Bird Watching

[M.T. Bucket]

Hibbing isn't the only place with few birds lately, JR. I haven't seen much in Itasca county in a month--and believe me, I've been looking. I've had a couple of other people in the area tell me that the woods and feeders have been silent lately. It's almost eerie...I can't wait for the migrants to return. The last couple of days I was in Moose Lake--saw quite a few Great Gray Owls, a Northern Harrier, and a Rough-legged Hawk.

[bmc]

Last week in Cohasset, MN I saw about 30-40 mallards, 30 or so canada geese, about 20 common goldeneyes, and 1 lonely drake hooded merganser. Oh yeah and a loner drake ringbill. The goldeneye drakes were already starting to perform the mating ritual with the hens, throwing their heads back. It looked like a couple of the mallards have already paired up too. Yep, spring is right around the corner.

Brian

[M.T. Bucket]

I birded the open water in Cohasset back in January. I found 10 Common Goldeneyes, 2 Common Mergansers, 12 Canada Geese, and the lone Ringbill [edit: Ringneck} (he's been paddling around by himself all winter). There weren't any Mallards at all back in January, so these are definitely fresh birds.

[Riverratpete]

Ducks and geese really showed up in Brooklyn Park/Champlin fields this morning, every little holding pond had birds on them now waiting for the water to show up, might have to put he oranges and jelly feeders out this weekend.

[bmc]

Hey M.T.

I was at the Cohasset bridge this afternoon around 4:30 and saw a pair of black ducks mixed in with the mallards. My daughter's even said hey dad, what's that black duck over there. I raised the binoc's and sure enough it was a black duck. They look like a chocolate covered hen mallard. Pretty cool. I just can't get enough of them goldeneyes down there, I could watch them all day. LOL

Brian

[fishingmike0770]

Me and my buddy headed out to a canal early today and saw a ton of ducks and geese. We saw that the open water extended out around a point that you cant see around so we headed out there around 5 o'clock with a camara and some camo to go out around the corner. We got to the other sides and there were 100+ ducks and about 20 geese. We stayed out and took some awesome picks of a pair of ringbills that were only 20 yds away! Soon as about 6:30 came around, the honkers and mallards came in from the fields, another 500+ mallards and 100+ honkers joined the waterfowl in the canal for the night.

We also saw 2 coyotes running around the cattails on the opposite side of the canal! They were really cool to watch!

I have never actually took pics of ducks like this before and now i want to go buy a really nice camara to take nice pics.

[M.T. Bucket]

Wow. I went to Cohasset hoping to see the Black Ducks, but no luck. The waterfowl are really starting to pack the area. I did see a lone Hooded Merganser paddling around out there. Besides all of the waterfowl you mentioned, I saw:

- a swan fly over, don't know if it was a trumpeter or tundra

- a flock of Bohemian Waxwings, just east of the new light in Cohasset

- a Red-winged Blackbird, at the public access near the bridge

- 2 Great Blue Herons flying over the bridge

- a Red-tailed Hawk on Hwy 2

I was also just east of the town of Blackduck (coincidental to your post) and heard a Boreal Chickadee and several Golden-crowned Kinglets.

Thanks for the report, I like hearing about the waterfowl situation in Cohasset!

[Dotch]

delmuts,

Do you happen to know the Ruebers from Sumner? They don't have feathers and can't fly but they do raise critters just like we do. Been like Wild Kingdom here lately in the morning during chores. Geese overhead constantly and several rooster pheasants heard crowing across the landscape.

[Dotch]

A friend just sent me this so thought we'd share it.

http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

[knoppers]

was fishing the palisade area today, had 4 bald eagles come over me, they were flying in circles like they were fishing, I think the 2.5 feet of ice was to much. also watched a deer cross the lake. driving by mille lacs, there were some mergansers on the open water at stream mouths.

[The Grebe]

We seen a large Bald Eagle up by Mille Lacs today...we also seen another huge bird down by Ann lake, some kind of Eagle?

Maybe it was an immature Bald Eagle but it was as big, or bigger then the mature one we seen up by Mille Lacs....do we have Golden Eagles here? Are they bigger then the Bald Eagle?

We also seen some kind of strange looking bird today and I thought my bud and I were going to get into a wrestling match over it! I said it was some kind of Swan,....he said it was a Crane?

Had a Swan shaped body, long neck, Swan looking head and black looking legs and feet that extended back, just past his tail feathers, which were short.

The thing was making some kind of odd noise as it flew by, more in line with a type of honk...at least I thought so?

It looked kind of bluish in color, not like a Heron, lighter and I believe it had some black markings around it's eye? Neither one of us had ever seen a bird like it?

[knoppers]

could have been a sand hill crane.

we have had golden eagles here in big lake, which are bigger than bald eagles. I seen one last weekend sitting on the ice on the elk river, I believe it was a eagle, it was no bald eagle, and it was very large. my uncle has seen them on his farm about a half mile north of the river. they are very seldom seen around here, but they do show up.

[M.T. Bucket]

Grebe,

That description could cover a Sandhill Crane or any of the 3 swans possible in Minnesota. All are capable of honking-type sounds. I would tend to believe you saw a swan (probably a Trumpeter or a Tundra), because it would be more likely to be described as having short feet behind a short tail--Sandhill Crane have slightly longer feet and tails in flight. Also the Sandhill has a red marking near the eye, swans show dark lores. I might be wrong, but I think you would be somewhat more likely to see a lone swan right now than a lone Sandhill Crane because Sandhills form pair bonds while staging for migration. This probably isn't a hard rule though.

I have seen one swan up here this year but I haven't heard of any Sandhills in the north just yet. Swans need only find open water, cranes would need to find an open field or meadow, which might be a little tougher right now.

knoppers,

The raptor experts at Hawk Ridge have recorded ~25 Golden Eagles so far in March, so there are definitely a few passing through right now. I've only had one encounter where I felt completely sure that I had seen a Golden Eagle and not a Bald Eagle. The bird was perched on the early ice of November on the SW corner of Lower Red Lake. I pulled over and saw right away the golden nape of the head and neck (which is ALWAYS present on Golden Eagles but not Bald Eagles). I think that because the Golden Eagle has a little more of a robust build and a darker appearance it tends to appear somewhat larger than an immature Bald Eagle, but in reality it is slightly shorter overall with a slightly shorter wingspan, although it outweighs the Bald Eagle by ~1/2 lb on average.

The adult Golden Eagle shows almost no white on the wings, tail, or breast, while the immature Bald Eagle always does. The immature Golden Eagle has a white patch on each wing and a broad white band on the tail, but it is much more sharply defined compared to the interspersed 'dirty' white of the immature Bald Eagle. I hope you find that information useful in future encounters. Later.

[The Grebe]

M.T...I still think it was some kind of Swan, because of the leg thing. I've seen the Sandhill Cranes out in the fields up by Little Falls and this bird had neither the elongated build, (Looked like it was shaped more like a huge goose) the leg length, nor the color.

We were in the early stages of our trip up to Mille Lacs and I capitulated, so as not to take away from the moment,

Swan vs. Crane...I was going to try to beat him senseless, over his assumption, the Perch were more important

just kidding.

Any of you bird watchers out there that posted the terrific

bird pictures last fall, if you have a picture of a Tundra Swan vs. a Sandhill Crane, how about posting them?

[jonny_redhorse]

grebe .not really sure what type of bird you got there but here's a pic of a sandhill crane.....

and here's a tundra/trumpeter photo....(tundra is on the right...trumpeter on the left...

[The Grebe]

JR...you know what? I believe it may have been a Sand Hill Crane now that I look at them? It definately was'nt one of the pictured Swans, thats for sure! Through the process of elimination, I think I will say it was a Crane and leave it at that! Thank you very much for your excellent photo posting.

[Dotch]

Next week we work on the ear wax...

From Fencelines:

"More recent avian arrivals from points south this past week. Killdeers are scooting around the pasture and pond while a meadowlark was noticed the other morning. Saw a pair of eastern kingbirds and am pretty sure Monday morning I could hear bluebirds. Once again, no time before work to go looking for them but the call is unmistakable. Good thing I trimmed my ear hair and cleaned out the bluebird houses last week. Mourning doves are cooing in the morning now outside the window. Used to think they were called “morning doves” because that’s usually when I’d hear them. Along with the doves, wave after wave of geese have been heard honking overhead. Judging by the scattered crowing across the landscape, the rooster pheasants are beginning to hook up with the hens. Spotted numerous hens this past week too so that ought to keep the little two, three or four-timers occupied. Toss in the din raised by the blackbirds, robins and bellering sheep, and it becomes tough to get much sleep once daylight approaches."

[Dotch]

Just returned from a binocular trip to our pond. Unreal just how many species of ducks have showed up in the 2 or 3 days since the ice went out. This morning there were several pairs of mallards, blue winged teal, Northern shovelers, a pair of wood ducks, a pair of ring necked ducks, Also a pair of green winged teal and a couple pairs of hooded mergansers that kept me guessing at first with all their diving and hood up, hood down antics. Could sit out there all day and watch but alas, work to do.

[M.T. Bucket]

Yeah. So far in Itasca County this year I've seen all of these waterfowl:

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Mallard

Ring-necked Duck

Common Goldeneye

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

Pied-billed Grebe

American Coot

Other migrants that have returned to Itasca in the last week or so:

Great Blue Heron

Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

American Kestrel

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Mourning Dove

Tree Swallow (what are they eating?!?!)

Brown Creeper

Winter Wren

Golden-crowned Kinglet

American Robin

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle

Lots of new birds to look at now! The winter gang is still around too--Common Redpoll, Great Gray Owl, Northern Shrike, Northern Hawk Owl. An excellent week to be out. Can't wait to see what April blows in next.

[knoppers]

saw many great grey owls today, I am surprised they still are hanging around. checked out some land NW of duluth today, the rivers where still mostly ice covered, walked up to a small drainage that was running strong with snow melt, and a couple of wood ducks were in it. also saw a morning dove here.

[M.T. Bucket]

Hey! Are you out there, fishface? I'm looking to find out what birds are around Sherburne (sp?) these days. I'm planning on heading down there to bird near the end of April (finally!)

[fishface5]

I wish I could be a bit more helpfull but, I've been forced to spend most of the past few months in Brooklyn Park. My feeder maint. has been poor to say the least. The Warblers should be coming through though. Past years they are pretty thick, lots of different kinds too. Boy it seems like a little of this, a little of that... The variety this time of year has been great. If you let me know when you'll be around maybe we could do some bird look'n, or fishing.

[fishface5]

Bump

[M.T. Bucket]

Ahh. I wish I could. I'll be on a pretty tight itinerary, as I will be birding Aitkin county, Mille Lacs, Sherburne, St. John's in St. Cloud, Big Stone NWR, Salt Lake, Lac Qui Parle County Park, the Minnesota River, Thielke Lake, and anywhere else that looks interesting on the way. Should find lots of birds with such varied habitats.

If I see anyone in Sherburne with a 'fish face', I'll definitely stop and yell, "Hey fish face!!" If he doesn't get mad, I'll know it's you and I'll visit for a while.

We've already got a few Yellow-rumped Warblers up here.

[fishface5]

Wow, Quite the road trip! Do you do the bird lookin' for buis., school, or pleasure. (If it's for buis. or school, I know it's more than likely a great pleasure) Keep posting what you're seeing throughout your travels. Drive safe.