Minnesota Statewide RBA

Statewide RBA phone number: 763-780-8890 or 1-800-657-3700

Previous reports: October 9 18 24 31 , November 7 14 21 27 , December 5 .
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-RBA
*Minnesota
*Minnesota Statewide
*December 12, 2002
*MNST0212.12

-Birds mentioned
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: December 12, 2002
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://biosci.umn.edu/~mou/
Reports: (763) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel (ahertzel@uswest.net)
Return-Path:

This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday, December 12th, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. You can bypass this message at any time by pressing "1" on your touch-tone phone.

The BAND-TAILED PIGEON is still being seen near Hastings, Dakota County where it has been visiting the home of Hank and Carrol Tressel since November 20th. The hosts live at 20240 Quentin Avenue East. Driving south from Hastings on state highway 316, turn left on 200th (or County Road 68), then right on Quamme, left on 203rd, then left again on Quentin. The home is on the right side of the road. The home owners have requested that no one venture into their backyard.

There is an unusual immature gull being seen at Black Dog Lake just east of the power plant in Burnsville, Dakota County. There is some indication that this may be a first state record SLATY-BACKED GULL, but definitive looks have yet to be obtained. The gull comes in to roost shortly after 4:00 PM each day and is fairly consistently seen near the sandbar just east of the railroad tracks that lead into the plant on the south side of the lake. An immature GOLDEN EAGLE was seen soaring above this area on the 8th.

A TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was still in Two Harbors, Lake County, on the 8th at South Avenue and 2nd St. There are also BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in Two Harbors and a late RUSTY BLACKBIRD at 2nd Ave and 3rd St.

A NORTHERN GOSHAWK was seen at the Old Cedar Ave Bridge in Bloomington, Hennepin County, on December 6th.

On December 9th Dedrick Benz discovered a very late NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH at Whitewater State Park in Winona County. It was found at the first stream crossing on the Trout Run Trail. The previous latest fall date for this species is October 26th making this record even more remarkable.

At Sherburne NWR six TRUMPETER SWANS were seen on December 7th. They were in a small pool on Sherburne County Road 9 on the east side of the refuge.

There are finally a few few reports of winter finches, mostly from the northeastern parts of the state. In Lake and St. Louis counties a few people have reported small flocks of PINE GROSBEAK, EVENING GROSBEAK, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL, and PINE SISKIN.

Thanks to the few callers who found enough interesting birds this early December to report them, and especially to Barb Carousel.

This state-wide birding report is brought to you and financially supported by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU). The MOU is Minnesota's oldest and largest bird club.

The report is composed from observations generously submitted by MOU members and other birders throughout the state. You can support this weekly update by submitting your bird reports to Anthony Hertzel at axhertzel@sihope.com or by calling the hotline directly at 763-780-8890 and leaving a detailed message.

MOU members receive this report directly on MOU-net, the club's free e-mail listservice, which is available to anyone interested. For information contact Paul Budde at pbudde@aol.com.

MOU members receive the organization's quarterly journal "The Loon" and the bimonthly magazine, "Minnesota Birding". For membership information, send an e-mail message to our membership secretary at moumembers@yahoo.com.

The MOU is pleased to offer this service. Thank you, and good birding.

The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday, December 19th.

-- Anthony Hertzel -- axhertzel@sihope.com

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MOU-net@biosci.umn.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info mou-net) to majordomo@biosci.umn.edu.




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