Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
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-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *December 21 1997 *MNDU9712.21 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 21, 1997
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Sr. Pam Kern SRPAMKERN@juno.com, SRPAMKERN@aol.com
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)
This is the Duluth birding report for Sunday, December 21, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. This tape is being updated today to report on the results of yesterday's Duluth Christmas bird count.
Although the mild temperatures and lack of snow cover have been making birds in general harder to find than usual, since they have not been concentrated much in town or at feeders, this weather did encourage several species to linger later then normal. And so far it looks like we had a total of 60 species yesterday, which is more than usual and only two species shy of our all time high Christmas bird count record of 62. Among the highlights were: COMMON LOON, WOOD DUCK, NORTHERN PINTAIL, GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, a probable, LONG-EARED OWL, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, BOREAL CHICKADEE, TOWNSEND'S SOLATAIRE, EASTERN TOWHEE, HARRIS' SPARROW, and HOARY REDPOLL.
And, as I read through the list of species reported yesterday, the 20th, if you notice any species missing from the list, it 's not to late to report them. Two late lingering COMMON LOONS in the harbor, CANADA GOOSE, a first ever record of a WOOD DUCK in the harbor, a record number of AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 28, also, a record number of MALLARDS, 855, only the second record ever of NORTHERN PINTAIL lingering in the harbor, COMMON GOLDENEYE, only one COMMON MERGANSER, which is the lowest total in 23 years, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, BALD EAGLE, RED-TAILED HAWK, AMERICAN KESTREL, RUFFED GROUSE, RING-BILLED GULL, HERRING GULL, THAYER'S GULL, GLAUCOUS GULL, and an immature GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL which was along the North Shore in the gull flock which is found about a half-mile south-west of the French River, ROCK DOVE, MOURNING DOVE, a probable LONG-EARED OWL, which has to be checked out and would only be the fourth record for this bird count, BARRED OWL, a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER lingering at a feeder near the corner of Arrowhead and Swan Lake Road, a record number of DOWNY WOODPECKERS, 181, HAIRY WOODPECKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, PILEATED WOODPECKER, GRAY JAY, BLUE JAY, AMERICAN CROW, COMMON RAVEN, a second high total of 2305 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, a BOREAL CHICKADEE at Bergren's (?) feeder which is at the end of ? Farm Road, ? Farm Road turns west off of Ryan Road about a half mile north of highway 61, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, WHITE- BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, two TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, one of these was on the Lester River Road side of Lester Park, AMERICAN ROBIN, only 75 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, which is the lowest year in 18 years, NORTHERN SHRIKE, EUROPEAN STARLING, a first ever record for this count of an EASTERN TOWHEE at Lee Brushe's (?) feeder which is on 2900 block of Jefferson Street, SONG SPARROW, 12 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, which is only one short of the record high count here of 13, two HARRIS' SPARROWS, only a fourth record of this count, one of these was also at Lee Brushe's feeder, and the other was at the feeder at the Wild Birds Unlimited store, DARK-EYED JUNCO, SNOW BUNTING, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, PINE GROSBEAK, PURPLE FINCH, HOUSE FINCH, RED CROSSBILL, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL, COMMON REDPOLL, a HOARY REDPOLL, out on Park Point, PINE SISKIN, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, EVENING GROSBEAK, and HOUSE SPARROW.
Note yesterday, for example, that no one yesterday reported such things as: Merlin, Great-horned Owl, Snowy Owl, Varied Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Northern Cardinal, even though two had been seen in Duluth a few days ago, or Common Grackle. And again if you see, of any of these, or others missing from our list, were seen in or near Duluth yesterday, please be sure to give me a call at 525-6930, or leave a message after the tone at the end of this tape.
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, December 25, which will include the results of today's Two Harbors' Christmas bird count, and tomorrow's Sax-Zim Bog count. beep
