[mou] St. Louis County Great Gray Owls, Brant, jaegers

[Doug Kieser]

Today (May 24), Mark Ochs, Jim Otto and I spent the morning birding the Sax-Zim bog area, and the afternoon in Duluth.  Some highlights:

Great Gray Owls:  One was observed on Stickney Road 1.2 miles north of Arkola (County 52) (same location as reported yesterday by Sparky Stensaas).  This was at 6:14 am.  A second Great Gray Owl was observed at 9:45 am on McDavitt Road, 3.0 miles north of Sax Road (County 28).  Both of these owls were hunting the ditches from low perches - even from the ground.

Sharp-tailed Grouse:  8 birds on the lek at Arkola and County 208.  Two American Bitterns and one Upland Sandpiper were also at this location.

Black-backed Woodpecker 2.7 miles north of  Sax Road.

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher:  One heard-only at the drainage ditch one mile east of Owl Ave. on Arkola.

Connecticut Warbler:  Heard-only at several locations.

Brant:  Observed at Bayfront Park, Duluth from noon - 1 pm.  Shortly after our arrival two small dogs caught the Brant's attention from around 100 yards away, as they approached the Brant ran, then flew for the harbor.  Shortly after landing a small boat came by, and the Brant took off and flew out of sight in the vicinity of Hearding Island.
As we were driving out of the parking lot, we saw it fly back to the harbor near Bayfront park.

Jaegers:  Two light-phase jaegers were observed from the near the Sky Harbor airport boardwalk.  Shortly after 2:00 pm Mark spotted a jaeger flying rapidly low over the lake towards downtown Duluth.  We followed this bird for a minute or so, then lost sight of it.  Soon Jim spotted two jaegers harassing Ring-billed Gulls in the area where we had last seen the single bird.  We all observed these two jaegers for several minutes, finally they broke-off their pursuit of one of the gulls and dove for the water, where we lost sight of them.  Long distance and high winds made detailed observation impossible; although the bird's light bellies contrasting with dark wings, and visible white underwing patches were observed.
After failing to relocate the jaegers from our location near the airport, we checked from the Lafayette Square deck and 12th street without success.

Doug Kieser
Minneapolis

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