Friday, September 21st. This is the first day using our new birding report location on the site and so far, a slow day. A couple of cormorants on Buck’s lake, and a lone turkey vulture circling above the Henderson bridge is all I spotted on a quick trip out... must be the wind as it's blowing pretty good out there. You can expect to see input from Art and Barb Straub on a regular basis here. Perhaps there will be something from them yet today or this evening on their sightings for the day.

Saturday, September 22nd. There were approximately 40 Canada Geese lounging around a field pool 2 miles South of LeSueur on Co. Rd 36 (along the Scenic Byway). They seemed to be taking a rest stop on this beautiful fall day. The fall colors are getting spectacular out there. We also spotted a Great blue heron standing in the waters at the south end of Buck's Lake, along MN Hwy 93, there with three cormorants dipping their long necks in the water.

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The SUMAC is outstanding along the Scenic Byway Henderson to BellePlaine, at least five hues and colors....worthy of a trip from the Twin Cities and elsewhere. Yellow shafted flickers abound along wooded country roads and in ditches, in particular from the summit of Pumpkin Hill heading south. Sharp-shinned hawks from Canada and other points north have begun harrassing small birds at feeders, while the Cooper's hawk and its buddies are hot on the trail of any feathered critter witless enough to forget to watch its back. Kestrals numerous on wires especially near country roads west of Henderson. Many flocks (groups of families) of Canada geese grace the skies over the valley after 8:30 a.m. feeding time and again near dusk as they drop to the comparative safety of the Minnesota River. Spectacular Saturday!!!!!

Greater yellowlegs (single) on Mn River twixt LeSueur-Henderson. Large flocks of unspecified species gulls riding thermals above Mn River Valley. Occasional but frequent hawks of variety of species including red-tailed, Cooper's, red-shouldered, and of course, sharp-shinned. Random vultures...lots of road-kill to choose from. As corn is being harvested, young raccoons particularly susceptible to vehicular traffic.
Twenty-seven bluebirds in family flocks eastern Tyrone Township. Flock of thirteen wild turkeys, all female, all appeared to be 2007 hatch. Turkey hatch excellent judging by size of flocks, count up 60 percent from 2006 in this area.

Due to rain, birds inactive much of 9/30 morning and afternoon. When rain ceased, bluejay, yellow shafted flicker and robin exodus recommenced. Toward evening, small flocks of unidentified warblers could be spotted feeding on insects, up one branch and down the other, flitting and examining undersides of leaves and bark. Due to leaden sky, colors of warblers were obscured so as to make identification impossible to the untrained eye. Their tiny size and constant movement were clues to the species. Where are the pelicans? Cormorants were feeding at the mouth of Rush River, first observation this autumn. Rush River has risen as well as the Minnesota due to the plentiful rainfall of the past week. Many individual vultures on the move 9/29 but not 9/30. None on LeSueur radio tower past three days. Large (l2-l7 birds) turkey flocks observed "drying out" on road-sides after rainfall.

When the sun came from behind the clouds around 3:00 today, the birds of field and forest fairly burst forth. We observed a red-headed woodpecker apparently migrating with a batch of flickers; yellow-rumped warblers on the Nature Trail to the Minnesota River; many other kinds of warblers in treetops and foliage...wherever insects were gathered; a rufous sided towhee skipping warily across a path; two unidentified wrens; too many to count white-throated sparrows...silent as wraiths; bluebird individuals and duos, no family flocks; AND, a surprise but harbingers of things to come, a goodly number of dark-eyed juncos. About 4:00, with many kinds of insects a-sky, the Green Corner was alive with bird life! However, the silence was deafening! No spring/summer territorial calls or songs of romance...strictly feed and flee. Numerous pecies of butterflies afloat,especially the Cloudless sulphur which is a migrator, not unlike the Monarch.

10/3, silent woodland but active critters. White-throated sparrows elusive in the hedgerows...reminds one of people when they do not wish their photos taken. Many gulls circling, wheeling, crying overhead in the azure blue sky. A few floating turkey vultures, variety of hawks slowing wending southward. An unusual sighting was that of a kestral harrassing a crow, and the crow didn't care for the juvenile behavior one bit! This kind of behavior would be common during June or July, when the small hawk was guarding its nest or young, but this is October. The hawk seemed to be delighting in its game of tag. After some minutes of being highly annoyed, a troup of three additional crows took after the hawk. This ended the pesky behavior. This was a perfect day for pelican displays, yet nary a one was observed.

About a dozen seagulls around the Ney Center on 10/3, also a couple pheasants, a turkey and other birds I didn't identify.

Lon, great to hear pheasants rattling this a.m. at Ney. Observed no warblers in the deep ravine, however many white throated sparrows in hedgerows and foxtail grasses. They are so very elusive, never alighting where one can shoot a photo, always skimming through the low grasses and bushes! The big surprise was a yellow-bellied sapsucker. We assumed they had all departed for Texas carrying a suitcase full of wormy apples. Observed more flocks of juncos, and was successful with photo proof, not good photos, but proof that they've arrived in our parts. Monarchs were single but almost a dozen from west to east.

Riverbottoms to north and east of Henderson Dike teeming with tiny itsy bitsy warblers today, October 11th. Robins, woodducks in flooded riverets, and even an
elusive member of the flycatcher family, an Eastern phoebe....it refused to be photographed, leading us further and further into the thickets. The warblers were incredibly busy zipping up and down the stems of foliage on the forest floor for insectivora, even darting out to willows above the flooded portions of the bottomland. All of the aforementioned activity occurred close to Marc Hagen's Pelican Oxbow Lake. Snowmobile trails make exploration easy and accessable, there were no "No Trespassing" signs anywhere in sight. Exploration so easy as just off dike area trail.