[mou] Weeknd from Silver Bay to Grand Portage

[Bill Tefft]

We spent the weekend birding and hiking from a Friday start in Silver Bay, to Saturday in Grand Portage and back on Sunday.  One of the most productive spots was the marina at Taconite Harbor: all 3 scoters, redheads, greater scaup, horned grebe, merlin and a rain-soaked Sibley's field guide found on Friday.  Scoters, redheads, hooded mergs, buffleheads, greater scaup, Townsend's solitaire and the field guide still there on Sunday.

Grand Marais municipal campground and marina:  horned larks, horned grebes, savannah sparrow, merlin chasing pigeons on Friday.  Bohemian waxwings, Tennessee warblers, palm warblers, golden-crowned kinglet and horned grebes on Sunday.

Sewage ponds at Grand Portage: redheads, common goldeneyes, blue-winged teal, lesser scaup, buffleheads, A. blackducks.

Along the way: rusty blackbird, pine siskins, lots of tree sparrows, a few snow buntings, long-tailed ducks, red-necked grebe, all the resident woodpeckers, except, flicker and 2-toed, a variety of sparrows and surprisingly no loons.  Driving from Grand Portage to Tettegouche on Sunday there was river of crows flying south along the shore - everywhere we were there were large flocks on crows almost continuously passing with the help of a good tailwind.

Back in Ely, I had a phone message of a first reported pine grosbeak sighting for the area.



Bill Tefft
Parks and Recreation Instructor
Vermilion Community College
1900 E. Camp Street
Ely, MN  55731
Office Phone:  218-235-2197
Fax: 218-365-7218