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Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide | Detroit Lakes

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*April 6, 2000
*MNDU0004.06

-Birds mentioned

• Common Loon
• American White Pelican
• Tundra Swan
• Wood Duck
• Turkey Vulture
• Osprey
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Harrier
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• Cooper's Hawk
• Northern Goshawk
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Golden Eagle
• American Kestrel
• Merlin
• Peregrine Falcon
• Sandhill Crane
• Belted Kingfisher
• Eastern Phoebe
• Bohemian Waxwing
• Northern Shrike
• Chipping Sparrow
• Fox Sparrow
• Common Redpoll

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: April 6, 2000
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Transcriber: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, April 6, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

After the very early appearance of warmer-than-normal temperatures here in late February and early March and the accompanying arrival of several earlier-than-normal spring migrants, during the past few weeks the weather has been closer to normal and the pace of spring migration has slowed down. As a result, the birding has been mostly uneventful on most days lately in NE Minnesota, with only a handful of new migrants arriving. Since last week's Birding Report, the only new migrants reported in Duluth have been COMMON LOON, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, WOOD DUCK, OSPREY, BELTED KINGFISHER, EASTERN PHOEBE, CHIPPING SPARROW, and FOX SPARROWS.

The pelicans were seen flying over the St Louis R near Morgan Park on Mar 31, and on the same day 4 SANDHILL CRANES flew over the Enger Tower hawk watch site. Also of interest are the TUNDRA SWANS which continue to be seen along the river, mostly in the Spirit L and Mud L areas between Morgan Park and the Oliver bridge in Gary - New Duluth.

Frank Nicoletti's Enger Tower hawk count on W Skyline Pkwy continues to document good numbers of migrating raptors, with his best day recently on Apr 1 with a count of 918, including 138 BALD EAGLES and 740 RED-TAILED HAWKS. So far this season, from Feb 26 through Apr 4, Frank has counted a total of 6,799 raptors, including:

64 TURKEY VULTURES 1 OSPREY 2,492 BALD EAGLE 11 NORTHERN HARRIER 163 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 13 COOPER'S HAWK 12 NORTHERN GOSHAWK 4 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 3,826 RED-TAILED HAWK 133 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 54 GOLDEN EAGLE 6 AMERICAN KESTREL 4 MERLIN 1 PEREGRINE FALCON

About the only other birding news this week has been the continued presence of late-lingering NORTHERN SHRIKES, BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS and COMMON REDPOLLS at various locations in Duluth.

Finally, Dave Benson's spring bird identification class began this week, with the next few field trips as follows: Apr 8, 8:30-11:30 AM; Apr 13, 7:30-9:30 PM (for woodcocks and owls); and Apr 15, 8:30-11:30 AM. All trips meet at the Endion Station visitors information center in Canal Park, and for more information call Dave at 728-5812.

Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime which needs to be reported immediately, the Duluth Birding Report is normally updated once a week on Thursdays, so that the next scheduled update will be on April 13. The phone number is (218) 525-5952, and callers can leave a message if they wish after the tone at the end of the tape. Also note that a message can be left without having to wait for the birding report to end: after the tape starts playing, push 5 on a touch-tone phone, the tape will then stop, the tone will sound and you can leave your message.

The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU), the state bird club, as a service to its members. For more information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street S E, Minneapolis MN 55455, or visit the MOU web site at .

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