I have continued to be intrigued by the numbers and new locations of Blue 
Grosbeaks, so I have continued searching for them.  I haven't found any new 
birds myself but I do have some updates:

- I again observed the male BLGR at the Danube brush site on 8-7-14.  I did 
not check up on all the other birds I found a week ago.

- I did not find the BLGR at Gneiss Outcrops SNA in Chippewa County on 8-7-
14.

- Garrett Wee told me he found a male BLGR in Marshall's city limits on the very 
northwestern edge of town on London Road on 8-6-14.  Garrett is the birder 
who found the Blue Grosbeaks at the Cottonwood sewage ponds the last two 
years, and this year he found a nest there as well.

I recently wrote a blog post showing how I used satellite imagery to locate 
probable habitats within this seemingly expanding range of this species.  You 
can see photos of the satellite images and maps I used as well as BLGR 
pictures from around Danube at the following link:

http://www.aboywhocriedheron.com/2014/08/05/investigating-a-probable-
range-and-population-expansion-of-the-blue-grosbeak-in-minnesota/. 

The Danube birds are just 6 miles from Kandiyohi County - hopefully one will 
make the jump soon if it hasn't already!

Josh Wallestad

http://www.aboywhocriedheron.com

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