[mou] Morgan Park Mudflats, Duluth, gulls and shorebirds......

[SCmzd at aol.com]

Spent the last two mornings at the Morgan Park mudflats in West  Duluth.  
Yesterday, saw my first white rumped sandpiper of the year.   Today, there were 5 
ruddy turnstones, 2 semipalmated plovers, some least  sandpipers, a spotted 
sandpiper, 2 killdeer, and most impressive were 200+  bonapartes gulls, (nearly 
all of them without breeding plumage yet,  immatures?).  What was impressive 
with these gulls is that they would flush  in unison every so often, 
responding to the shorebirds flushing or in response  to a blue winged teal that came 
in low, etc.  Well, the bonapartes would go  up several hundred feet in the 
air, as a flock, kettle around for a few minutes,  then begin dropping back down 
to the mudflats one after the other.  And I  mean dropping!
The bonapartes would make a quick bank then drop at least 100 to 200 feet  in 
like three seconds, then bank again and drop right down to the water.   They 
would drop in so fast and hard that they made tremendous wooshing sounds  all 
around me as they came in.  Really cool, and might make  a gull fan out of 
anyone.  Of note, the shorebirds encountered over  the last two days appeared 
quite restless, none stayed very long to feed, like  they know they are a little 
behind schedule I suppose.
Happy Birding, Shawn Zierman.



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