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Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter- Minnesota

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Alexandria, MN
Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter- Minnesota

Representing the National Audubon Society in West Central Minnesota.

05/27/2026

PLA Field Trip 5/15 and 5/16
Bluestem Prairie and Tamarac NWR

After we departed Itasca SP on Thursday we were hoping we left the wind behind but noooooo!
The early morning was calm on the Prairie but the birds were keeping their distance and really only viewable through a spotting scope. There were wren, sparrow, meadowlark, Prairie Chicken, and Bobolink calling at around 80 to 150 yards. A distant flyby of a godwit and a Magpie were noted. The only species willing to hang close was the Eastern Kingbird.

As the wind began to blow hard once again, we moved to the woodlands of Buffalo River SP. There we picked up a few songbirds notably cooperative Rose Breasted Grosbeak and Blackburnian Warbler. There were a few sparrow and swallow notably Cliff Swallow.

A stop at a busy pond added many waterfowl, some gull, and Sandhill Crane and somehow pushed the day count to 51 species.

Was it windy the next day at Tamarac NWR? YEP!! But the wind was too late. We had already seen 59 species during the morning calm. The warblers were singing wildly at eye level and we saw 17 species!! There were Scarlet Tanager, Rose Breasted Grosbeak, Broad Winged Hawk, Yellow Throated Vireo, and Pine Siskin. The sparrow were present too (5 species) most notably Harris Sparrow. Tamarac rarely disappoints.

Combining Itasca and Detroit Lakes we saw 98 species, a great weekend count.

05/27/2026

PLA Field Trip 5/14
Itasca SP

Once again the winds of western Minnesota bestowed its fury on the PLA birders who were trying to catch the magic of spring migration at Itasca SP. At the Headwaters it blew so hard that we could hear warblers and other songbirds but in truth we only saw 4 birds. They were hanging tight to their perch.

Disappointed but not without a plan, we headed to the Dr Robert’s trail on the leeward side of Lake Itasca where we found some luck. We were actually able to see warblers, Magnolia, Black and White, Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Northern Yellow, and Palm. We recorded 13 warblers for the day but only saw 6 of them. The highlight of the latter part of the trip was following a Winter Wren as it flew from bush to bush singing the whole of 20 minutes. Also getting good long looks at Waterthrush added to the excitement.
We were able to record 32 species for the day which is very low for our spring Itasca trip and many of them were heard but not seen. But a few highlights made the day.

05/27/2026

PLA Field Trip 5/9/26
St John’s Campus

We were able to join the St John’s Birding Day festivities again this year and were guided down the Old St Joe Road toward the Maple Sugar Shack. Almost immediately we heard warblers singing and were able to get good looks at many of them, seven species in all. Many Yellow Rumped and Northern Yellow warblers were spotted along with Tennessee, Nashville, Black and White, Ovenbird, and Redstart. When we cleared the woods and reached an open field we added 4 sparrow, 3 thrush, and a Meadowlark.
After a hardy lunch at the St John’s cafeteria, the PLA birders headed out again toward the beach trail where we added 4 more warbler, the Magnolia, Blackburnian, Orange Crowned, and Palm, increasing our warbler count for the day to 11. We also added Least Flycatcher and a pair of Rose Breasted Grosbeak to our list.
On our way home we stopped at the Albany Stabilization Ponds where we viewed various waterfowl, a Spotted Sandpiper, and over 30 Wilson Phalarope. It was a very windy but fantastic day where we were able to get good looks at 53 species.

05/04/2026

PLA Field Trip 4/25/26
Glendalough SP

We landed on the day Glendalough was having their annual park fund raiser festivities but the Beaver Pond Trail was quiet and we were able to find a fair number of bird species. The rain missed us and we had a pleasant hike with plenty of Song, Chipping, and Swamp Sparrow calling. It was early for warbler migration but we were able to spot Yellow Rumped and Palm. Waterfowl was spotted here and there mostly the regulars but we did get a very distant view of a Green Winged Teal. We needed a scope!

Other notables were Harrier, Phoebe, Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, Great Blue Heron, and 4 woodpecker species Downy, Hairy, Red Bellied and Yellow Bellied Sapsucker.

In all we had a pretty good day with 30 species.

04/15/2026

Share and tell your friends!

The PLAC will have a booth.

01/23/2026

PLA Field Trip 1/10/26
NE Grant County Roads

Did I get your attention with the Snowy Owl? Although we were looking hard we did not come across the tundra ghost. They have been reported in this part of the state this winter and we were hopeful. Two winter species that we were disappointed in not finding were the Rough Legged Hawk and the Tree Sparrow. They will head back north in March so we hope we can find them during our February field trip. The weather was very cold and windy and the birds were hanging close to cover but we were lucky to find a couple of important winter birds, the Horned Lark(6) and the Snow Bunting(32), both fearless when it comes to extreme winter weather.

Other species braving the weather were Pigeon, Blue Jay, Crow, Junco, Pileated Woodpecker, and us, the determined field trippers. In all we found 10 species.

After the blustery drive around Grant County gravel roads, we enjoyed a warm get-together and lunch at the Melby Outpost.

P.S. I photographed the Snowy Owl on my trip to St Louis County last weekend.

01/06/2026

Field Trip Report 12/25-1/3/26
Alexandria and Kensington CBCs

The Christmas Bird Counts this season had to both be moved because of bad weather and bad road conditions. We were able to complete both and had some interesting results. Ben Eckhoff has completed some initial analyses and summarized the results as seen below.

Highlights from Alexandria CBC on 12/27/2025: 16th Year
Dense fog made for hard viewing of birds like crows and hawks specifically. Very little open water, so low counts on Canada Geese and all other waterfowl.
American Crow- 76 (lowest historic count)
American Robin- 90 (3rd highest count)
Blue Jay- 148 (2nd highest count)
Cedar Waxwing- 61 (2nd highest count)
Canada Goose-12 (lowest historic count)
Common Raven- 2 (always a good bird!)
Dark-eyed Junco- 665 (highest count, previous high was 267)
Purple Finch- 30 (2nd highest count)
Red-breasted Nuthatch- 14 (2nd highest count)
Sharp-shined Hawk- 2 (tied highest count)

Highlights from Kensington CBC on 1/3/2026: 12th year
Fog was not nearly as dense, and birding was much easier than Alexandria. We set a ton of record high counts as noted below in list form. We normally get both House and Purple Finch but got none this year. Other lower than normal counts were American Tree Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing, Horned Lark and Pileated Woodpecker. Northern Flicker, Red-winged Blackbird and Rough-legged Hawk were some of the best finds during the count.
American Crow- 109 (2nd highest count)
Bald Eagle- 19 (highest count)
Blue Jay- 111 (highest count)
Dark-eyed Junco- 269 (highest count)
European Starling- 578 (2nd highest count)
House Sparrow- 666 (2nd highest count)
Mourning Dove- 15 (highest count)
Northern Shrike- 6 (tied highest count)
Red-tailed Hawk- 8 (highest count)
Ring-necked Pheasant- 350 (highest count, previous high was 114)
Rock Pigeon- 443 (highest count)
White-breasted Nuthatch- 37 (2nd highest count)
Wild Turkey- 22 (2nd highest count)

12/29/2025

Field Trip Plan 2026

11/14/2025

Give to the Max Day

Give to the Max Day is approaching! You can donate now or wait for Thursday, November 20. If you are interested in participating in our campaign, please use the donate link provided here.

https://www.givemn.org/donate/Prairie-Lakes-Audubon-Chapter

Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter of the National Audubon Society serves west-central Minnesota in the Alexandria area.

Our mission is to gather and empower people of all ages, around a shared love of birds. We engage through:

* Regular meetings to learn about specific birds and conservation efforts to improve their habitat.

* Field Trips to observe birds in nature and share our knowledge about them with one another.

* Providing and monitoring nest boxes for osprey, bluebirds, and purple martins.

* Hosting special events to educate and engage people in the community about bird life and care.

Our Fundraising Story

It is our goal this year to raise funds to help build new bluebird houses for locations such as Brophy County Park, Carlos State Park, and Kensington Rune Stone Park. We are also looking at repairing or replacing any purple martin houses that have sustained any possible damage over the past year. We would like to be able to add additional purple martin houses as needed. These bird species rely heavily on our support to find nesting sites due to loss of habitat and competition with other bird species. We are looking to provide walkie talkies for birding field trips to provide better communication between groups. Lastly, we can use the funds to enhance our community education projects, such as our participation in Earth Day in our community.

Donate now to Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter and help us meet our goal of $1,500 as we seek to continue our efforts to support birds and educate people about what birds need to survive and thrive.

We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

10/30/2025

Field Trip 10/26/25
Central Lakes Trail

A good birding spot that we have not visited in a long time is the Central Lakes Trail west of Alexandria. Our primary goal for the late Sunday afternoon outing was the Rusty Blackbird which have been observed in number along the trail over the last years in the later stage of songbird migration. We were a bit early, I believe, and only observed three.

It was a fairly quiet evening but we did see a Bald Eagle soar over the trail and got a good long look at a Golden Crowned Kinglet. Also, calling from the lake were two juvenile Common Loon hanging around for as long as possible before starting their trip south.

In all we found 12 species on a windy late Sunday afternoon.

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Alexandria, MN
56308

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