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*MNDU9510.26
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 26, 1995
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Kirk Jeffrey
This is the Duluth birding report for Thursday, October 26, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists Union.
Since last Thursday's update of the tape, there have been several birds of note seen in Duluth and northeastern Minnesota. Most of these were not staying put and could not be relocated. These included PACIFIC LOONS at two locations, OLDSQUAWS, WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, THAYER'S GULLS at two locations, GREAT GRAY and BOREAL OWL, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES at three locations, and, of all things, a HOODED WARBLER.
The HOODED WARBLER was an adult male in full plumage; it came by Barb Akray [?] and myself on October 20th in Grand Marais, Cook County, on the east side of the harbor. It was on the ground among a flock of Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and Horned Larks, but it flew off after a minute or so and could not be relocated later that day or the next. To my knowledge, this is the first record ever in northeastern Minnesota and the latest fall date ever for Minnesota.
Those PACIFIC LOONS previously reported from Two Harbors in Lake County and from Stony Point were reported again by various observers recently, the Two Harbors individual last Sunday and the Stony Point Loon today [Thursday].
OLDSQUAWS seen last weekend at Good Harbor Bay and Five Mile Rock near Grand Marais in Cook County, and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were also seen last weekend at Good Harbor Bay and in Duluth on the bay side of Park Point.
Frank Nicoletti has noted four RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS from the Main Overlook at Hawk Ridge since last weekend. Otherwise, the daily counts there have been mostly uneventful lately--although BALD EAGLES, NORTHERN GOSHAWKS, and ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS are being seen in small numbers on a daily basis. Good RED-TAILED HAWK numbers are passing through, and there have been four days recently with GOLDEN EAGLE sightings.
First-winter immature THAYER'S GULLS were seen last weekend, at the 40th Avenue West mud flats in Duluth, and in the harbor in Grand Marais, where a fish-processing operation continues to attract good numbers of gulls.
Ben [?] spotted another GREAT GRAY OWL earlier this week, in the Sax-Zim Bog area northwest of Duluth. This individual was along St. Louis County road 203, 1 mile south of County Road 52. 203 turns south off of 52, 4 1/2 miles east of [Toivila?] or 11 1/2 miles west of Cotton.
Last night [i.e., Wednesday night] the Hawk Ridge banders netted a BOREAL OWL, the first caught there since 1992. Note that another Boreal Owl was found dead last week near Two Harbors. So again, this may be shaping up as a good winter for this and other northern Owls.
Speaking of the Hawk Ridge banding station, the banders have netted over 1300 SAW-WHET OWLS so far this season. This is over 200 more than the previous high of 1102 Saw-whets banded in a single season at Hawk Ridge.
An unexpected RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER was also seen in Grand Marais October 20th, and last weekend no fewer than four TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES were found at three North Shore locations: one at the mouth of the Knife River in Lake County, two in Grand Marais near the campground ballfield, and one at [Crossville?] just east of Grand Marais.
Also of interest last weekend were several late-lingering species, including PECTORAL SANDPIPERS at 40th Avenue West, Knife River, and Two Harbors; a SEDGE WREN at Park Point; a SWAINSON'S THRUSH in Grand Marais; several GRAY CATBIRDS along the North Shore in Cook County; six species of WARBLERS including a CAPE MAY at Tofte in Cook County, and TENNESSEE, ORANGE-CROWNED, and NASHVILLE in Grand Marais; a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW and several MEADOWLARKS in Taconite Harbor in Cook County.
Other birds of note seen last week include the first PINE GROSBEAKS of the season, October 21st at Hawk Ridge and subsequently; plus additional sightings of BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, GRAY JAY, BOREAL CHICKADEE, BOHEMIAN WAXWING, RED- and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, and COMMON REDPOLLS at various locations along the North Shore and at Hawk Ridge.
The totals from this fall's census of migrants at the Lakewood Pumping Station [Duluth] have now been compiled, and in 56 hours of coverage over 28 days from August 21 to October 20, we had a grand total of 75,050 migrants, or 1340 per hour. This compares favorably to 1994's total of 59,333 migrants during 65 1/2 hours of coverage in 33 days or 906 migrants per hour.
This fall we had six days with over 5000 migrants counted during the two-hour count period including 13,011 on October 12, 12,251 on September 26, and 9770 on September 18. In 1994 there were only two days with totals over 5000, but this included October 20th's total of 26,352 migrants.
Finally, an apparent first state record GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL has been identified in the Twin Cities and has been seen at various locations this past week. Probably the best place to look for it would be at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis, during the late afternoon, when this and other gulls often come in to roost for the night.
Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime which needs to be reported on immediately, the next scheduled update of this tape will be on Thursday, November 2nd, and as always, if you have birds to report, you may either leave a message after the tone or call me [Kim Eckert] directly at (218) 525-6930.
--BEEEEEP!--