Minnesota Statewide RBA

Previous reports: August 3 6 10 13 25 , September 10 17 23 , October 1 .
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
-RBA
*Minnesota
*Minnesota Statewide
*October 8, 1997
*MNST9810.08

-Birds mentioned
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: October 8, 1997
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (612) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Minnesota birding report for Thursday October 8th sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

On October 7th, Doug Johnson reported a white phase LITTLE BLUE HERON on a sandbar at the Mississippi River outlet of Lake Bemidji in Beltrami County. On the east side of Lake Bemidji along Lake Avenue, there is a paved bike trail that crosses a wooden bridge at the outlet. The bird is visible from here.

During a weekly fall census of Common Loons on Mille Lacs Lake in Mille Lacs, Crow Wing and Aitkin counties, Tony Hertzel found an adult PACIFIC LOON on Monday October 5th. The bird was seen across from the Wigwam Bay Resort just south of Wigwam Bay. This is four tenths of a mile south of the junction of Mille Lacs County Road 35 and U.S. 169. Peder Svingen was able to relocate the loon later that same day in essentially the same location. The census itself yielded a total of 628 COMMON LOONS mostly from the northern and eastern shores. At Picard Point one flock of 367 loons was counted, with a total of 472 birds present. 388 BONAPARTE'S GULL were also counted on the lake, along with five late COMMON TERNS.

On October 3rd Kim Eckert discovered three SPOTTED TOWHEES in southwestern Minnesota. The first was at Pipestone Monument in Pipestone County. The second was found in Rock County along the dirt road that is just east of the large gravel pit ponds south of Blue Mounds State Park. And the third was seen at Split Rock Creek State Park near the town of Jasper in Pipestone County.

On October 1st a LARK BUNTING was found along Minnesota Avenue in Duluth. This is the main road on Park Point and the bird was seen just to the east of the bus turn around. Also observed in the area was a SURF SCOTER on Lake Superior near south 32nd Street.

Several observers have reported a MANDARIN DUCK at the Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. This Asian waterfowl is often kept in captivity, both in private collections and in zoos and it is likely this bird is an escape.

A BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was reported from Edina in Hennepin County. Brock Orwig found the bird in his backyard on October 8th. Other fall migrants commonly reported around the state include SNOW GOOSE, AMERICAN PIPIT, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, HARRIS'S SPARROW, FOX SPARROW, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and LAPLAND LONGSPURS.

For information on joining our state wide bird organization write the MOU at 10 Church Street SE University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN, 55455

or e-mail us at MOUMembers@aol.com. The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday October 15th.

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MnRBA@linux.winona.msus.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info end) to mnrba-request@linux.winona.msus.edu.




Return to Home Page