Author: Greg (---.tds.net)
Date: 05-08-03 12:55
The list of birds seen prior to the April meeting was posted on the bulletin board. Members used a checklist to report a total of one hundred twelve different species of birds seen in the area since the last meeting compared with only forty-nine last month. These included:
LOON (Common Loon)
GREBES (Pied-billed Grebe)
CORMORANT (Double-crested Cormorant)*
HERONS (Great Blue Heron)
SWANS (Trumpeter Swan, Tundra Swan)
GEESE (Canada Goose, White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose)
DUCKS ( Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Mallard Duck,
Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Canvasback,
Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead,
Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser. Red-breasted Merganser *)
VULTURES (Turkey Vulture)
HAWKS (Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk,
Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Rough-legged Hawk, Cooper¹s Hawk)
GROUSE (Ruffed Grouse)
QUAILS, PARTRIDGES & PHEASANTS (Ring-necked Pheasants, Greater Prairie
Chicken)
TURKEY (Wild Turkey)
RAILS (Sora)
COOT (American Coot)
CRANE (Sandhill Crane)
PLOVERS (Killdeer)
SANDPIPERS (American Woodcock, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs,
Wilson¹s Snipe)
GULLS (Bonaparte¹s Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull)
DOVES (Rock Dove, Mourning Dove)
OWLS (Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Long-eared Owl,
Short-eared Owl)
NIGHTHAWK (Common Nighthawk)
KINGFISHER (Belted Kingfisher)
WOODPECKERS (Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy
Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker)
FLYCATCHER (Eastern Phoebe)
LARK (Horned Lark)
SWALLOW (Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow)
JAYS (Blue Jay)
CROW (American Crow)
RAVEN (Common Raven)
CHICKADEES (Black-capped Chickadee)
NUTHATCHES (Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch)
CREEPER (Brown Creeper)
WRENS (Winter Wren)
KINGLETS (Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet)
THRUSHES (Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, American Robin)
WAXWINGS (Cedar Waxwing)
SHRIKES (Northern Shrike)
STARLING (European Starling
WARBKERS (Yellow-rumped Warbler)
CARDINALS (Northern Cardinal)
SPARROWS (American Tree Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Field
Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow,
White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco)
LONGSPUR (Lapland Longspur)
BUNTINGS (Snow Bunting)
BLACKBIRDS (Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Western Meadowlark,
Rusty Blackbird, Brewer¹s Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird)
FINCHES (Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Pine
Siskin)
WEAVER FINCH (House Sparrow)
Birds seen in the Chippewa Falls, but not the Medford area are marked with
an *.
The group went on to report sightings of birds of special interest seen
locally and on travels. These included: Seeing the crane migration in
Nebraska, observing a pelican in the south who skipped across water for at
least thirty feet and caught a fish is very muddy water, the effect of the
weather on birds during the last month, seeing about one hundred juncos in a
two day period when there had been none before, two juncos with very unusual
markings, the response of about fifty birds at a feeder when a sharp-shinned
hawk appeared, two loons on the mill pond, and the plight and rescue of
migrating loons who had landed on parking lots and very small ponds that did
not provide the necessary thirty foot take-off distance and needed to be
retrieved and moved to larger bodies of water. Prairie chickens were
reported to be booming near Owen with about five displaying near a road. One
bird was reported to be an apparent hybrid between a prairie chicken and
sharp-tailed grouse.
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