North Dakota Birding Hotline Reports

January 2007

Welcome to the North Dakota Rare Bird Alert compiled by the North Dakota Birding Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This report was prepared on Tuesday, January 30.

This week...hawks and owls in Grand Forks County, and a very rare winter visitor in southern Minnesota.

January 23 was especially productive for Eve Freeberg. She counted 80 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and 46 SHORT-EARED OWLS in the grasslands of Grand Forks County. On January 24, she re-found the TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE originally seen on January 5 at Memorial Park Cemetery in Grand Forks County. Also at that site was a GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. A lone GRAY JAY stopped briefly in Eve’s yard on January 29. For more information, call her at 701-741-8105.

A GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE has been seen in Mountain Lake, in southern Minnesota. The bird was banded in June in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and is a long ways from its wintering grounds in New Mexico, Arizona, southern Texas, or Mexico.

That concludes this report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Birding Society. This report is normally updated each Tuesday. The Fish and Wildlife Service operates 62 National Wildlife Refuges and more than 1,100 Waterfowl Production Areas in North Dakota...offering some of the best birding opportunities in the state. Contact Refuge offices for more information about visiting. For phone numbers of individual Refuges, as well as additional information, go to the Fish and Wildlife Service web site at www.fws.gov. Click on Offices, and click on North Dakota on the map.

Welcome to the Birding Hotline operated by the North Dakota Birding Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This report was prepared on Tuesday, January 23.

Some familiar spots provide many of the sightings this week.

Sherry Leslie birded the Denbigh Experimental Forest on January 21. Highlights included a VARIED THRUSH, six AMERICAN ROBINS, 94 CEDAR WAXWINGS, 25 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, 13 RED CROSSBILLS, 8 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, 24 PURPLE FINCHES, 3 HAIRY WOODPECKERS, and many AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, and WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES. Back in rural Burlington, feeder birds included 160 PINE SISKINS, 90 COMMON REDPOLLS and 1 HOARY REDPOLL, 45 HOUSE FINCHES, plus BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, HAIRY WOODPECKERS, and DOWNY WOODPECKERS. For more information, contact Sherry at sherry_leslie@excite.com.

Dan Svingen visited the Denbigh Experimental Forest on January 18, and reported finding very few birds. He and his group did turn up about 20 PURPLE FINCHES, about 20 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, a HOARY REDPOLL, and a pair of RED CROSSBILLS. You can reach Dan at 701-250-4443, extension 107.

Corey Ellingson took his mother along for a walk through the Mandan experiment station grounds on January 20. They recorded a flyover by an adult NORTHERN GOSHAWK and also saw a TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE. Contact Corey at tcellingson@juno.com.

Eve Freeberg found an adult female and an immature SNOWY OWL along with a yellow-shafted NORTHERN FLICKER and five MALLARDS in Grand Forks County on January 19. On the 22nd, she counted 160 SNOW BUNTINGS in two flocks in Nelson County, plus a WESTERN MEADOWLARK, COMMON REDPOLLS, two immature BALD EAGLES traveling together in Grand Forks County, and three NORTHERN HARRIERS at and near Kellys Slough National Wildlife Refuge. For details, call Eve at 701-741-8105.

Dan Buchanan headed for the area of the Jamestown Dam on January 20, and found three AMERICAN ROBINS perched in a tree, while two MALLARDS were enjoying the open water in the overflow lagoon. A road trip through southeastern Stutsman and central LaMoure counties turned up numerous flocks totaling 50 or 60 RING-NECKED PHEASANTS, as well as a half-dozen or so EUROPEAN STARLINGS in Montpelier. Dan’s feeders are attracting a mixed flock of PINE SISKINS, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, and a few COMMON REDPOLLS and DARK-EYED JUNCOS. He says the RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and PURPLE FINCHES have been around all winter. You can reach Dan at 701-252-6604.

A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW stopped at Sue and Charles J. Taft’s feeders in Minot on January 20. It joined about 25 COMMON REDPOLLS and at least one HOARY REDPOLL. The Tafts recorded a new yard bird on January 22 when six to eight RED CROSSBILLS showed up. Charles says most of them appeared to be juveniles. For details, the Tafts are at cjtaft@mac.com.

A pair of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES has been coming to Marcia Kuma’s feeders at Dickinson for the past couple of weeks. During that time, a pair of BLUE JAYS has visited twice. Marcia has also been seeing a single RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. Contact her at lirien9@yahoo.com.

And, a reminder that the 10th Annual Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for February 16-19. If you’re interested, log on to www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

That concludes this report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Birding Society. This report is normally updated each Tuesday. The Fish and Wildlife Service operates 62 National Wildlife Refuges and more than 1,100 Waterfowl Production Areas in North Dakota...offering some of the best birding opportunities in the state. Contact Refuge offices for more information about visiting. For phone numbers of individual Refuges, as well as additional information, go to the Fish and Wildlife Service web site at www.fws.gov. Click on Offices, and click on North Dakota on the map.

Welcome to the Birding Hotline operated by the North Dakota Birding Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This report was prepared on Tuesday, January 16.

It looks like you can still see two birds that you might want to add to your list.

Eve Freeberg drove to Rogers on January 10, and found the gray-crowned ROSY FINCH after only about five minutes. She also saw a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, two RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and a WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW while in Rogers. Back in Grand Forks on January 14, Eve had a visit from two GRAY JAYS. On January 15, a tour of the Grand Forks County grasslands produced 71 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 36 SHORT-EARED OWLS, a female AMERICAN KESTREL, immature SNOWY OWL, and four NORTHERN HARRIERS. Eve noted it was a calm day, and most of the birds she saw were perched, meaning there could have been more. Then, on January 16, Eve found a WESTERN MEADOWLARK in Grand Forks County. For more information, call her at 701-741-8105.

And Linda Gregg says the CAROLINA WREN continues to make daily visits to her feeders at Horace. She adds that the wren looks healthy and seems happy. Other visitors recently included large numbers of DARK-EYED JUNCOS including the Oregon race, numerous WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, PILEATED WOODPECKERS, HAIRY WOODPECKERS, DOWNY WOODPECKERS, and large numbers of HOUSE FINCHES...seemingly without eye disease. Linda says she is also seeing quite a few COMMON REDPOLLS, some PINE SISKINS, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS. Contact her at lgregg@wah.midco.net.

The 10 COMMON REDPOLLS that showed up at Charles J. Taft’s feeders in Minot on January 10 were accompanied by a probable HOARY REDPOLL. Others included five BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and 17 CEDAR WAXWINGS. For details, contact Charles at cjtaft@mac.com.

A female RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER made several stops at Bob Neugebauer’s feeders just east of Bismarck on January 13. For details, try bobneugebauer@yahoo.com.

That concludes this report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Birding Society. This report is normally updated each Tuesday. The Fish and Wildlife Service operates 62 National Wildlife Refuges and more than 1,100 Waterfowl Production Areas in North Dakota...offering some of the best birding opportunities in the state. Contact Refuge offices for more information about visiting. For phone numbers of individual Refuges, as well as additional information, go to the Fish and Wildlife Service web site at www.fws.gov. Click on Offices, and click on North Dakota on the map.

Welcome to the Birding Hotline operated by the North Dakota Birding Society and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This report was prepared on Tuesday, January 9.

The new year is off to a slow start, but there were some exceptions.

Ron Martin scored 35 species during a January 6 trek through McHenry County. Some highlights included 30 AMERICAN ROBINS, 23 COMMON RAVENS including 20 in one flock near Towner, six BALD EAGLES, four ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, five NORTHERN SHRIKES, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, and 10 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES. Ron added a lone EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE in Velva and quite a few species at Denbigh: BROWN CREEPER, 75 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, 63 PURPLE FINCH, 14 RED CROSSBILLS, and 23 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS. Ron adds that a FOX SPARROW continues to visit his feeder near Sawyer. Contact him at jrmartin@srt.com.

Mark Otnes was delighted to find open water and good birding at Tewaukon National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern North Dakota on January 6...especially after finding very little birding activity in Richland or northern Roberts and Marshall counties. He observed hundreds of CANADA GEESE and MALLARDS, plus a drake NORTHERN PINTAIL and a BLACK DUCK. Nearby, he added a couple BALD EAGLES, a RED-TAILED HAWK, and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. You can reach Mark at 701-241-4194.

It wasn’t easy, but Connie Norheim, Lew Daley, and Becky Oberlander found the gray-crowned ROSY FINCH in Rogers in January 7. After about 90 minutes, the bird showed up at the feeders, but didn’t stay long enough for a picture. Other sightings in Rogers included five COMMON GRACKLES, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, two RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, several COMMON REDPOLLS, several AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, two BLUE JAYS, two DARK-EYED JUNCOS, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, AMERICAN CROW, DOWNY WOODPECKER, HAIRY WOODPECKER, AND ROCK PIGEON, as well as a flock of LAPLAND LONGSPURS and SNOW BUNTINGS on the road to Rogers. For details, call Connie at 701-232-4386.

Two GRAY JAYS came to Eve Freeberg’s feeders in Grand Forks on New Years Day. On January 5, Eve saw a TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE at the Grand Forks cemetery, a possible one-day record for January of 48 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, five MALLARDS, and a male SNOWY OWL...all in Grand Forks County. And Eve says she is consistently seeing MERLINS, NORTHERN SHRIKES, and NORTHERN HARRIERS. For more information, call her at 701-741-8105.

Pat Beauzay discovered a subarctic GREAT HORNED OWL in exactly the same location he saw one last winter. The January 4 sighting was east of Aaker’s Business College in Fargo. The 2005 owl showed up on December 19 and stayed until March. You can call Pat at 701-231-9491.

From Jamestown, Dan Buchanan tried to track down an adult BALD EAGLE on January 7 after a neighbor told him about it. Dan’s feeders have attracted a pair of PURPLE FINCHES including at least one juvenile male, a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and a number of PINE SISKINS. You can reach him at 701-252-6604.

One more “big year” count. Dean Riemer ended up with 303 species for 2006. He closed out the count with his December 29 sighting of the CAROLINA WREN at Horace. Contact Dean at driemer@kwh.com.

That concludes this report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Dakota Birding Society. This report is normally updated each Tuesday. The Fish and Wildlife Service operates 62 National Wildlife Refuges and more than 1,100 Waterfowl Production Areas in North Dakota...offering some of the best birding opportunities in the state. Contact Refuge offices for more information about visiting. For phone numbers of individual Refuges, as well as additional information, go to the Fish and Wildlife Service web site at www.fws.gov. Click on Offices, and click on North Dakota on the map.

North Dakota Field Office Home Page