Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
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-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *April 30 1998 *MNDU9804.30 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: April 30, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525 5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Cyndie Browning (CB4Cyndie@aol.com)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)
This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, April 30, 1998, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
Again this week, unfortunately, the migration in Duluth and northeastern Minnesota has been very disappointing, even though warmer than normal temperatures have continued to predominate on most days. Even in southern Minnesota, the migration has mostly been uneventful recently so it may be several more days yet before things get interesting. Part of the problem is that the weather last weekend, when most birders would have been out, was hardly conducive to birding, with very strong and cold winds blowing in off Lake Superior.
Since last week's tape, the only new arrivals reported in Duluth were PALM WARBLER, April 25th; BANK SWALLOWS, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, and a LAPLAND LONGSPUR, all at Park Point April 28th; PINE WARBLER, April 29th, also at Park Point; and today, SWAMP SPARROWS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.
Frank Nicoletti's Enger Tower hawk count on West Skyline Parkway has also been mostly uneventful recently. His best dates this week were yesterday the 29th with a total of 357 hawks, 297 of them BROAD-WINGEDS, and on the 28th with a total of 233, 159 of these BROAD-WINGED HAWKS.
And about the only other birds of interest reported this week were a late GLAUCOUS GULL, April 26th, at the Superior Entry Breakwater at the south end of Park Point; some AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS which were seen again April 24th and 25th in the harbor area; and an adult PEREGRINE FALCON at Park Point both April 27th and 28th which is probably nesting on either the highway 53 Blatnik Bridge or the highway Bong Bridge.
Finally, it is worth noting that the water levels in the Duluth harbor are relatively low and this has resulted in some larger-than-normal sandbars on the bay side of Park Point behind Hearding Island. These sandbars can be scanned with a spotting scope from the public access south of the apartment building on 19th Street and this is a good location for shorebirds, BONAPARTE'S GULL, FORSTER'S TERN and COMMON TERNS which could be arriving any day now. Over the years, several shorebirds, several rare shorebirds and gulls have been seen there as well.
Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime, this tape is normally updated once a week on Thursdays, so that the next scheduled update will be on Thursday, May 7th. And as always, if you have birds to report, you may either leave a message after the tone at the end of this tape.
Also note for future reference that callers can leave a message, if they wish, without having to wait for this birding report to end. To do this, after the tape starts playing, push "5" on your touch-tone phone; the tape will then stop, the tone will sound, and you can then leave your message.
