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<p>Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter</p>
<p>Southern Minnesota Birding Days</p>
<p>Field Trip Report</p>
<p>September 14 - Waseca County</p>
<p>September 15 - Steele County</p>
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<p>Our group enjoyed a couple nice days of birding in Waseca and Steele counties. Migrants were present in a number of locations, but not in large numbers. We observed a total of 15 species of Warblers, but only 6 species of Shorebirds. Here are some of
the locations that had many of the birds we observed:</p>
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<p>Waseca County</p>
<p>Goose Lake - Public Access on the North side of the lake.</p>
<p>We observed a few Warblers and other song birds here.</p>
<p>Blowers Park</p>
<p>We observed some Warblers and Vireo's along the entrance road to the park.</p>
<p>Janesville WTP</p>
<p>Lots of Killdeer and some Franklins Gulls. But no other Shorebirds were observed here.</p>
<p>MN 13, just South of CR 22.</p>
<p>There was a small flooded area of a field on the East side of MN 13 that had some Shorebirds.</p>
<p>American Golden Plover</p>
<p>Killdeer</p>
<p>Least & Pectoral Sandpiper</p>
<p>Wilson's Snipe</p>
<p>Moonan Marsh</p>
<p>There were Sora's, Wilson's Snipe and a Stilt Sandpiper observed here.</p>
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<p>Steele County</p>
<p>SE 18th Street, between Bixby Road and CR 43</p>
<p>We spent a couple hours birding this section of road with the highlight being a couple Le Conte's Sparrows found in a weedy patch on the South side of the road, just West of SE 34th Ave.
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<p>Rice Lake State Park</p>
<p>We observed a few Warblers here and a single Forster's and a single Black Tern on the lake.</p>
<p>Sacred Heart Cemetery in Owatonna</p>
<p>There were lots of House Finches, Cedar Waxwings and a few Bay-breasted, Magnolia, Nashville and Blackpoll Warblers observed here.</p>
<p>Oak Glen Lake</p>
<p>There were 800+ Franklins Gulls counted on the lake and we observed another flock in the 100s flying South just North of the lake. There were also lots of Pied-billed Grebes there and two Horned Grebes.</p>
<p>Kaplan's Woods Park</p>
<p>We ended the trip here with a nice mix of Warblers including Black-and-white, Northern Parula and American Redstarts.</p>
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<p>Complete checklists are available on EBird.</p>
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<p>Upcoming MRVAC and MVNWR walks include;</p>
<p>September 18 - 8:00 am - Bass Ponds </p>
<p>September 22 - 8:00 am - Goodhue County</p>
<p>September 23 - 8:00 am - Bass Ponds</p>
<p>September 26 - 8:00 am - Rapids Lake Unit</p>
<p>September 28 - MRVAC General Membership Meeting</p>
<p>Bloomington Visitor Center - 7:00 pm</p>
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<p>Craig Mandel</p>
<p>Minnetonka, Hennepin County</p>
<p>EgretCMan@msn.com</p>
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