Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Join the Editor for Weekly Birding Highlights

Seeing the first 2 Semipalmated Plovers since spring migration was a nice addition to the growing variety of shorebirds stopping at Charo Marsh.
The crisp new plumage of a recently fledged Bald Eagle was attractive in flight, especially when it showed its ventral side in flight.
Several Orchard Orioles continue to feast on insects at a couple grassland areas, along with kingbirds, native sparrows, and Bobolinks. This new fledgling was being fed by an adult male Orchard Oriole.
A Gray Partridge hatchling aged about 2 weeks still shows some down on its head and neck. They grow quickly and this bird can probably make short flights already. It was part of a covey that contained 2 hatchlings and 7 adults.
The first fledgling Red-tailed Hawk sighted this season provided a close photo as it hunted along the roadway adjacent to Hecla Marsh.
Monday afternoon, the Red-necked Grebes were active near the west end of the marsh located just 2 miles south of Paul’s office.
It was interesting to see the adult extending its neck feathers in this manner, usually an indication that a bird is afraid or stressed. In this case the grebe didn’t seem stressed, which suggested it may simply have been drying its neck and head feathers after spending time under water catching small fish that it fed to her 2 fledgling-aged young.

Finally, the 12th species of ducks nesting in the area was confirmed last week when I spotted a brood of Canvasbacks that included 6 large fully feathered ducklings with the adult female, all diving for food during a calm evening. I’m not sure if there will be a 13th species, but a brood of Green-winged Teal or a Ring-necked Duck brood would increase the dozen species of ducks represented as nesting species locally. Other exciting birds included a recently fledged Bald Eagle that had bright new plumage – dark, dark brown accented by white on parts of the tail and the underside of its wings. It was beautiful in flight, and appeared to fly well in the strong south wind – only 4 miles south of my office.

I also checked the closest Bald Eagle nest, which yielded an insightful view of the adult pair plus a new fledgling, each perched 100 feet or more apart in large cottonwoods between the 2 nests used in recent years. A pair of Belted Kingfishers on the edge of a wetland 2 miles to the north was significant as the first sighted in a couple months, apparently dispersing after nesting in other areas. A pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers was present where I’ve seen one before, which should indicate nestlings have hatched.

Along with the brood of Canvasbacks, I observed broods of 6 other species of ducks last Tuesday evening, including American Wigeons, Northern Pintails, Redheads, Mallards, Gadwalls, and Blue-winged Teal. Also impressive was seeing 2 Mallard broods, 2 Gadwall broods, and 2 Blue-winged Teal broods at Charo Marsh Thursday evening, with an additional Ruddy Duck brood in a nearby pond where I saw a brood of Lesser Scaup the previous week. Also at Charo were a few Least Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers, newly arrived from Arctic nesting territories, many Killdeer, and an adult Willet with a medium-sized downy hatchling that was foraging along the shoreline.

A dozen miles north of home, a female Ring-necked Pheasant crossed the road with her brood of 7 small hatchlings – it’s tough to see pheasant, grouse, and partridge broods with most vegetation in the area standing 4 feet high now. That’s the case across most of the landscape, but at my Gray Partridge hotspot on the edge of suburban Fargo, partridges were quite obvious where grass is moved short. After seeing the first partridge brood there 2 weeks earlier, I found a covey of 7 adults with 2 small young, probably about 2 weeks old that provided a photo update on the species. The partridge hotspot is near my niece and nephew’s new home, and I share more about my Wednesday visit and other family interactions in the Backyard Birding article in this issue.

Last week I had a chance to check out several favorite birding hotspots beyond my local area. With Arctic-nesting sandpipers arriving in flocks, sometimes by the hundreds in my area, Friday I wanted to check on a shorebird hotspot an hour away – the Stateline Marshes on the border that divides the Dakotas, and at Hecla Marsh, which is more of a waterbird, waterfowl, and wading bird hotspot south of the border. And Saturday I needed to drive to Bismarck for a short appointment, but I prolonged the 2 hour drive an extra hour-plus by stopping at key birding sites like the Ferruginous Hawk nesting territories, Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, McKenzie Slough, and Dogtown Marsh.

Visiting those locations should have provided pages of exciting birds to share with you, but I must confess that they didn’t really provide many different birds than the last time I ventured to each of these hotspots. There were some shorebirds at the Stateline Marshes, but not big numbers, and they only offered distant views, with Long-billed Dowitchers and American Avocets the most obvious sandpipers. On the edge of Hecla Marsh, a newly fledged Red-tailed Hawk, the first of the season for me, provided some photos as it seemed to be hunting along the roadway.

At the 2 Ferruginous Hawk nests I’ve been monitoring, the 3 fledglings at the south nest were standing on the nest, probably seeking shade – and food. No Ferrugs were evident during my stop and go check of the north nest, but I’ll check back again later this week. Along the 5 miles east of Bismarck, Ring-necked Pheasants were the dominant birds, including 2 young broods with attendant females, and a few lone males. While I visited all the locations at prime times, none could compare to the birds I have been seeing at my favorite local haunts.

Monday Excitement

Red-necked Grebes continue to appear and create photo opportunities – at least Monday they did. After seeing 3 in the marsh 2 miles south of my office, I backed into position, hoping the auto wouldn’t spook the ‘rare’ grebes. Instead, the 2 young grebes swam toward my mobile blind, providing some nice portraits, and eventually the adult surfaced too, but too far away to do much more than enjoy observing the interactions among the big grebes. There have been as many as 4 large fledgling-aged Red-necks at this location, but only 1 adult at any time grebes have been present.

A surprise Belted Kingfisher perched 2 miles south of the grebes held my attention as it permitted me to approach it during my check for duck broods along a half-mile side route. Five miles farther south, an adult Red-necked Grebe was obvious on the water, as was a Western Grebe, with about 50 Ruddy Ducks in between them, mostly males. The Red-neck was interesting because it was the first I’ve seen on that lake.

With the promise of an early evening storm pending, I was headed to Charo Marsh, where I found a variety of exciting shorebirds, including the first 2 post-nesting Semipalmated Plovers, Long-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Wilson’s Phalaropes, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Greater Yellowlegs – quite a variety but only a 2 or a few individuals of each species.

After spending a half-hour photographing some of the 9 Long-billed Dowitchers assembled in the northwest bay of Charo Marsh, before leaving I took a quick binocular scan of the shoreline and sighted a Semipalmated Plover. In response, I backed up to get into position in case the plover moved into the open; but suddenly a surprise Solitary Sandpiper appeared on the edge of the flock of dowitchers. I pulled forward again with hope of photographing what I believe was my first sighting of this species at Charo Marsh. I managed to take a couple documentary photos of the ‘rare’ sandpiper and observe some interesting behavior – and darned if another “Solitary” Sandpiper didn’t mysteriously appear (see the Bird Photography feature in this issue for more information and a photo at the end of the article).

In addition to the impressive collection of shorebirds, Charo also had 4 newly hatched broods of ducklings, including 2 new Ruddy Duck broods, 1 new Redhead brood, and 1 new Gadwall brood. Ducks still rule in this region! With the weather providing good birding opportunities daily during the past week, the birds have definitely been showing well, continuing to emphasize what an exciting and rewarding period it is for birding. I hope you get some quality time for birding as we transition from July to August – Enjoy your time in the great outdoors!

Article and Photos by Paul Konrad

Share your bird sightings and photographs at editorstbw2@gmail.com