[mou] warblers at Park Point

[Peder Svingen]

Excellent numbers of migrant landbirds were seen at Park Point in Duluth
today (Monday, 15 Sep) as kettles of Broad-wingeds passed overhead. Many
Northern Flickers, 3 species of vireos including at least 8 Philadephia
Vireos, Brown Creepers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Swainson's Thrush, 100s of
Cedar Waxwings, and White-throated and White-crowned sparrows were seen,
but the majority of birds were warblers (22 species, no Golden-winged,
Blackburnian, Connecticut, or Mourning warblers). Sue Barton and I were
there from about 11:30 AM to 3:30 PM, and were joined by Frank Nicoletti
and two out-of-state birders (Seth and Jason, sorry, forgot last names)
for part of the afternoon. All of our sightings were in the vicinity of
the ballfields at the Park Point Recreation Area.

After birding along the lakeshore on the harbor side of the Recreation
Area between the bus turn around and the boat ramp (where most of the
Tennessee, Nashville, and Yellow warblers, and Common Yellowthroats were
found), I spent about 2 hours standing in one spot on a trail in the woods
near the beach house and tried to estimate numbers for each warbler
species as the birds worked their way down the point. I would call this a
tidal surge of warblers rather than "waves of warblers" since there was
literally no period of time without multiple birds on all sides. Once, I
had 20 Chestnut-sided Warblers in view simultaneously. The following
totals represent conservative estimates for the 4 hours between 11:30 AM
and 3:30 PM. It should be noted that Seth and Jason reported excellent
warbler migration during the morning hours before our arrival and that we
sampled only a very small portion of Park Point.

Tennessee Warbler 150
Orange-crowned Warbler 2
Nashville Warbler 75
Northern Parula 8
Yellow Warbler 50
Chestnut-sided Warbler 100
Magnolia Warbler 25
Cape May Warbler 3
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 (female, PHS)
Yellow-rumped Warbler 75
Black-throated Green Warbler 3
Pine Warbler 1 (adult male, PHS)
Palm Warbler 100 (plus another 100 at 40th Ave West)
Bay-breasted Warbler 4
Blackpoll Warbler 6
Black-and-white Warbler 50
American Redstart 500
Ovenbird 2
Northern Waterthrush 1
Common Yellowthroat 50
Wilson's Warbler 2
Canada Warbler 1 (FJN)

-- 
Peder H. Svingen - psvingen@d.umn.edu - Duluth, MN