[mou] Duluth RBA 9/23/04

[David Benson]

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, September 23rd, 2004 
sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

 From the 15th through the 22nd, there were daily reports of one or two 
jaegers, and on the 18th, Tom Auer, Robbye Johnson, and Mike 
Hendrickson saw a juvenile POMARINE JAEGER at Wisconsin Point. On the 
18th and the 23rd, there were sightings at Wisconsin Point of a 
possible ARCTIC TERN. Also on the 18th, there was a possible GREAT 
BLACK-BACKED BULL, also at Wisconsin Point. Bill Unzen reported an 
adult LITTLE GULL from Lake Winnibigoshish in Cass Cty on the 19th.

There were several reports of SABINE'S GULLS this week in northern 
Minnesota, including a bird at the Ironton Sewage ponds through the 
21st, a juvenile bird seen at Lake Winnibigoshish by Bill Unzen on the 
19th, a second-hand report of two birds (one adult and one juvenile) at 
Wisconsin Point in Superior on the 21st, and Mike Hendrickson's report 
of a juvenile in Duluth off Minnesota Point on the 22nd.

Concurrent with all these rare gulls, 300 to 500 COMMON TERNS were on 
Lake Superior at Duluth, along with small flocks of BONAPARTE'S GULLS. 
A RED KNOT was seen on the 18th and 19th by many observers at Minnesota 
Point. Jim Lind found a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER at the Two Harbors 
cemetery today.

In the heavy fog today several observers found at least 19 species of 
warblers at Park Point, and a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL in the pines. In 
addition to all the warblers, Tom Auer reported BLUE-HEADED VIREO and 
RED-EYED VIREO, and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Wednesday, 
September 29th.

The telephone number of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert is 218-728-5030. 
Information about bird sightings may be left following the recorded 
message.

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 to mou@cbs.umn.edu, or visit the MOU web site at mou.mn.org.