Hey birders,



I led a local shorebird fieldtrip this morning.  We ended up with 60
species total for the trip highlighted by the following shorebirds:



Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper

Short-billed Dowitcher

Wilson's Phalarope



Two locations are worth highlighting.  County Road 21 southeast of the
Harkin Store was outstanding with numerous egrets, herons, and pelicans.
You will need a spotting scope and make sure you pay attention to traffic.
There were probably close to 200 shorebirds there and all species except
Solitary, Gr. Yellowlegs, and dowitcher.  The second location is the
"cattle pond" on CR111 north of Nicollet which had numerous peeps and had
the dowitcher.



There were some shorebirds at the Nicollet sewage ponds (Greater
Yellowlegs, Least and Spotted Sandpipers) but this site is difficult to get
to because of the construction on Hwy 14.  Hwy 14 is closed from Mankato to
Nicollet and you cannot go south on CR23 from Nicollet so you’ll have to
navigate from CR25 coming in from the west.



One other neat sighting that we had was north of Courtland where we had
several power lines weighed down by Bank Swallows.  There were hundreds
staging just north of the middle Courtland WMA.



Happy birding!



Chad Heins

Mankato



*Chad Heins*

Assistant Professor of Biology



Bethany Lutheran College

700 Luther Drive

Mankato, MN 56001

Office: 507.344.7327  | Toll Free: 800.944.3066

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