Lifebirds #443-448 - Not Too Bad Salt Lake
This was our first year attending this festival, a 37-year-old Minnesota tradition centered on La qui Parle County in western Minnesota and a brackish lake that straddles the Minnesota/South Dakota state line.
The brackish lake is named Salt Lake. It is not to be confused with Utah’s Great Salt Lake. In fact, in Minnesota-speak, it might well be called Not Too Bad Salt Lake. The birding wasn’t too bad, that’s for sure. Joann and I learned a lot about shorebirds[1], and our total species count of 72 made it our biggest “big day” ever. Despite the cold and drizzly weather, we had a fantastic time with an enthusiastic group of 80 birders who were happy to share their scopes and expertise (Joann and I have always had a lot of trouble identifying shorebirds).
The organizer of the festival, Ken Larson, has participated for each of its 37 years. His father started the event, and Ken and his wife Mary Lou Frank carry on the tradition with exceptional generosity. They opened their farm home to birders during the day, and its feeder birds and restrooms were quite popular (not necessarily in that order). Birders were even welcome to camp on their property, and several did. The only cost to the event was for the dinner served by the folks of Madison, Minnesota’s Sons of Norway Hall. For $10, it was quite a bargain—particularly on a per-calorie basis.
I was unable to photograph any birds during the day. In what smells like desperation, I cribbed helpful identification tips to the Semipalmated Plover and the Semipalmated Sandpiper from the web. Click on the tantalizing thumbnails to up your shorebird game.
I added six lifers, but Joann only five. She saw every bird I did, and probably some I didn’t see, but she had seen the Marbled Godwit on an earlier occasion.[2]
| Species | Pectoral Sandpiper / Calidris melanotos |
| Where | USA-MN-Lac qui Parle County |
| Species | Semipalmated Plover / Charadrius semipalmatus |
| Species | American Golden-Plover / Pluvialis dominica |
| Species | Marbled Godwit / Limosa fedoa |
| Where | USA-MN-Lac qui Parle County-Cory Lake |
| Species | Semipalmated Sandpiper / Calidris pusilla |
| Species | Wilson's Phalarope / Phalaropus tricolor |
| Where | USA-SD-Grant-Salt Lake area |
| When | Apr 28 2012 |
| With | Joann |
| Numbers | 443 - 448 |
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