-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*May 7, 1998
*MNDU9805.07

-Birds mentioned

• American White Pelican
• American Bittern
• Green Heron
• Northern Goshawk
• Broad-winged Hawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Peregrine Falcon
• Bonaparte's Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Common Tern
• Chimney Swift
• Purple Martin
• Cliff Swallow
• Barn Swallow
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Nashville Warbler
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Field Sparrow
• Western Meadowlark

Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: May 7, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Rick Schroeder (avsaxman@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, May 7, 1998, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Although this has been yet another week with a general absence of new spring migrants in Duluth and vicinity, which has probably been caused by predominantly wet weather in states south of Minnesota delaying the migration, at least there were some birds of note reported recently.

These include additional sightings of AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, PEREGRINE FALCONS, both GLAUCOUS GULL and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS, which had all been reported recently in and around Park Point and the harbor area. The late GLAUCOUS GULL was seen again May 3 at the Superior entry breakwater at the south end of Park Point, along with a GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. This is also probably the same individual which had also been reported back on April 14th.

Also out of the ordinary was a FIELD SPARROW which was present for one day only, May 1, on the 8200 block of Congdon Blvd. And a WESTERN MEADOWLARK which was seen and heard May 6 near the intersection of Lester River and Beyer Roads.

As far as other new migrants go, the following were reported: NASHVILLE WARBLER May 1, GREEN HERON May 2, PURPLE MARTIN May 3, AMERICAN BITTERN May 4, on May 5 the first BARN SWALLOW, CLIFF SWALLOW, and CHIMNEY SWIFTS were all seen, along with an actual count of 130+ YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS moving north at Park Point that morning. COMMON TERN and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER were also reported, although the dates of these were not given. And increased numbers of BONAPARTE'S GULL were also seen in the harbor this week.

Frank Nicoletti's raptor count at Enger Tower on West Skyline Parkway has also been continuing, with the best day so far this month on May 5, with a total of 746 raptors. These included 496 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS, 1 NORTHERN GOSHAWK, 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, and a "HARLAN'S" type RED-TAILED HAWK.

It is expected that the pace of the spring migration will improve in the coming days since observers in southern Minnesota this week have finally been seeing a fair variety of warblers and other such migrants. And given this delayed migration it is perhaps fortunate that our 12th Annual Hawk Ridge Birdathon and St. Louis County Big Day will be held on the relatively late date of Saturday, May 30. Birders of all levels of ability are invited to form or join one of the birding teams attempting to find as many species as possible in St. Louis County on May 30. Everyone, whether or not they are on one of the birding teams, is invited to pledge, or solicit pledges, based on the number of species seen that day, with all proceeds for the benefit of the programs and research at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve.

For more information about any of this, call Terry Wiens at 218-525-6158.

The next scheduled update of this tape will be Monday, May 18.

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