Exploring Iowa (1 Viewer)

Time to study up on sparrows -- Vesper, Savannah, Field, American Tree, Chipping and Song Sparrows are all likely to be encountered while out and about. I have trouble with them when they're being uncooperative, which some of them tend to be.

But today, a few White-throated Sparrows made things a little easier for me -- they're a bit more obvious even at a short glance.

Other less-common birds on a drizzly day were a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Belted Kingfisher. Yellow-rumped Warblers are abundant.

If you have a Google Earth plugin for your browser, you can see my latest outing here.

sross said:

Time to study up on sparrows -- Vesper, Savannah, Field, American Tree, Chipping and Song Sparrows are all likely to be encountered while out and about. I have trouble with them when they're being uncooperative, which some of them tend to be.

But today, a few White-throated Sparrows made things a little easier for me -- they're a bit more obvious even at a short glance.

Other less-common birds on a drizzly day were a Lesser Yellowlegs and a Belted Kingfisher. Yellow-rumped Warblers are abundant.

Click to expand...

Numerous White-throated Sparrows now, along with more yellowlegs and kingfishers.

Encountered a couple of more Palm Warblers today, but the Yellow-rumped Warblers are noticeably less abundant.

A couple of more FOY were Wilson's Phalarope and House Wren. The Tree Swallows that were so abundant skimming over the water's surface at Stolley Gravel Pit Park seem to have dispersed.

A number of Canada Goose goslings were seen with their parents.

If you have a Google Earth plugin for your browser, you can see my latest outing here.

A Summer Tanager in Iowa Great Lakes Area

A great day birding in the Iowa Great Lakes Area. Too windy to detect many of the warblers that may be around, but tallied 74 species anyway.

FOY included Chimney Swift, Great Egret, Lincoln's Sparrow, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Forster's Tern, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Dickcissel and -- for a real treat -- a Summer Tanager.

If you have a Google Earth plugin for your browser, you can see this latest trip here.

We weren't counting on this outing, so the map points simply indicate that the species was present at a location.

Brooks Golf Course -- 76 species

Windy morning following rain right before heading out, but a great variety of birds at this Audubon-certified golf course near Spirit Lake.

Among the FOY for me were American Redstart, Baltimore Oriole, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler. Blue-gray gnatcatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Bobolink, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Cliff Swallow, Common Yellowthroat, Harris's Sparrow, Least Sandpiper, Magnolia Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Orchard Oriole, Palm Warbler, Pectoral Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Tennessee Warbler, Willow Flycatcher, and Wood Thrush.

Locations are Google Earth mapped.

You can find a link to my Google Earth Bird Map of Brooks National Golf Club here.

So many time I wish I had packed my binocs along with my golf clubs. We have a lot of links style golf courses were the rough is left high and there is a lot of areas for the meadow birds. Saw a lot of great wildlife on golf courses from gold finches to alligators and the golfing interferes with the birding.

Gary Polliard said:

So many time I wish I had packed my binocs along with my golf clubs. We have a lot of links style golf courses were the rough is left high and there is a lot of areas for the meadow birds. Saw a lot of great wildlife on golf courses from gold finches to alligators and the golfing interferes with the birding.

Click to expand...

After experiencing the variety of birds on the Brooks course, I'm quite sure I will remember to pack the binocs along on my next golf outing. Having to move along at a normal golfing pace, undoubtedly missing many birds along the way, will add a new kind of frustration to the game ... ;-).

Warblers, Flycatchers, Catbirds and Thrushes

The warbler migration is providing a lot of great viewing in the last week or so, despite weather that has often been somewhat less than nice.

Swainson's Thrushes seem to be everywhere I go and there are suddenly good numbers of flycatchers around. Lots of Gray Catbirds right now too.

I've added a link to the birds seen on a warbler walk held in conjunction with the Wings and Wetlands weekend held concurrently at several Iowa nature centers.

My last three outings have turned up 75-85 species each. I'm really impressed with the variety of birds in northwest Iowa!

My Google Earth Bird Map links can be found here.