[mou] Duluth and Sax-Zim Bog

[Leo]

Hello all!
We spent the last two days birding Duluth the first day, then drove to 
the Sax-Zim Bog in Saint Louis county. It was quite slow. We had been 
hoping to find some rare gulls and ducks out at Minnesota Point in 
Duluth, but found VERY little. There were some loons,  some scaups, and 
one 2nd year *Glaucous Gull* on the rocks on the harbor side of the 
strip, nearly at the tip. Also, a single *Common Tern* sat on the buoy 
off the field between the two woods on the strip.
   After walking the whole strip, we went to the 40th St. Marsh in 
Duluth, hearing tips about it. We parked outside the yellow gate, then 
walked down the road till we found the marsh above the hill.
There were tons of shorebirds in the mud there, but sadly, right as we 
got there, a guy pulled up in a truck and said we weren't supposed to be 
here, and we would be kicked out if someone saw us. I guess the place is 
off limits now, because of construction, but we decided to take our 
chances for a bit. It paid off. At the far right side of the lake, we 
spotted a adult male *Snowy Egret*, slowly walking around in the marsh. 
Through the marsh, there were a variety of shorebirds including:
*Sanderling *(1 that left shortly)
*Dunlin *(Many, many.)
*Baird's Sandpiper *(Many)
*Semipalmated Sandpiper *(Many)
*Semipalmated Plover *(A few scattered)
*Lesser Yellowlegs *(A few)
*Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper *(1)
*
*   After having a good time there, we decided to go all the way up to 
Two Harbors to look in the harbor. We drove there, walked the main 
harbor, spotted some *Herring Gulls* mixed in with the Ring-billed, one 
more 2nd year *Glaucous Gull*, and strangely enough, with 3 Mallards, a 
single female *Redhead* diving.

   We stopped back at the 40th St. Marsh on the way back to our motel at 
Duluth and found the *Snowy Egret* still there, walking on the left edge 
of the marsh, showing his golden slippers.  Some deer scared him away 
however, and we didn't see him again.

   The next day, we drove to Sax-Zim Bog, went to our favorite loop off 
of 133, (211) and drove down the first road of it, all the way up to 
where it turns west. On 133 heading there, we saw an adult male *Bald 
Eagle* soaring, perch RIGHT on the tip of a huge tree, and proceeded to 
sit there and screech. We spotted at least 4 *Mourning Warblers*, (1 on 
133, 3 on 211) but there was little else. We do ask for some help 
though, because we HEARD a very strange call. It was about 9 seconds in 
length, and was a sweet, soft little rambling song. (Not a Grosbeak 
ramble, more of a tinkling ramble) If anyone has any idea what this 
could have been, we'll gladly look up the call of the bird and try to 
match it.

   We went up towards Owl Ave., spotted a single *Clay-colored Sparrow* 
singing, then up the road for a ways, then turned back to Meadowlands 
and took a turny route. We went up 229, turned right, then followed a 
road that took many turns. Along that road, we started spotting 
*Bobolink *after Bobolink, and continued seeing them for the rest of the 
day. We went through a large field, and heard what we've now matched to 
be a *Grasshopper Sparrow*, looked around for a long time, but never 
spotted it before it departed. We scared up a edgy* American Bittern* on 
that road as well, then left and drove up to CR 52, turning west. Then, 
at the left side of the road, we spotted a huge *Great Gray Owl* perched 
right before a large field in the edge of the woods, just on the edge of 
the road. It was 5/10ths of a mile west of Stickney Rd. on 52.

   After that, it was getting late, so we drove west a little more, then 
headed for home. A *Northern Harrier *said goodbye to us as we left, 
soaring through the fields to our right on 52.

A pretty good trip. 84 birds total, counting the few we heard. We were 
hoping for more warblers, but the Mourning and the Owl were great, along 
with nearly spotting the Grasshopper Sparrow. (which we still have never 
seen)

   Good birding!
- Leo W.M.