I was speaking at a the SDOU meeting in Sioux Falls SD this weekend and after this morning's field trips, Doug Chapman, Dick Latuchie and I headed into Rock County, MN. Highlights included a male SPOTTED TOWHEE and singing male Blue Grosbeak. Details and a full eBird report of the birds we saw near the Interpretive Center are included below. Location: Blue Mounds SP--Interpretive Center Observation date: 5/23/10 Notes: This was my first trip to Blue Mound State Park. We succeeded in finding a singing male Blue Grosbeak, almost immediately after arriving. The biggest surprise was a male arcticus Spotted Towhee. OBSERVERS: Chris Wood, Doug Chapman, Dick Latuchie. WEATHER: 83F. Fairly calm. 20% clouds. Number of species: 39 Canada Goose 45 Turkey Vulture 9 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Mourning Dove 1 Common Nighthawk 5 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Eastern Kingbird 5 Blue Jay 1 American Crow 1 Tree Swallow 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1 Bank Swallow 2 Cliff Swallow 4 Barn Swallow 3 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 House Wren 2 Sedge Wren 3 Eastern Bluebird 1 American Robin 4 Brown Thrasher 2 Yellow Warbler 6 Common Yellowthroat 2 Spotted Towhee 1 **Rare. Also seems very late for a spring migrant. Male. I didn't see the wings and tail well enough to look for signs of molt to accurately age the bird. Heard singing once, but was otherwise quiet. It was east of the building along the powerline cut. We first saw it in a cedar and it then flew into some of the shrubs near the building. Extensive white spotting on scapulars, white in outer RR with brown shaft streak typical of arcticus Spottted Towhee. Chipping Sparrow 2 Clay-colored Sparrow 3 Field Sparrow 5 Grasshopper Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 1 Blue Grosbeak 1 Heard almost immediately after we parked the car. The bird sang consistently from below (south) of the parking lot. Indigo Bunting 1 Dickcissel 1 flyover calling. Bobolink 1 Red-winged Blackbird 5 Western Meadowlark 2 Common Grackle 1 Brown-headed Cowbird 1 Orchard Oriole 2 Baltimore Oriole 4 American Goldfinch 3 Cheers, Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html