Minnesota Duluth/North Shore

Duluth RBA

Duluth RBA phone number: 218-525-5952

Previous reports: May 21 31 , June 8 15 22 30 , July 13 20 .
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide | Detroit Lakes

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*July 20, 2000
*MNDU0007.20

-Birds mentioned

Great Gray Owl
Three-toed Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Grasshopper Sparrow
White-winged Crossbill

-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: July 20, 2000
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: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, July 20, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Although in July most years there is typically little or no significant birding news to report from the Duluth area, this week there were a few birding reports of interest, with recent sightings of GREAT GRAY OWLS at two locations, GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS in Aitkin Co, and both THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS and BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS in nearby Douglas Co, Wis.

On the evening of July 17, a Great Gray Owl was spotted in the Sax-Zim Bog NW of Duluth; the location was along St Louis Co Rd 133, 1.2 mi W of U S Hwy 53. (Earlier this spring and into June another Great Gray in the Sax-Zim area had been present for several weeks, and it might still be present: that location was along Owl Ave, or Co Rd 202/203, at the jct of Co Rd 980, which is about 5 mi N of Meadowlands.) The other recent Great Gray Owl sighting was in Cook Co on the morning of July 15, about 8 mi from the end of the Gunflint Trail, 1/4 mi S of the Kekekabic trailhead.

At least 4 unexpected Grasshopper Sparrows were seen and heard on July 18 in Aitkin Co in the field where Henslow's Sparrows had been present in June. To reach this location, go S from Palisade on Co Rd 5 for 3 mi, then go W 1 mi on Twp Rd 380 and then N 1/4 mi on Twp Rd 561. On the same day 2 White-winged Crossbills were found along the trail which goes S off Aitkin Co Rd 18, 2 mi W of Co Rd 5 or 4 mi E of U S Hwy 169. (In late June a few White-winged Crossbills had also been found in the Sax-Zim Bog along Owl Ave, 1/2 - 1 mi S of Co Rd 52, and it is possible these might still be in the area.)

That burned area in Douglas Co, Wis mentioned on last week's Birding Report was still producing sightings of a couple Three-toed Woodpeckers and several Black-backeds this week. Again, to reach this location, go E about 5 mi from the town of Gordon on Co Rd Y, go N on Fairbanks Rd 1/2 mi and park opposite the fire number 13757 sign, then hike E a couple hundred yards on the grassy track which leads to the W edge of the burn. The best areas to check seem to be on the ridge along the N side of the burn, which has been partly logged, and on the ridge along the S side, especially near the Simms Lake Rd (which is 0.8 mi E of Fairbanks Rd). (Both Three-toed and Black-backed woodpeckers were also relocated earlier in July in Cook Co along the Lima Mountain Rd, 3 mi W of the Gunflint Trail; and in late June both species were found in Lake Co: Black-backeds along Co Rd 2 just S of the Greenwood L public access, and a Three-toed along the Spruce Rd, 3.5 mi from Minn Hwy 1.)

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. However, unless there are some significant sightings during the next week the next scheduled update will not be until two weeks from now, on August 3. 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 .

From owner-mou-net@biosci.cbs.umn.edu Thu Jul 27 20:55 CDT 2000 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by biosci.cbs.umn.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id UAA00538 for mou-net-outgoing; Thu, 27 Jul 2000 20:51:40 -0500 (CDT) X-Authentication-Warning: biosci.cbs.umn.edu: majordom set sender to owner-mou-net@biosci.umn.edu using -f Message-Id: <200007280150.UAA29384@seagull.cpinternet.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 20:48:40 -0500

[mou] July 27 Duluth Birding Report

Sender: owner-mou-net@biosci.cbs.umn.edu Precedence: bulk Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Length: 2906 Status: O

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, July 27, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

There were unexpectedly a few reports of interest this week in NE Minn: two GREAT GRAY OWLS at 2 new Cook Co locations, and some WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS and a LARK SPARROW in Duluth.

One of the Great Gray Owls was seen July 24 by Ele Colburn along Forest Rd 315, 1.1 mi N of the Lima Mountain Rd -- the Lima Mt Rd (or Forest Rd 152) turns W off the Gunflint Trail about 20 mi N of Grand Marais, and 315 turns N off 152 about 2 mi W of the Gunflint Tr. There was also a second-hand report of another Great Gray seen last week along Forest Rd 166, 2 mi W of the Sawbill Trail (or Cook Co Rd 2) -- 166 turns W off the Sawbill Tr about 7 mi N of Tofte.

(Note that last week's Birding Report also mentioned 2 other Great Gray Owls being seen last week: one of these in the Sax-Zim Bog along St Louis Co Rd 133, 1.2 mi W of U S Hwy 53; and the other in Cook Co about 8 mi from the end of the Gunflint Trail, 1/4 mi S of the Kekekabic trailhead.)

Dave Benson reports that a small flock of White-winged Crossbills were in his yard yesterday on the 400 block of 16th Ave E in Duluth, and today Howard Munson found a singing male Lark Sparrow at Park Point just S of the Sky Harbor Airport buildings.

Finally, note that it is not to early to start thinking about attending the annual Hawk Weekend activities in Duluth, which are scheduled every year on the 2nd weekend after Labor Day -- this year on Friday Sept 15 through Sunday Sept 17. More information on this Weekend will be given in the coming weeks on this Birding Report, but in the meantime keep in mind that lodging in Duluth that weekend will be difficult -- if not impossible -- to find without reservations made well in advance.

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 would be on August 3; however, if nothing of significance is reported in the Duluth area before then (as is often the case at this time of year), the next update would not be until 2 weeks from now, on August 10. 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.

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