I found a Golden-Winged Warbler last spring when I was volunteering for the BirdSafe monitoring project, but it was already dead, so I couldn't count that one. It would be much more satisfying to see one alive anyway. I also saw in our local paper this week that a Spotted Towhee has been hanging out in a backyard in Austin, MN (only 26 miles away) so a trip to Austin is on my agenda for this coming weekend. I'm hoping to be able to check off the Bohemian Waxwing and Long-Tailed Duck during the upcoming Sax-Zim Winter Birding festival.
I'll be posting periodic updates to this list as progress is made. This is a pretty ambitious list, but I do have an entire year to achieve my goal. Wish me luck!
9 comments:
#14 sings on my deck almost every morning. Come on down! :c)
An ambitious list and goal. I see the same 8-10 species every day at my feeders.
That's a good list! And some of those birds won't be easy. Others are easier but are usually only seen serendipitously. I'd think the merlin might be the easiest of the lot.
Spotted Towhee seen in Austin.
I have seen 9 of those birds in Ontario. (We have lots of Merlins around) Long-tailed Ducks are on Lake Ontario by the thousands in the winter and Red-breasted Mergansers are easily found too in the same areas. I wouldn't have seen a Lapland Longspur if I hadn't been banding Snow Buntings. Good luck...the Warblers may be the biggest challenge.
Oooo--I like the birdie border.
No Carolina Wren yet, really? It must be really really cold where you are!
I think I need all of these except for the American Bittern, which in a stroke of blind luck Baron and I spotted at Lake Louise last spring. I've come to much prefer that place for dog walking/birding for one simple reason few horses compared to overcrowded Forestville... :)
I wish a trip like that was in my budget Jayne.....I know I'd get a bunch of lifers in your backyard!
It sure is Gaelyn. I believe most of these birds are fairly regular in Minnesota, if I'm ambitious enough to work for them. Hopefully the price of gas doesn't go up much before spring migration brings many of these birds back to the north country.
Thanks Carolyn. I was thinking the Merlin might be the hardest -- along with the Carolina Wren.....
Took 2 trips Richard, but I got that Towhee!!
Hi Ruth,
I'm hoping to get a couple checked off my list during the Sax-Zim festival in Feb. The warblers might be attainable if I can manage another trip to northern Minnesota during spring migration.
Thanks Donna. That's from my Microsoft Publisher stock borders -- I thought it was appropriate for this. :-)
Hi Laura,
Yes, pretty cold. They've been seen in Rochester (even during the winter) on previous occasions, but that was prior to my "hard core" birding days, so I never made the attempt to check the Carolina Wren off my list.
Thanks Ray, that's good to know. I've never birded Lake Louise, so that will be one of my first stops this spring.
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