This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday, October 3, 2013 sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. You may also hear this report by calling (218)847-5743 or 1-800-433-1888.

Migration is coming to a close as fewer and fewer species are being seen. Soon the mass migrations of waterfowl will come in. Colors are nearly at their peak on the trees and cold winds forecast in the next few days will probably put an end to many of them. Get out the rakes!

Today , I saw a COMMON RAVEN fly over Digi-key, a sure sign of coming winter, as these birds are somewhat rare in town in the summer, and uncommon in the countryside also. They are getting to be almost common on the Minnesota plains in winter, when crows seem to disappear. On October 2 , a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER made his daily visit to our yard outside Thief River Falls, and an AMERICAN PIPIT was seen and heard at Digi-Key.

Shelley Steva and I visited the Red Lake Falls wastewater treatment ponds on September 28 where we found AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN SHOVELER, COMMON GOLDENEYE, PIED-BILLED GREBE, BARN SWALLOW and AMERICAN PIPIT. Elsewhere in the county we saw a COMMON RAVEN.

Sandy Aubol on October 2, reported a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER in her yard in East Grand Forks. Also there were WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, HARRIS’S SPARROW, LINCOLN’S SPARROW and DARK-EYED JUNCO. A FOX SPARROW was there on September 30. YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER were the only two warblers remaining. Shelley Steva and I were in Crookston on September 28 where we found BLUE-WINGED TEAL, KILLDEER, a GREATER YELLOWLEGS, NORTHERN FLICKER, CLAY-COLORED SPARROW, SONG SPARROW, LINCOLN’S SPARROW, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT.

Thanks to Sandy Aubol for her report.

Please report bird sightings to Jeanie Joppru by email, no later than Thursday each week, at ajjoppru@mncable.net OR call the Detroit Lakes Chamber’s toll free number: 1-800-542-3992. Detroit Lakes area birders please call 847-9202. Please include the county where the sighting took place. The next scheduled update of this report is Thursday, October 10, 2013.