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Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide | Detroit Lakes

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*October 23, 2000
*MNDU0010.23

-Birds mentioned

• Pacific Loon
• Oldsquaw
• Long-tailed Duck
• Black Scoter
• Surf Scoter
• White-winged Scoter
• Parasitic Jaeger
• Glaucous Gull
• Black-legged Kittiwake
• Snowy Owl
• Northern Hawk Owl
• Great Gray Owl
• Short-eared Owl
• Three-toed Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Townsend's Solitaire
• Northern Mockingbird
• Bohemian Waxwing
• BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
• SMITH'S LONGSPUR
• Pine Grosbeak

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 23, 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 Monday, October 23, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Once again, so many significant species were reported in Duluth and N E Minn the past few days that an update of this report is needed before next Thursday's regularly scheduled update, and the best of these most recent highlights include BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE and multiple NORTHERN HAWK OWLS in Cook Co, and a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK today in Two Harbors.

The kittiwake was a juvenile found in the Grand Marais harbor Oct 21 and seen by several observers, but apparently it was only present for less than an hour and not seen again the following day.

As mentioned on previous Birding Reports, a few hawk owls have been turning up much earlier than normal lately, and still more were seen this past weekend along or near the Gunflint Trail. One of these was on Oct 21 in the burn along Forest Rd 315, about 2.5 mi N of the W end of the Lima Mountain Rd (this road turns W off the Gunflint Tr about 20 mi N of Grand Marais). Also, about 1/2 mi farther N on 315, there was a THREE-TOED WOODPECKER seen the same day, and this bird was relocated there today.

The other hawk owls -- possibly as many as 5 of them! -- were also seen on the 21st along the N half of the Gunflint Tr. beyond Poplar L. The farthest S location was given as 8 mi SE of Co Rd 50 (which is the road to Gunflint L), and the farthest N owl was near the Seagull Forest Guard Station (which is a few miles before the end of the road). Apparently, however, none of these hawk owls -- or the one on 315 -- was relocated yesterday or today.

Speaking of owls, the first SNOWY OWL of the season was the unusually early report of one Oct 21 along the Croftville Rd, which is just E of Grand Marais. And a GREAT GRAY OWL was seen yesterday in Aitkin Co near the jct of Co Rd 18 and Pietz's Rd, which is 4 mi E of U S Hwy 169. (Thankfully, there have been no additional reports of dead or injured Boreal Owls being found the past few days.)

The Black-headed Grosbeak was carefully identified as a female or juv male, and it was found this afternoon in Two Harbors feeding in a mountain ash tree on 3rd Ave, just W of 1st St. I also just received a report of what was probably this same bird found a block N of here, but not positively identified, on Oct 21. And at the same location on 3rd Ave on the 21st a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE had been found.

Several other noteworthy birds have also been reported the past few days. On Oct 20 a PACIFIC LOON was found at Flood Bay, which is just NE of Two Harbors in Lake Co. A late JAEGER, identified as a PARASITIC, was reported on the 21st on L Superior just NE of downtown Duluth. The first GLAUCOUS GULL of the season -- a first-winter bird -- was seen today in Knife River in Lake Co. Both SHORT-EARED OWL and SMITH'S LONGSPUR were at Stoney Pt Oct 20. I received a second-hand report of a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD found on the 21st, apparently towards the W end of Cook Co Rd 14, which is about 8 mi E of Grand Marais. And the first PINE GROSBEAK of the season was reported along the Caribou Tr N of Lutsen in Cook Co yesterday.

Finally, during the past few days several observers have also been reporting all 3 SCOTERS, LONG-TAILED DUCKS / OLDSQUAWS, several BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS and a few BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at various locations on the Gunflint Tr, along the North Shore and in Duluth.

This Birding Report is normally updated once a week on Thursdays, so that the next scheduled update will be on October 26. The phone number for the Duluth Birding Report is (218) 525-5952, and callers can report bird sightings if they wish after the tone at the end of each tape. Messages can also be left without having to wait for the report to end: to do this, after the tape starts playing push 5 on a touch-tone phone, the tape will stop, the tone will sound, and you can then leave your message.

The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) 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 SE, Minneapolis MN 55455; or send an e-mail to ; or visit the MOU web site at .

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