Monday, April 8, 2019

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!!!!