Megan's Nature Nook
Nature Notes, Phenology, Photography, Fun Facts, Trips, Maybe Even a Bad Joke or Two... and More!
April wasn’t quite as crazy as March, but still plenty of birds to go around! And more on the horizon with spring migration starting to heat up! I started the month off in Minnesota, did some birding in Nebraska mid April, and rounded out the month back in Minnesota. I added 30 birds for the month, with 14 new Lifer birds. It was another fun month of birding with more on the way for May! Here are a few Birding Journal excerpts: Sunday, April 18, 2021 Today Tony and I were in search of a Burrowing Owl – we found some prairie dog towns but no owls. We did however add 3 birds to my year list and two were lifers! We saw Northern Pintail, American Widgeon, and the most surprising – a Cinnamon Teal! We saw tons of other waterfowl like teal, Northern Shovelers, and Coots along with a Northern Harrier that was flying above the prairie. We didn’t get our “target bird” but had a successful day of birding at Houltine WMA! So far the three times I have gone out in search of a specific species have not been successful. I’ve always found a new bird, just not the one I had gone out looking for! Saturday, April 24, 2021 Today was a grebe day! Out on Lake Superior there was an Eared Grebe and Red-necked Grebe among some other divers and a Common Loon. Thursday, April 29, 2021 After work we went out to the Kalmar Reservoir to look for shorebirds. We brought the spotting scope since they’re tricky to ID! Right away we saw and heard an Eastern Meadowlark. We saw some shorebirds we already had, but got 3 new ones today! American Golden Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Least Sandpiper. We observed and deliberated a lot but were able to ID those new ones Another successful day of birding! With pictures, we later ID’d a Long-billed Dowitcher adding to our count. April Birds: (The first number represents the number of species for the year, the number in parenthesis represents the number of species for the month) April 1 – Pine Island, NE 101. (1) American Kestrel April 2 – Sand Point Trail, Frontenac State Park, Frontenac, MN 102. (2) Eastern Phoebe 103. (3) Wood Duck 104. (4) Canvasback* 105. (5) Redhead* 106. (6) Lesser Scaup 107. (7) Golden-crowned Kinglet April 3 – Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN 108. (8) Hooded Merganser 109. (9) Red-breasted Merganser* 110. (10) Common Loon April 4 – Lake Koronis, Paynesville, MN 111. (11) Greater White Fronted Goose* 112. (12) Gadwall 113. (13) Common Redpoll April 18 – Hultine WMA, Eldorado, NE 114. (14) Northern Pintail* 115. (15) American Wigeon* 116. (16) Cinnamon Teal* April 24 – Lake Superior, Lutsen, MN 117. (17) Eared Grebe* 118. (18) Red-throated Grebe* April 25 – Red Wing, MN 119. (19) Purple Finch 120. (20) Ruby-crowned Kinglet April 26 – Red Wing, MN 121. (21) Brown Creeper 122. (22) White-throated Sparrow April 27 – Oxbow Park, Byron, MN 123. (23) Broad-winged Hawk April 28 Oxbow Park, Byron, MN 124. (24) Rose-breasted Grosbeak 125. (25) White-crowned Sparrow April 29 – Kalmar Reservoir, Byron, MN 126. (26) American Golden Plover* 127. (27) Eastern Meadowlark* 128. (28) Semipalmated Sandpiper* 129. (29) Least Sandpiper* 130. (30) Long-billed Dowitcher* The Stats: Bird Species this Year: 130 Species for April: 30 Days Birded this Year: 43 Days Birded in April: 13 Lifers in April: 14 (Birds with an (*) are Lifer Birds) Read my other Big Year related posts by clicking the button below.
2 Comments
Stacy Bitenc
5/2/2021 09:02:53 am
Way to go! My daughter and I would love to do a big year"ish" here in Texas before she goes to college.
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Megan Betcher
5/3/2021 09:31:56 pm
Thanks for reading! It sure has been fun getting out and finding new birds! Texas is a great place to bird and is on my list to go to some time!
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