Winter may not be the most pleasant time for birding but it generally brings more rare sightings than any other season. Vagrants, irruptives and weather-dependent migrants promise new life-list species for birders throughout the Heartland.
Our large reservoirs often attract rare loons (Pacific, yellow-billed, red-throated), jaegers (parasitic, pomarine), gulls (Thayer's, glaucous, lesser and greater black-backed), scoters (black, surf, white-winged), oldsquaws and Barrow's goldeneyes. Out on the grasslands, we have the chance to encounter snowy owls, common redpolls, snow buntings or longspurs. Even residential areas might attract Bohemian waxwings, crossbills or evening grosbeaks.
It is the prospect of such discoveries that draws passionate birdwatchers into the bleak landscape of a Midwestern winter. After all, these species won't hang around for those warm, spring field trips!
