[mou] Duluth RBA 12/20/03 (Duluth CBC)

[David R. Benson]

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Saturday, December 20th, 2003,
sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. The report is being
updated today to report on the results of the Duluth Christmas Bird Count.

Two birds that were not seen today, but which may be of greater interest,
are a gray, adult, male GYRFALCON that was seen by Dave Evans on Friday in
the Port Terminal area, and a SNOWY OWL seen by Dave on the 17th near the
ore docks in West Duluth.

About 40 participants in today's Duluth CBC found a preliminary total of 57
species of birds, including two species that turned up for the first time
ever on this count: a WESTERN GREBE off 22nd Ave E and an adult COOPER'S
HAWK seen at Hawk Ridge.

Other sightings of note included 1 RED-NECKED GREBE off Brighton Beach, 43
AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 3 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS, 3 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 1
PEREGRINE FALCON at the Cargill Elevator, 1 RING-BILLED GULL, 2 adult
THAYER'S GULLS, 2 GLAUCOUS GULLS (1 adult and 1 first-winter), 1 BARRED OWL
(at Hartley), 1 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER,  10 NORTHERN SHRIKES, 5 GRAY JAYS,
158 COMMON RAVENS, 5 BROWN CREEPERS, 3 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, 2 BROWN
THRASHERS, 2107 EUROPEAN STARLINGS ( a count record), 129 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS
(seen at Hartley and in Hunter's Park), 1 AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, 13
NORTHERN CARDINALS, 1 RUSTY BLACKBIRD, 51 PINE GROSBEAKS, 8 RED CROSSBILLS,
205 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, 10 EVENING GROSBEAKS, 717 COMMON REDPOLLS (a
count record), and 1 HOARY REDPOLL at French River.

As always, a few expected species were missed. If you saw any of the
following (or any rarities) during the past week, please call the count's
compiler, Jim Lind at 834-3199 jslind@frontiernet.net: Bufflehead,
Sharp-shinned Hawk,Great Horned Owl, Great Gray Owl, Boreal Chickadee,
Cedar Waxwing, any warbler species, Song Sparrow, Snow Bunting.

Other reports of note from Northeastern Minnesota from the past couple of
days include  a GREAT GRAY OWL refound in Sax-Zim on Cty Rd 788, 2.6 miles
north of 207 and more than 200 COMMON REDPOLLS found by Karen Sussman on
Cty Rd 65 1.4 miles NW of Cty Rd 25 in northern St. Louis Cty. Josh Watson
reported that around 200 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS are in downtown Grand Marais,
and  a very late TURKEY VULTURE from Cutface Creek on Nov. 29th.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Saturday, December 27th.

The phone number for the Duluth Birding Report is (218) 728-5030, and
callers can report bird sightings if they wish after the tone at the end of
each tape.

The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota
Ornithologists' Union (MOU) as a service to its members.  For more
information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum of Natural
History, 10 Church Street SE, Minneapolis MN 55455; or send an e-mail to
mou@cbs.umn.edu; or visit the MOU web site at mou.mn.org.