Over this last weekend I was able to add a couple county year birds (Northern Pintail & Iceland Gull) thanks to direct shares from friends Greg Jahner and Peter Nichols respectively. This was a nice bonus after running several weeks of northern county routes looking for and finding Scoters, Long- tailed Duck, a couple owl species. It can't be said enough that a big year is impossible to maximize without friends and the willingness of others to report and share birds.
As fortune would have it another excellent species was reported by Pam Albin via eBird over the weekend also. A pair of Townsend's Solitaire reported at Afton State Park. The same general area that a few of us found one last winter.
I jumped at the chance after work tonight to try and track down this species to add to my year list. I have actually already done a couple of routes looking for Townsend's already this fall at Afton so the area was familiar that would be the most productive. I had a few segments in mind I knew to be most likely to produce Solitaire feeding on Cedar berries. As I walked down a path I heard some warbling chatter that sounded good and stumbled through a pine stand to a clearing and promptly bumped a group of 4 Ring-necked Pheasant. At the last second I noticed a bird fly up and over the tree line that looked to be the right size for Townsend's. I returned to the trail and moved up further, quickly finding a bird fly back over the stand I had just moved around. I began to hear the wonderful submarine type pings that Townsend's are well known for and knew I had the bird identified. After a few minutes of looking I realized the bird was popping along the very tops of the pines I was near.
I was able to get my camera on this bird a few times to get some documentary shots. One can be found on my Instagram account. (@hj70ft)
The Albin family should also be thanked for my county lifer Western Kingbird also in Afton State Park this spring. It's something what regular efforts in a specific location can produce. I think about my efforts at my preferred patch of Lake Elmo Regional Park this year alone. I've found some excellent species due to regular efforts to scour the entire park like...American & Least Bittern, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Henslow's Sparrow, Summer Tanager, White-winged Scoter, and Red Crossbill.
This has been a great year of birding in the county. Looking forward to trying to break the 240 barrier before the end of the year.
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