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-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *December 13, 1995 *MNDU9512.13 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 13, 1995
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Sr. Beverly Raway braway@fac1.css.edu
This is the Duluth birding report for Wednesday, December 13th sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. This tape is being updated a day early, because it has been out of service for the past few days and our replacement telephone answering machine just became available courtesy of Tony Hertzel who operates the Twin Cities birding report. The machine which had been in use for the last three and one-half years broke down for the first time and it has been sent out for repairs. Of primary interest recently has been the modest NORTHERN HAWK OWL invasion which has continueD since last week with the reports of three additional individuals and another which was relocated after first being discovered last week. One of the new sightings was on December 7th by Ben Yokel in the Sax-Zim bog area on St. Louis County Road 52, three and 1/2 miles west of the town of Cotton. Ben had also found another HAWK OWL earlier in the day in the Sax- Zim bog along County Road 7 just North of County Road 133 and this individual was seen again on December 9th and is hopefully still present. Another HAWK OWL was seen last weekend at by Mary Anderson of Duluth in Douglas County Wisconsin, along State Highway 13 just east of the Brule River. And unfortunately, the other HAWK OWL report was yesterday when an injured bird was picked up by Dave Evans along Kenwood Avenue in Duluth near the College of St. Scholastica. These bring the HAWK OWL totals so far this season to 10 individuals in Northeastern Minnesota plus one in Northwestern Wisconsin. Last week's tape also reported on HAWK OWLS being found along Lake County Road 2 about 26 miles north of Two Harbors and in Aitkin County along US Highway 169 about 12 miles north of Aitkin or 4 miles North of the Minnesota Highway 210 intersection. But whether these individuals are still present is unknown.
Also not known is whether or not the two GREAT GREY OWLS mentioned on last week's tape are still present. One of these was in the Sax-Zim bog along St. Louis County Road 203 a mile south of County Road 52. And the other was in Aitkin County northeast of Palisade on County Road 10, 1.7 miles north of the County Road 18 intersection. I also haven't heard whether or not those HARLEQUIN DUCKS in the main harbor and Two Harbors in Lake County have been seen since they were last reported on December 1st.
Back in Duluth, two species of note were reported recently. Dave S. had a HARRIS' SPARROW as of last weekend at his feeder at 5637 North Shore Drive. And also last weekend Mike Hendrickson saw a LAPLAND LONGSPUR along Jean Duluth Road about a quarter mile north of Glenwood Street. Hopefully, these two birds and a whole lot more will be seen this Saturday, December 16th for our annual Duluth Christmas Bird Count which is centered at the Main Overlook at Hawk Ridge 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 in the harbor area to 27th Avenue West to include the Port Terminal and as far as 43rd Street on Park Point. As previously mentioned 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 count that are only seen at feeders. Keep track of both the species and number of individuals you see that day and call in your report that evening to 728-0105 where we will be compiling the day's results. And the best time to call, if possible, would be between 5:00 and 7:00 pm.
And continue watching 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 at 525-6930 or leave a message after the tone at the end of this tape if you see any of the following species in the Duluth Count Circle between now and the 16th so special efforts can be made to find them on Count Day. These would include any waterfowl, except Common Goldeneye; any species of hawks or owls; any woodpeckers, except Hairy and Downy; Grey Jay; Boreal Chickadee; Brown Creeper; Golden Crown Kinglet; Townsend's Solitaire; American Robin; Varied Thrush; any Waxwings (Bohemian Waxwings have been conspicuous by their absence recently); Northern Cardinal; any species of Sparrows, except, of course, House Sparrow; Snow Buntings; any species of Blackbird or Common Grackle; Purple Finch; and any Crossbills.
And speaking of the Duluth Christmas Count this will be the subject of the program of the Duluth Audubon Society's next monthly meeting which will be December 14th, that is tomorrow evening at 7:30 at the College of St. Scholastica in the Science Building in Room 154.
Also note that the Sax-Zim Bog Christmas Bird Count will be held on Monday, December 18th and for more information on this, call Mark Stensis (sp?) at the Duluth Pack Store at 722-1707. The next scheduled update of this tape will be on Sunday, December 17th with the results of Saturday's Duluth Christmas Bird Count. Beep........................