-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*June 18, 1998
*MNDU9806.18

-Birds mentioned

• Red-throated Loon
• American White Pelican
• Yellow Rail
• Great Gray Owl
• Three-toed Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Black-throated Blue Warbler
• Mourning Warbler
• Le Conte's Sparrow
• Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow

Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: June 18, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525 5952
Compiler: (and written by) Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Barb Adams
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, June 18, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Although there weren't many birding reports this week in Duluth and northeastern Minnesota, there were a few noteworthy sightings.

Scott Wolff saw three late-lingering RED-THROATED LOONS on June 15th on Lake Superior out from the 4100 block of Park Point.

At Boulder Lake north of Duluth, on June 16th, there was a possible sighting of five or six AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS. A caller actually identified these as Whooping Cranes, but it would seem that they might have been pelicans, which are seen at Boulder Lake on occasion.

Terry Wiens reports that he has been hearing LE CONTE'S SPARROW at several locations along Lester River Road and some connecting side roads just north of the Duluth city limits.

And yesterday, along the 14 mile-long Willard Munger Trail between Duluth and Carlton, there was a surprisingly high number of singing male MOURNING WARBLERS - a minimum of 50 individuals were heard, but it was likely that there were perhaps 80 or more if a more thorough survey had been made.

Speaking of warbler concentrations, Jim Lind of Two Harbors has been doing some surveys for BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS in Lake County, especially at Tettegouche State Park, where he has located about 40 singing males. Most of them are in the western part of the park, which is accessed from the service road off Lake County Road 4 about one mile north of the Lax Lake public access.

Last week former Minnesota birder Parker Backstrom led a tour in Northern Minnesota and among his best finds were both THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS and BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS in Cook County along the Lima Mountain Road about one mile west of the Gunflint Trail (the Lima Mountain Road turns west off the Gunflint Trail about 20.5 miles north of Grand Marais).

Finally in Aitkin County, west of Duluth, NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW have been reported at two locations in the Yellow Rail marsh along MN Highway 65 south of McGregor. One location was at mile marker 116 on the west side of 65 and the other was on the dead-end side road which turns east off 65 two miles south of McGregor.

YELLOW RAILS continue to be difficult to find in this marsh; they are reportedly being heard far to the east of 65, just south of MN Highway 210.

And Aitkin County has been the most reliable place lately for GREAT GRAY OWLS. Look especially along the first mile or so of Pietz's Road, which turns north off of Aitkin County Road 18, four miles east of US Highway 169.

The next scheduled update of this tape will be on Thursday, June 25th. And as always, if you have birds to report you may leave a message after the tone.

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MnRBA. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info end) to

mnrba-request@linux.winona.msus.edu

Sightings can be called in directly to the tape, (218) 525-6930, by leaving a message after the tone at the end of the tape

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