[mou] Duluth RBA 1/20/05

[David Benson]

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, January 20, 2005, 
sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

The YELLOW-BILLED LOON in Two Harbors has not been reported recently.

Two SNOWY OWLS have been seen at the Duluth International Airport; some 
observers have seen them from the observation area inside the terminal; 
others have succeeded in seeing the owls from Stebner Rd. Another Snowy 
Owl was refound on the 14th at the railroad yards in Proctor.

The only BOREAL OWL reports this week were from Duluth. Frank Nicoletti 
found a bird on the 15th along 16th Ave E near London Rd; another bird 
was seen in Lakeside along Dodge St on the 17th. Mike Hendrickson 
reported another bird from West Duluth.

GREAT GRAY OWLS continue to be abundant, especially south of Duluth in 
Carlton, Aitkin, and Pine counties. Some observers have found fewer 
Great Grays in Sax-Zim; others have continued to have luck there. On 
the evening of the 16th, Jim and Sharon Lind counted 27 Great Grays 
flying northeast through Two Harbors. The night before they saw 21, and 
Carol Tveekrem reported 9 moving northeast along the shore near 
Schroeder on the 16th. Adjusted counts for the season so far in 
Minnesota are 1715 Great Grays and over 300 Hawk Owls.

A group from Iowa reported a CLARK'S NUTCRACKER on the 15th on Hwy 61 
near the jct. with McQuade Rd.

BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS were seen again this week along McDavitt Rd in 
Sax-Zim between 2.6 and 3.4 miles north of the the Sax Rd. No reports 
this week of the Three-toed.

On the 15th, Jim Otto reported a HOARY REDPOLL from the headquarters at 
Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Aitkin Cty. SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 
were seen on the 17th along Aitkin Cty Rd 16, 0.5 to 1.0 mi S of 
Tamarack. BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were seen this week in Two Harbors, in 
Meadowlands, and in the Lakeside neighborhood of Duluth.

Deb Buria-Falkowski saw a flock of at least 30 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS 
at Mesabi Range College in Virginia on the 17th. Kim Eckert reported a 
flock of about 25 RED CROSSBILLS along St. Louis Cty Rd 29, just south 
of 133 on the 16th. This location is just west of Meadowlands. He also 
saw a small flock of White-winged Crossbills on the Blue Spruce Rd.

Kim also reported an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW at Wisconsin Point, plus one 
THAYER'S GULL and GLAUCOUS GULLS from the road outside the Superior 
Landfill. A GADWALL is overwintering with the Mallards and Black Ducks 
at the corner of the lake in Canal Park.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday, January 
27.

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