<div dir="ltr">I live in a townhouse in White Bear Township, near a constructed pond with some woodland next to it. My impression is that barn and tree swallows are as common as usual. Song sparrows are down a bit, but still very common. Red-winged blackbirds have had a banner year producing more red-winged blackbirds. Mallard broods are common. We also had broods of Canada geese (yippee!), wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and pied-billed grebes on our pond. The most noticeable differences from previous years seem to be a greater number of house wrens and ubiquitous gray catbirds; I see both of these species where I had not seen them in the past 10 years.<div><br></div><div>These reports demonstrate the value of repeated monitoring, using consistent methods, of the same areas year after year. The North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) does exactly that. I would be interested in hearing from folks who run BBS routes to see if they noticed major changes in recent years.</div><div><br></div><div>Doug Johnson</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 8:14 PM, ssmorton via Mnbird <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mnbird@lists.mnbird.net" target="_blank">mnbird@lists.mnbird.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>I have few birds at our feeders in SW MN. Other than grackles, house sparrows and bluejays, feeder birds are few and far between. Even the grackles and sparrows are fewer than normal. I do have mourning and EC doves.</div><div><br></div><div>Sue Morton</div><div>Cottonwood</div><div>Lyon County<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jun 28, 2015, at 7:38 PM, Gkuyava--- via Mnbird <<a href="mailto:mnbird@lists.mnbird.net" target="_blank">mnbird@lists.mnbird.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<div>After seeing several comments about fewer birds around it became obvious to
me that we are experiencing the same problem in t he east Duluth
area. I attributed some to migration and then the busy birds nesting
and taking care of their young. Except for the hummers almost no birds are
seen at our feeders. </div>
<div>the spring migration seemed normal but it has been not normal since. No
chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks or most of the sparrows and goldfinches.
What is going one. Has the bird flu that has affected our poultry
flocks moved on to the wild birds?</div>
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<div>Gary Kuyava in Duluth </div>
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<div> </div></font></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Mnbird mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:Mnbird@lists.mnbird.net" target="_blank">Mnbird@lists.mnbird.net</a></span><br><span><a href="http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net" target="_blank">http://lists.mnbird.net/mailman/listinfo/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net</a></span><br></div></blockquote></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">*****************************************<br>Douglas H. Johnson<br>Research Statistician, retired<br>USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center<br>Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology<br>2003 Upper Buford Circle, Suite 135.<br>University of Minnesota<br>St. Paul, MN 55108<br>Phone: 612-624-4716<br>Fax: 612-625-5299<br>Email: <a href="mailto:Douglas_H_Johnson@usgs.gov" target="_blank">Douglas_H_Johnson@usgs.gov</a><br>*****************************************<div><br></div><div>Most of the time I am a truthful person, but when you are dealing with bureaucracy, careful lying is sometimes essential.<div><br></div><div>George E. P. Box</div></div></div></div></div></div>
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