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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edward" data-source="post: 1281641" data-attributes="member: 822">Wednesday 28 MayAn early start (0530 a.m.) got us to Murphy-Hanrehan Regional Park in Savage, just south of Minneapolis, at 0600. The dawn chorus was impressive but although I had spent time listening to and learning American bird songs on CD back in Iceland, when you’re faced with it in the field it can become overwhelming and you struggle at first to remember a thing. There really is no substitute for seeing a bird in the field and hearing it sing or call, and so the first Chipping Sparrows’ calls were easily committed to memory for the rest of the trip. We parked at the main car park and walked down Murphy Lake Blvd, just keeping our eyes and ears open. American Goldfinches were very common (I’d only seen one female before in Central Park, so the male was a real treat), Hairy Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker in quick succession made for a good comparison. Red-eyed Vireos were common, a singing Swamp Sparrow afforded close views by the roadside, and five Ruby-throated Hummingbirds provided me with easily my best views of this species. Then I heard a song which I did recognise (from playing the CD on the way in the car that morning), and soon we had located a singing Blue-winged Warbler, one of several in the area. Another familiar sound was ringing through the woods from the surrounding lakes, Common Loon, and although we saw a couple fly over, we didn’t see many of Minnesota’s state bird. Other new birds for me along this stretch were two Yellow-throated Vireos, a pair of House Finch, three Eastern Bluebirds, a singing Field Sparrow, and a Wild Turkey which startled us as much as we startled it as it erupted from the grass. We then took the car a bit further on to where two of our target warblers, Hooded and Cerulean, were supposed to lurk. The woods were much denser here, and birding was not easy at all. We failed even to hear either species, but did see Ovenbird, a party of late Blackpoll Warblers, several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a male Black-throated Green Warbler, a female Canada Warbler, several American Redstarts and numerous Indigo Buntings at the edge of the forest. We followed a bizarre sound to its source, having no idea what it was, three excited White-breasted Nuthatches, and then we scored with a quartet of tyrant flycatchers on the way back to the car: Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Wood-Pewee, an incredibly noisy Great Crested Flycatcher and an Eastern Kingbird. After a pretty good sandwich in Burnsville we headed north, but lost two hours exchanging the rental car at the airport en route. The journey north was uneventful, with Common Raven and Turkey Vulture about it (aside from usual suspects such as American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird), but the landscape changed as we approached Duluth, assuming a distinctly more Nordic feel. We found a motel and then headed west towards Rice Lake NWR near McGregor. On the way we did an emergency stop and turn to check out a perched raptor by the road, the first Broad-winged Hawk of the trip. A bit further on a plump shape on the roadside wires prompted another pull-over (very easy on the amazingly broad American roads), a meadowlark sp. but which? Fortunately it was singing and easily identified as an Eastern Meadowlark and the birds here proved to be the only ones of the trip. As we were admiring the meadowlark, a jingle-jangle sound drifted across the fields, and its source was soon located, a stunning male Bobolink. Bobolinks were very common in rural areas throughout the trip but Simmi and I never tired of their superb plumage and song flight and it is a contender for bird of the trip despite being so common. Another unknown sound down a side road led us to the first of many Sedge Wrens, and just before McGregor (the GPS took us along many quiet backroads) the first American Kestrel was perched on roadside wires. Although Eckert says that there is nothing here that you can't see elsewhere Rice Lake NWR is a fine mixture of habitats: grasslands, marshes, woodland, streams and the lake itself and well worth visiting in our opinion. Dozens of Black Terns hawked over the marshes, a Canada Warbler was found by the road, and the trip's only Ruffed Grouse strutted along the road. Time was fairly short so we drove down to the lakeside, and the bushes and grass here were teeming with life. Bobolinks a-plenty, Savannah Sparrow and Clay-colored Sparrow were both new to me, and the bushes held Blackpoll Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warbler. The first Northern Harrier of the trip was pursued over the lake edge by Red-winged Blackbirds and two Wood Ducks perched in a nearby tree. We had dinner in rustic country bar in McGregor and it was dark by the time we got back to Duluth, but we saw a couple of Common Nighthawks on the way back and I'm almost certain a Great Horned Owl nearly bounced off my windscreen near Duluth. What other huge birds fly around at night? But I'll never know for sure.1.House Finch2. One of many fantastic Bobolinks3. Eastern Meadowlark4. Chipping Sparrow5. Eastern Kingbird</blockquote>

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