[mou] Re: Townsend's solitaire Cook Co.

[Jim & Carol Tveekrem]

Forgot to send this on Tuesday:  one Townsend's Solitaire visited us in
Schroeder the very windy afternoon of Jan. 24.  We got excellent looks at
this bird, all field marks.  New Yardbird for here!  Earlier that day I had
glimpses of a darker gray, slim, long-tailed bird on the ground and on a low
branch, also flying past less than 15 feet away.  Never got binocs on the
rascal, but it appeared to be size and shape and posture of a Catbird,
without any white or tan markings that I could see, definitely not a
solitaire.

Very few birds at feeders hereabouts - B-c Chickadees, both Red and
White-breasted Nuthatches, occasionally 3 Pine Siskins, a lone male Purple
Finch, a few Pine Grosbeaks, male Pileated Woodpecker working on a dead
spruce, Downy W, rarely a Hairy W., also a few Am. Crows, usual Ravens and
Bald Eagle flyovers and cleaning up numerous deer kills on Hwy. 61.

I had a report of a Catbird at a yard in Tofte, also a Varied Thrush, but
neither bird seen for at least two weeks.  The Varied Thrush was well
described; viewer didn't believe her eyes after looking up the usual range
of the bird.  The heavy mountain ash crop and our persistent warm weather
must be keeping some of these alive.

Carol Tveekrem, Schroeder


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Lind" <jslind@frontiernet.net>
To: <mou-net@cbs.umn.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 7:35 PM
Subject: [mou] Duluth CBC 1/26/06


| This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, January 26th, 2006
| sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
|
| Peder Svingen and Kim Eckert found a juvenile GYFALCON on the
| afternoon of the 21st on the ice in the Duluth harbor.  Peder
| observed the bird from the Park Point bus turnaround near the
| recreation area at the same time Kim and others were observing the
| bird from across the harbor at Barker's Island in Superior.  Mike
| Hendrickson then found an adult GRYFALCON on the 23rd in the Duluth
| Port Terminal perched on the tower next to the Blatnik Bridge.  This
| may be the same individual seen on the harbor ice on December 29th.
| A PEREGRINE FALCON continues to be seen regularly around the Port
| Terminal and downtown Duluth.
|
| A LONG-TAILED DUCK was found with a flock of more than 300 COMMON
| GOLDENEYES by Peder Svingen on the 21st in the shipping lane at Canal
| Park in Duluth.  Peder also found an adult ICELAND GULL at Canal Park
| on the 22nd, as well as four GLAUCOUS GULLS.  What may be the same
| ICELAND GULL was seen on the 24th at Gull Bluff, just past the
| Superior dump.  The female RING-NECKED DUCK and male HOODED MERGANSER
| were still present in the Duluth harbor as of the 24th, and the five
| GREATER SCAUP were seen on the 22nd.   The VARIED THRUSH on the UMD
| campus was relocated on the 22nd along St. Marie Street just west of
| Oakland Avenue.
|
| Peg Robertson relocated a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE on the 20th, 0.25 mile
| west of the Tofte Town Park along the Godin Sugar Beach Road.  Larry
| Ronning heard a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL calling on the 19th near Lake
| County Road 2, about three miles north of Two Harbors.  A flock of
| more than 600 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS was seen on the 21st by Steve and Jo
| Blanich in northeast Crosby, Crow Wing County.  Mike Hendrickson
| found a flock of 200-300 Bohemians in Beaver Bay, Lake County on the
| 24th, which may signal a movement down the North Shore.  Most
| sightings of Bohemians this winter have been far away from Duluth.
|
| Mike Hendrickson and others found a SPRUCE GROUSE on the 24th along
| Lake County Road 2, 0.25 mile north of the Sand River.  They also
| found RED CROSSBILLS on Minnesota Highway 1, near mile marker 298,
| and BOREAL CHICKADEES along the Spruce Road.
|
| Kim Eckert reported two GREAT GRAY OWLS hunting together on the 22nd
| along the Arkola Road (CR 52), 0.5 mile to a mile east of Owl Avenue
| (CR 203).  A female BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER was reported by several
| people along the logging trail on the east side of the McDavitt Road
| (CR 213), about 2.5 miles north of the Sax Road (CR 28).  Bruce
| Pomeroy found three BOREAL CHICKADEES along the Blue Spruce Road (CR
| 211), 0.5 mile north of CR 133. Several ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS are being
| seen in the bog, including two dark morph birds seen by Dan Badger on
| the 25th along CR 7.
|
| NORTHERN HAWK OWLS were again seen over the weekend in the Sax-Zim
| bog along the Stone Lake Road (CR 319) and along the McDavitt Road
| north of the Sax Road.  There was also a recent sighting along Arkola
| Road (CR 52), between Owl Avenue (CR 203) and the Stickney Road (CR
| 207).  Al Schirmacher found a Hawk Owl on the 22nd along Aitkin CR 5
| about a mile south of Palisade.
|
| SNOWY OWLS have been seen at several locations in Aitkin County
| recently.  Warren Nelson and Bill Stauffer found five on the 21st,
| including one along 450th Street (TR 380) 0.8 mile west of CR 5 and
| another 2 miles west of CR 5, one on 310th Avenue 1.0 mile north of
| 450th Street, one 0.5 mile south of Tamarack along Kestrel Avenue (CR
| 16), and another on CR 1 about 1.5 miles north of the diversion
| channel.  Two were seen at the CR 1 location on the 22nd by Steve and
| Jo Blanich.  The Snowy Owl at the Duluth airport was seen yesterday
| along Airport Approach Road near the Fed Ex building.  The one along
| Tower Avenue across from the Superior airport was seen again over the
| weekend, and one was seen on the ice in the Duluth Harbor on the
| 22nd, out from the Park Point recreation area.
|
| The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday,
| February 2nd.
|
| 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.
|
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