I can confirm the Houston County sighting this morning, last seen a few minutes before noon. Haven't had a chance to list it on either site, yet. The couple may have reservations with visitors, considering Covid. But, seen from the driveway at a feeding station behind their house. I will try and see if I can obtain contact information.
Steve Onalaska, WI ----- Original Message ----- From: Alyssa DeRubeis <alderub...@gmail.com> To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Sent: Sun, 15 Nov 2020 08:32:56 -0500 (EST) Subject: [mou-net] Evening Grosbeaks in Minnesota (long post, no sightings) As many of you are already aware, this winter is projected to be the largest Evening Grosbeak irruption since probably the 1980s! Recent outbreaks of spruce budworm on the breeding grounds has slightly bolstered this declining finch’s population in recent years. (Evening Grosbeak has declined by about 92% since 1970, marking the steepest decline of any North American landbird.) Learn more by reading these short articles: https://finchnetwork.org/winter-finch-forecast-2020 and https://finchnetwork.org/irruption-alert-evening-grosbeaks-are-moving-in-largest-numbers-in-20-years. Consequently, there have already been reports of single birds in Wright, Sherburne, Stearns, Washington, and now down to Houston County (reported just yesterday). Below I’ve written up instructions on how to view these sightings, because I don’t plan on posting every Evening Grosbeak sighting in the state this year. Additionally, I strongly encourage anyone who has observed Evening Grosbeaks this fall/winter to report them to the MOU seasonal database and eBird. That way we can collectively better document this uncommon and large movement! Let me emphasize here that neither the MOU seasonal database nor eBird are entirely accurate on their own. For example, the Stearns County sighting is only on MOU, whereas the Sherburne and Houston County sightings have only been submitted to eBird. Thus, I recommend that you explore both databases. Here is how you can explore Evening Grosbeak reports (or any species!) in the MOU seasonal database: 1. Go to moumn.org 2. On the left panel, select “Review Reported Birds,” then click on the first option in the list (Query Sightings database) 3. There are many different tabs on this page, and you can get as specific with it as you want. In this example, I just wanted to see where Evening Grosbeaks have been reported this fall. As such, I adjusted the start and end dates to October 1 2020 and today’s date, respectively. 4. In the “Species (optional) box,” type “Evening Grosbeak.” 5. Under “Output Type,” click “go” and you will see a table of all the reports. Here is how you can explore Evening Grosbeak reports (or any species!) on eBird.org: 1. Sign in (or create a new account) 2. In the menu tab, go to “Explore” 3. Select the “Species Maps” option 4. Type “Evening Grosbeak” in the “search species name” box. To look at this year’s fall sightings, be sure to set the filter to October-November 2020 (the trio of dots to the right of the search box). 5. You can now zoom in to Minnesota’s confirmed reports. You can look at individual checklists by clicking on the map markers (make sure you zoom in enough to see the markers—if you are too zoomed out, the markers will not appear), then clicking on the date that pops up after you click the marker. 6. Consider signing up for eBird’s rare bird alerts if you want more timely news of rarities such as out-of-range Evening Grosbeaks: Again under the “Explore” tab, scroll all the way down to “Alerts” and click on that. In the “Enter a Region” box, type in Minnesota, or enter the name of your preferred county if you only want rare bird alerts for that particular county. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks and good luck finding Evening Grosbeaks this fall/winter! Alyssa DeRubeis Montreal, QC ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
