[mou] Duluth RBA 12/15/05

[Jim Lind]

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, December 15th, 
sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

As the SNOWY OWL invasion spreads across Minnesota and surrounding 
states, reports continue to come in from the Duluth area.  Jean 
Carpenter found one on the 10th near Esko in Carlton County, at the 
junction of the Canosia Road (CR 1) and the Harney Road.  Dave Benson 
relocated one in the Port Terminal area of the Duluth harbor on the 
9th, under the Blatnik Bridge.  Two Snowys were again seen over the 
weekend in the Sax-Zim bog; one along the Arkola Road (CR 52) about 
two miles west of CR 7 on the 11th, and another south of the Byrne 
Greenhouse along CR 7 on the 10th.  The two Snowys at Northshore 
Mining in Silver Bay were also still present as of the 12th.  And the 
Snowy along Airport Approach Road on the west side of the Duluth 
Airport continues to be seen almost daily.

NORTHERN HAWK OWLS also continued to move into the area over the past 
week.  In addition to those previously reported in the Sax-Zim bog, 
Karen Sussman found one on December 10th along CR 85, two miles west 
of MN 73 in northwestern St. Louis County.  Also in St. Louis County, 
one was found on the 11th near Palo along CR 99, a mile north of CR 
16, and another was found on the 13th along the Lavaque Road (CR 98), 
two miles north of the Martin Road (CR 9) just north of Duluth.  In 
Lake County, one was seen on the 7th at the junction of Forest 
Highway 11 (CR 15) and CR 2 and one was seen on the 11th about six 
miles east of here along Forest Highway 11.

A late SHORT-EARED OWL was seen on the 11th along Lake County Road 3, 
two miles southwest of the Silver Bay airport.  A late EASTERN 
BLUEBIRD was found by Jim and Carol Tveekrem in Schroeder, Cook 
County on the 10th.  

An adult THAYER'S GULL was found by Peder Svingen at Canal Park on 
the 10th.  Janet Riegle reports that there is still a PEREGRINE 
FALCON in downtown Duluth, seen today at Lake Place Park.  

RED CROSSBILLS are being seen at several locations in northeastern 
Minnesota, including Kent Avenue near UMD, the lakeside neighborhood 
of Duluth, the Brimson area of central St. Louis County, and 4th 
Avenue and 1st Street in Two Harbors.  

The Duluth Christmas Bird Count will be held this Saturday, December 
17, 2005.  Anyone interested in participating should contact compiler 
Jim Lind at (218) 834-3199 or by e-mail at (jslind@frontiernet.net) 
for more information.

The Two Harbors Christmas Bird Count will be held the following day 
on Sunday, December 18, 2005.  Please contact compiler Frank 
Nicoletti (bjboreal@aol.com) if interested in participating.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Sunday, December 
18th to report on results from the weekend's Christmas Bird Counts.

The telephone number of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert is 218-834-2858.  
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 to 
mou@cbs.umn.edu, or visit the MOU web site at moumn.org.