[mou] Duluth area update

[Eckert K R]

Here are some additional sightings of note from Aitkin Co, Sax-Zim Bog, 
Duluth/Superior/Two Harbors & vicinity from Jan 21-22:

Bufflehead - Male on the Burlington Bay side of Two Harbors.

N Goshawk - Adult female on St Louis Co Rd 189, which turns S off Co Rd 
133, 8 mi W of Meadowlands.

Merlin - Along W Knife River Rd in Duluth Twp, ~1 mi W of the end of 
Homestead Rd. Another Merlin was reported by Cindy Edwardson in her 
yard on E Arrowhead Rd in Duluth.

Iceland & Thayer's gulls - One ad Iceland, 1 ad Thayer's, and 1 
2nd-winter Thayer's at the Superior WI landfill (plus a few Glaucous 
Gulls).

Am Three-toed Woodpecker - A new individual along Kestrel Ave, 1.3 mi N 
of Tamarack in Aitkin Co (follow Co Rd 6 N for 1 mi out of Tamarack, 
and where the main road curves left, turn right to continue N on Co Rd 
31 / Kestrel Ave for 0.3 mi). A Barred Owl was also present here.

Black-backed Woodpecker - A new individual in Sax-Zim along Co Rd 133, 
0.5 mi W of Blue Spruce Rd.

Townsend's Solitaire - The bird found in Hermantown by Shawn Zierman 
was still present the next day in a crabapple tree on the N side of 
Hermantown Rd, just W of Haines Rd.

Harris's Sparrow - Still present at 226 Fourth St in Two Harbors (along 
with 4 N Cardinals).

Lapland Longspur - Among a small flock of Snow Buntings in Aitkin Co, 
0.5 mi S of Tamarack (in the Sharp-tailed Grouse area); quite 
unexpected in N Minn in winter.

Again, as was the case with the earlier VENT tour group last week, no 
Great Gray Owl (no luck relocating the one seen Jan 14 along Co Ed 133, 
7 mi W of Meadowlands) or either species of crossbill were seen by us 
or reported by anyone else that I'm aware of.

Kim Eckert