All types of interesting birds that I have not seen before in person are migrating to our area and enjoying the Mississippi River and the Coon Rapids Dam in Minnesota. This is an Eared Grebe in breeding plumage.

This is the most abundant grebe in the world. They are present on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Eared Grebes only migrate at night, in large flocks.

Because of the length of their staging, their southward fall migration is the latest of any bird species in North America. Due to their staging habits there are around nine to tens months of the year that the species is flightless, which is the longest period of any bird in the world capable of flight.