Previous reports: July 1 , September 2 9 16 19 23 30 .
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*October 7, 1999
*MNDU9910.7

-Birds mentioned

• American White Pelican
• Surf Scoter
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Goshawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Golden Eagle
• Sandhill Crane
• Ruddy Turnstone
• Sanderling
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Little Gull
• Boreal Owl
• Northern Saw-whet Owl
• Red-headed Woodpecker
• Cliff Swallow
• Lapland Longspur
• Snow Bunting
• Red Crossbill
• White-winged Crossbill

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 7, 1999
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Transcriber: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Re-transcriber: Terry Brashear (beakgeek@scientist.com)

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

Probably as a result of a strong cold front which passed through a week ago, several birds of note turned up recently in Duluth and NE Minn, including SURF SCOTER, WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, LITTLE GULL, BOREAL OWL and CLIFF SWALLOW, along with the first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, GOLDEN EAGLES, RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, SNOW BUNTINGS, RED CROSSBILLS and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS of the season, and large numbers of migrating N SAW-WHET OWLS and LAPLAND LONGSPURS.

The most unusual of these birds was probably the juvenile LITTLE GULL which was seen Oct 4 at the L Winnibigoshish dam, located on the east side of the lake on the Itasca/Cass county line.

Perhaps even more unexpected was the very early BOREAL OWL which was banded at Hawk Ridge in Duluth on the night of Oct 1-2; this owl is not netted at the Banding Station every year, and the few that do occur are generally in November. Also at the Banding Station, large numbers of NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS have been netted, including 159 on the night of Oct 5-6 and 122 on the night of Oct 2-3; so far this season over 400 saw-whets have now been banded.

By day at the Ridge, the first GOLDEN EAGLES of the season were seen Oct 3 and 6, and the first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS were counted Oct 5. On Oct 2, the hawk count included 20 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS and 153 RED-TAILED HAWKS, and on Oct 6 the count included 76 BALD EAGLES. And on Oct 3 at the Ridge, a late AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN and some SANDHILL CRANES flew over.

A Minnesota Birding Weekends group saw several species of interest up the North Shore on Oct 2-3, including 2 SURF SCOTERS at Good Harbor Bay just west of Grand Marais, a very late CLIFF SWALLOW at Grand Marais, the first migrant SNOW BUNTINGS (in Grand Marais) and RED CROSSBILLS (at Lutsen) of the season, 8 species of shorebirds (including RUDDY TURNSTONE and SANDERLING in Grand Marais), and hundreds -- if not thousands -- of migrant LAPLAND LONGSPURS between Duluth and Grand Marais. Also up the Shore in Lake Co, a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER was found in Two Harbors Oct 5.

In Duluth, the first WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS of the fall were seen yesterday, the 6th, at 2 locations along the North Shore: on the 8900 block of Scenic Hwy 61 and at the Lakewood Pumping Station. And RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS were reported last weekend in the vicinity of Piedmont Ave and West 23rd Street.

This coming weekend, Oct 9-10, will be our annual clean-up along Skyline Pkwy at Hawk Ridge. Volunteers are needed to help out for an hour or two at any time they wish on either Saturday or Sunday. Just bring a pair of work gloves and a trash bag or two to the Main Overlook and look for the naturalist, Dave Benson, who can direct you to where help is needed.

Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime which needs to be reported immediately, the Duluth Birding Report is normally updated once a week on Thursdays, so that the next scheduled update will be on October 14. The phone number is (218) 525-5952, and callers can leave a message if they wish after the tone at the end of the tape. Also note that a message can be left without having to wait for the birding report to end: after the tape starts playing, push 5 on a touch-tone phone, the tape will then stop, the tone will sound and you can leave your message.

The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU), the state bird club, as a service to its members. For more information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church Street S E, Minneapolis MN 55455, or visit the MOU web site at .

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MOU-net@biosci.umn.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info mou-net) to majordomo@biosci.umn.edu. To learn more about our organization visit our web sit e: http://biosci.cbs.umn.edu/~mou/

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