My name is Judd Brink, the owner of MN Backyard Birds. I can help make your home/business more active and attractive for our feathered friends with birdscaping! Judd Brink is also a guide and naturalist and will provide a weekly birding report during the spring bird migration, the summer nesting season and the fall bird migration for Visit Brainerd. It’s great to be back again for the 11th season posting the weekly birding reports for the beautiful Brainerd lakes area.
I hope you will enjoy and follow the weekly birding reports from Visitbrainerd.com. If you want to share a photo or have a unique bird sighting please email them to info@birdminnesota.com.
MN Backyard Birds will also share some birdscaping tips on how you can attract and enjoy more birds at home! Thank you.
TIme to think spring! Here is what you can do to help attract them. A few quick ideas: birdhouses are a nice way to encourage birds to stay close to home with their own nesting box! Another is to think about native plantings that can provide fruits, cover, nesting and shelter! Now is also the time to get up any woodduck boxes and other nesting boxes they will be nesting very soon. I have found eggs in several of the boxes that I checked already! NOW is the time to clean out your Oriole and Hummingbird feeders and get them up!
Today’s birding report comes from the Brainerd lakes area: the early spring migration is a little slow with the cooler temps in the area. A first state record Swainson’s Warbler was discovered at a local city park in Minneapolis! Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Harris Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, White Pelican, Palm Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Eastern Towhee, Broad-winged Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Common Raven, Great-blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, Mallard, Canada Goose, Woodduck, Ring-neck Duck, Common Loon, Hooded Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Ring-billed Gull, Eastern Bluebird, Tree Swallow, Purple Martin, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Belted Kingfisher, Pine warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-headed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, American Robin, American Woodcock, House Finch, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch, Eastern Phoebe, Wild Turkey, Sandhill Crane, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Veery, Hermit Thrush, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet and Chipping Sparrow, Happy Birding!
Check out this link below to see how many birds are migrating over Crow-wing County, in the search box enter any county in the state to see the numbers of birds. On Sunday night just over 1.2 Million birds!
Spring Birding Locations:
French Rapids- ( Mississippi River) waterfowl
Kiwanis/Rotary Park (Mississippi River) waterfowl and warblers
Northland Arboretum- Sparrows, warblers, tanagers
Crow-wing State Park – Walking/biking trails, songbirds/waterfowl/warblers
Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge – NOW see migrating Sandhill Cranes!
A great time to think about birdscaping your yard to help attract more colorful birds! Ask for native fruiting trees and shrubs to plant around the house or cabin to bring in more birds naturally!
I hope you can share the joy of watching birds from your home or with others when visiting one of the many great birding areas found in the Brainerd lakes.
Happy Birding! 
