; and then they disappeared.

I got a quick photo but it wasn't very good. Then three appeared at the far shore of the marsh.

That was the spot for some far away, but adequate photos to document my find.

Mind you, photo documentation is not always possible but these days I am making my best effort to do this.

Big thanks to Melinda!

And now only 13 Regular Minnesota Species left. Here is the list of what I need to see:

1.  American Three-toed Woodpecker
2.  Boreal Owl
3.  Cinnamon Teal
4.  Great-tailed Grackle
5.  Little Blue Heron
6.  Little Gull
7.  Pacific Loon
8.  Parasitic Jaeger
9.  Piping Plover
10.  Prairie Falcon
11.  Say's Phoebe
12.  Smith's Longspur
13.  Yellow Rail

6 of these birds would also be Life Birds; they are: American Three-toed Woodpecker, Boreal Owl, Little Gull, Prairie Falcon, Smith's Longspur, and Yellow Rail. The other 7 birds I have seen in other states. 

The Yellow Rail is now the only Common-Regular bird, all the others are considered Rare-Regular which only means they are not present all the time. But the Yellow Rail will be a tough one because my goal is to SEE the birds, not just hear them. I have seen many posts by birders who have heard the Yellow Rail but none that I know of have actually seen it. This could be a major challenge ahead of me. 

Only God willing!

Minnesota Birds 309 and 310

 Apparently I was remiss in adding or blogging my Minnesota birds 309 and 310.

On April 30th 2022, I got to see the Yellow-crowned Night Heron right near my old delivery location for Geritom in Bloomington. That was one of those easy finds where you walk a path to a little pond and then just spot the bird on the shore. Take a photo and then bingo you are golden.

On the Fourth of July, (before going to my in-laws for our annual feast and Fourth of July Parade), Melinda and I stopped at Westwood Nature Center in St. Louis Park. Took some patience but finally nailed the much reported Clark's Grebe in the center of the lake. It's a diver so we were looking frantically for a while, while spotting nothing. Then up pops this bird way off - soooo way off that the photo is not much more than a dot, but we know what we saw. Number 310 for my Minnesota Life List. 

Minnesota Bird number 311 - The Red-throated Loon

    The very nice photo on top is of an immature Red-throated Loon that Melinda and I saw in Washington State back in 2016. 

    The beautiful young doe Clarice from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer sings There's Always Tomorrow. That's what I was saying to myself yesterday when I tried for the Red-throated Loon at Long Lake County Park in New Brighton. I was saying that because I missed it standing in the cold and rain. My "tomorrow" was today as I was standing in the cold and snow. I nailed the Red-throated Loon for my 311th Minnesota Bird. 

    As of 2019, the MOU (Minnesota Ornithologist Union) has a list of 313 "Regular" bird species in Minnesota. I now have only 14 more to see to complete the list after seeing this beautiful loon. My photo is only diagnostic; not a great pic. The views I got through the scope of a fellow birder and eventually through my own scope were fabulous. A nice find for the day. 

JUNE 22ND, 2018

Now I know that I am getting older. I go to post a new entry to my blog and I find that they have changed things up and I can't quite (not yet anyway) figure out how to convert my old blog to this new one. But I did manage to get this far so here we go. And I will try to import my old blog into this one when I figure it out.

3 new MN birds since my last entry. None of the 3 are Life Birds but all are new to the Minnesota list. After a fun trip to Detroit Lakes, Minnesota I found that the Fridley Northern Mockingbird was still hanging around. With the help of Doug Kieser and Paul Budde I got Minnesota bird #305. Then shortly after that, I made a trip to Woodbury, MN for an easy Ruddy Turnstone (bird #306) and then another easy bird at Afton State Park; the beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat. My Minnesota list now stands at 307. I am in a new attempt and that is to see all the "regular" Minnesota species of which there are 315. I need only 19 more but this may take some time. Stay tuned for another interesting quest. The Quest for 315.

JULY 7, 2018

Today, July 7th, Melinda and I were supposed to go visit my sister Patricia and her husband John at their new condo in Bloomington. My sister wasn't feeling well so Melinda asked if I wanted to go look for a new bird. That's a dumb question, I thought. I always want to go look for new birds. But I balked at first, thinking that it would end up just another long drive to Dundas, Minnesota to try for the Swainson's Hawk and then not see it. I was even more skeptical being that we wouldn't be there until after 11am. Well, we arrived about 11:20 am and drove down a few dirt side roads; the roads in the area where the bird has been spotted as of late. We were just about to drive on out of the area when we spotted a large raptor flying in the eastern sky. As we were looking at it, another raptor came out of no where; flying overhead toward our vehicle. We both got out our binoculars and we were both surprised to see that it was one of my nemesis birds; the Swainson's Hawk. The photo posted is not the best but based on the field markings, it was clearly the bird in question. It was also clearly being chased by a Red-winged Blackbird. The Swainson's Hawk was a Lifer for me, making my North American Life List 459 species. 480th bird if you include my birds from Germany. The hawk was added to my Minnesota list which now stands at 308. I have now seen 297 of the 315 Minnesota Regular Bird Species. 18 to go!!!!

BIRD COUNT UPDATE

As is with many who post, an amazingly long time since my last one. 5 new birds to tally since my 300th but still only at 304 due to the loss of the Thayer's Gull which got lumped in with the Iceland Gull. On December of 2015, I found my first Short-eared Owl. The only owl common to Minnesota that I need to see now is the Boreal Owl. As of this post there is an irruption of them which seems to happen every 5-7 years. I got late info of one being seen at Lake Vadnais County Park. I arrived 3 days too late. The next life bird I saw was a Barrow's Goldeneye at Mississippi River Park by the old K-Mart in Anoka. Speculation that this was a hybrid bird but not conclusive enough for me so I counted it for my list. Next was a beautiful Mountain Bluebird that I took two cracks at. The first time Melinda was with me and we ran into Doug Kieser; one of the good birders from Minneapolis. Here is a photo of the bird from my second attempt.

Just before the 4th of July 2016 - apropos for the time of year - I nailed the Summer Tanager. It was a trip with Melinda, her mother Selma, and our niece Olivia. While they walked through a maze of fun at the Minnesota Arboretum, I patiently stalked the bird and finally - just before needing to leave, I heard and was drawn to this beauty.

And finally as the reason for my posting - it was on January 16 of this year, one day after my father-in-law Ivan's birthday, I tagged my 305th Minnesota Bird, also a lifer; the Northern Goshawk. I was able to get info from eBird, a birding web site that I frequent. A good deal for me because it was another local bird. I only needed to travel to Brooklyn Park's Oak Grove Park for this hard to find winter migrant.

Now currently at 451 North American Birds; 472 total - including my birds seen in Germany.