Summer Breeding Season

Now that the weird migration this spring is over, it's time to start investigating the breeders in the area. Two of my favorites are the Yellow-headed Blackbird and the Bobolink.

This summer the best place to get up close looks at a lot of Yellow-headed Blackbirds is the 180th Street marsh near Hampton, Minnesota. This is a beautiful marsh  and has lots of breeding birds. It is the kind of site that can be different every time you visit. Along with the blackbirds there are coots, swallows, sora rails, Red-winged Blackbirds, Killdeer and any number of other visitors.

The other great location for me is Carver Park Reserve near Victoria, Minnesota which has broad expanses of grasslands that attract Clay-colored Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, Eastern Kingbirds and that backward looking bird, the Boblink.

This fellow is protecting his territory near the entrance to the nature center road. When we go looking for bobolinks it is likely that we will hear them before we see them. They have a distinct call as they fly and a very different flight pattern from other birds. It's nice to see these birds back from their migration from South America.