[mou] Slaty-backed Gull in Duluth

[Peder Svingen]

At 10:10 AM this morning (Saturday, 3/15), I found the adult Slaty- 
backed Gull and 31 Herring Gulls standing together on the ice on the  
Minnesota side of Interstate Island in the Duluth harbor. After about  
5 minutes of watching the Slaty-backed Gull preen, the gulls were  
flushed by an eagle. The flock flew directly towards me and came  
within about 50 yards of my position before turning back towards  
Interstate Island. The definitive field marks of this species,  
including the "string of pearls" formed by subapical white tongue tips  
on p5-p8, dark slate gray mantle, broad white trailing edge to the  
inner wing, and large white mirror on p10 and smaller white mirror on  
p9, were well seen in flight. The gulls eventually landed on the south  
side of Interstate Island (i.e., the Wisconsin side of the state line)  
and bathed in the open water that had just been created by the Coast  
Guard cutter, Alder, as it broke ice for the departure of the Mesabi  
Miner from Midwest Energy Resources in Superior, the shipping season's  
first departure. The Slaty-backed Gull was still present when I left  
the area at 11:05 AM.

To reach the pullout from which Interstate Island and the rest of this  
area can be scanned with a scope, take the Port Terminal exit off  
I-535 and turn right on a gravel road just past the cement plant. The  
road curves around to follow the shoreline; the pullout is on the left  
side just south of the cement plant.

Yesterday (Friday, 3/14), I found 7 species of gulls at Wisconsin  
Point. About 700 gulls were at the landfill and the rest, including  
the Slaty-backed and Great Black-backed, were on the ice on the lake  
side of Wisconsin Point. The following counts combine birds at the  
landfill and on Lake Superior off Wisconsin Point during 2 hours and  
10 minutes of counting at both locations. Except for the recently  
arrived Ring-billeds, most of these birds have been seen regularly at  
the landfill and/or in the Duluth-Superior harbor throughout the winter.

Ring-billed Gull -- 4 adults
Herring Gull -- 1,092
Thayer's Gull -- 2 adults, 1 first-cycle
Iceland Gull -- 1 adult, 1 third-cycle
Slaty-backed Gull -- 1 adult
Glaucous Gull -- 17 individuals (5 adult, 2 third-cycle, 1 second- 
cycle, 9 first-cycle)
Great Black-backed Gull -- 1 second-cycle
--
Peder H. Svingen
Duluth, MN