Sparky heads back to western Minnesota with his kayak in hopes of duplicating his success at Salt Lake last June. But strong winds and gray skies make Day One challenging to say the least! But he finds the rare but continuing Black-necked Stilt at Lac Qui Parle County’s Hantho WMA along with dozens of Hudsonian Godwits!

A quick drive along the unexpectedly burned Big Stone NWR Auto Loop turns up a wary flock of American Golden-Plovers and a couple Black-bellied Plovers.

Day Two dawns clear and calm so Sparky races to Salt Lake to launch his kayak. Winds are already increasing and high water has covered last year’s fruitful sandspit. But one sandy point remains and it yields a flock of Franklin’s Gulls, one Forster’s Tern and a smattering of shorebirds. An “offshore” Marbled Godwit also poses.

And as usual, the shorebirds pay little attention to the human in the red boat pulled up on “their” shore. A Sanderling bathes just feet away…A lone Ruddy Turnstone walks past me several times.

A grand total of EIGHTEEN species of shorebirds were seen (and most photographed) even though this wasn’t the goal of the trip.

In this episode of Shooting with Sparky, he goes out to the Minnesota-South Dakota border to try and photograph shorebirds, grebes and ducks by kayak. Salt Lake Wildlife Management Area is Minnesota’s ONLY alkaline (salty) lake. Due to the alkaline nature, it breeds millions of brine flies and brine shrimp, which the grebes, phalaropes and other shorebirds love to feast on.

But first Sparky birds Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge where TWO Say’s Phoebes had been reported, a western bird that is rarely seen in Minnesota. Sparky finds both and has some great photo opportunites.

He also enjoys a patch of Prickly Pear Cactus (Did you know Minnesota has cactus? THREE species!). Other Big Stone highlights include the aerial flight of Common Nighthawks, singing (croaking?) Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Clay-colored Sparrow, and a acrobatic pair of Painted Turtles! [Sparky also gets a lifer jumping spider! (Marpissa pikei…Pike’s Slender Jumper) but it didn’t make it into the final cut :(]

On to Salt Lake! And the major revelation of this trip was that shorebirds don’t recognize a human in a kayak! Sparky was able to float right up to foraging Dunlin, Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Sanderlings. But the best photo opportunities were with the foraging Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalaropes, two stunning species that are shorebirds but don’t feed like them. They swim like a duck, plucking brine shrimp or brine fly larvae from the lake.

And in another interesting turn, they suddenly all started going into hyper courtship mode. In phalaropes the female is more colorful than the male, and she initiates courtship, battling with other females for the more drab male as a mate. After she lays eggs in a nest, she flies off and the male is left to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. Fascinating!

July 27-28, 2020

I visit a great Salt Lake on the Minnesota-South Dakota border (“great” with a small g!) where I kayak out to see Red-necked and Wilson’s Phalaropes, 532 Franklin’s Gulls, Eared Grebes and many other interesting birds. Next stop is Yellow Medicine County and a cooperative pair of Western Kingbirds. Then on to camp and explore Blue Mounds State Park on the Coteau de Prairie where we find Blue Grosbeaks, Upland Sandpipers, booming Nighthawks and groups of close Turkey Vultures. Also a side trip to Touch the Sky Prairie NWR and many fascinating prairie wildflowers.