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-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *December 7, 1995 *MNDU9512.07 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 7, 1995
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Sr. Pam Kern pkern@css1.css.edu
This is the Duluth birding report for Thursday, December 7 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
With a snow storm in the forecast tomorrow, followed by strong northwest winds and the prevailing cold temperatures now getting even colder this weekend, winter is definitely here. And again this week, most of the highlights are also birds more characteristic of winter, these include three more NORTHERN HAWK OWL sightings, two more GREAT GREY OWL reports, a dead BOREAL OWL, another report of SPRUCE GROUSE and another sighting of HARLEQUIN DUCKS in Two Harbors.
It is already an above average season for HAWKOWLS in northeastern Minnesota, with the sixth, seventh, and eighth report this past weekend. Dudley Edmundson found one of these on December 2 in Lake County, on County Road 2 about 26 miles north of Two Harbors, near the intersection of Forest Road 11. But, the next day, he was unable to relocate this individual or the HAWKOWL along Highway 61 at Gooseberry Falls State Park mentioned on last week's tape. On December 3, Warren Nelson of Aitken had an HAWKOWL about twelve miles north of Aitkin on US Highway 169 or about four miles north of the Minnesota Highway 210 intersection. And just this morning, Ben Yokel saw one in the Sax-Zim Bog area, along St. Louis County Road 7, a half mile north of the County Road 133 intersection. Hopefully, one or both of these will stay put for a while, unlike those seen earlier this season.
Warren Nelson also reports that a GREAT GREY OWL has been present recently in Aitkin County northeast of Palisade on County Road 10 1.7 miles north of the County Road 18 intersection. And last weekend, Mike Hendrickson relocated that GREAT GREY OWL in the Sax-Zim bog which had been seen in November along County Road 203 one mile south of County Road 52. Mike also found a road kill BOREAL OWL the same day in Sax-Zim on County Road 133 about five miles west of County Road 7.
Speaking of owls, Dave Evans reports that one or two SNOWY OWLS are present in the Duluth/Superior harbor area. SNOWYS were also found last weekend by John Hide in the Sax-Zim bog area near the intersection of County Roads 563 and 329, which is two miles east and a half mile north of Kelsey and by Warren Nelson in Aitkin County along the road which turns west off of County Road 5 one mile south of Palisade.
On December 3, Dudley Edmundson reported that five male SPRUCE GROUSE were seen in Lake County on Minnesota Highway 1 just west of the ?Medowin? Lake Road which is about half way between County Road 2 intersection and Isabella.
Not only were those HARLEQUIN DUCKS seen again in the main harbor in Two Harbors on December 1 by Dan Bursa, but there were no fewer than four individuals present that day, which is probably the largest number ever seen together in Minnesota.
Meanwhile, back in Duluth, about the only unexpected species of note reported this week, were a late SHARP SHINNED HAWK seen December 4 at the intersection of Central Entrance Road and Mesabi Avenue, that RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER found on the fifth by Bruce Munson on the 2300 block of East Fifth Street, (This individual had also been seen in November in this area, at Bob Cedarburg's feeder) And, possibly as many as three BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS identified by Debbie S? yesterday along Seven Bridges' Road near the Lester Park cross country ski head.
But, that's about all I've heard of in Duluth, and with more unfavorable weather on the way, it looks like we will have to make an extra effort to have a decent Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 16. There are three ways in which you can help. First, if you would like to go out in the field that day with one of the birding groups and if you have not yet been contacted, give me a call at 525-6930. We normally have 15 - 18 birding parties including 50 - 60 birders in the field and both beginners and more advanced birders are invited to participate. Second, we need as many feeder watchers as possible to report what they see in their yards on the 16th and this is of primary importance since every year there are species recorded on our Christmas bird count that are only seen in feeders. Keep track of both the species and the number of individuals you see that day and call in your report on the sixteenth to 728-0105, where we will be that evening compiling the day's results. The best time to call if possible, would be between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. that day. And finally, start watching now for any species of interest that we might have trouble finding on count day. In addition to obvious rarities, the possibilities of which are too numerous to mention, please give me a call if you see any of the following species in the Duluth count circle between now and the sixteenth so that a special effort can be made to find them on count day. By the way our standard 15 mile diameter circle is centered at the Hawk Ridge main overlook and extends up the North Shore as far as the French River, north as far as Eagle Lake, west to Wild Rice Lake and the Airport, and to 27th Avenue west in the harbor area which includes the Port Terminal and as far as 43rd Street on Park Point. The species of interest include: any waterbird except Mallard and Common Goldeneye, any species of hawks or owls, any woodpeckers except Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers, Grey Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Townsend's Solitaire, American Robin, Varied Thrush, either Cedar or Bohemian Waxwings, (Bohemian Waxwings have been conspicuous by their absence lately), Northern Cardinal, any species of sparrow, except of course House Sparrow, Snow Bunting, any species of blackbird or Common Grackle, Purple Finch and either White-Winged or Red Crossbills. And finally, speaking of the Christmas bird count, this will be the subject of the program at Duluth Audubon Society's next meeting which will be held on December 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the College of St. Scholastica in the Science Building room 154.
The next scheduled update of this tape will be on Thursday, December 14, and as always if you have birds to report you may leave a message after the tone. Beep