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Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide | Detroit Lakes

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*October 26, 2000
*MNDU0010.26

-Birds mentioned

• Pacific Loon
• Red-shouldered Hawk
• Thayer's Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
• Snowy Owl
• Northern Hawk Owl
• Great Gray Owl
• Three-toed Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Townsend's Solitaire
• Northern Mockingbird
• BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 26, 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, October 26, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Once again last weekend, the birding was interesting enough to have an unscheduled update of this Birding Report last Monday, with the primary highlights being: a juv BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE in the Grand Marais harbor Oct 21; multiple NORTHERN HAWK OWLS in Cook Co on the same day, mostly up the Gunflint Tr in Cook Co between about 30 and 45 mi N of Grand Marais, with another hawk owl seen along Forest Rd 315, about 2.5 mi N of the Lima Mt Rd; and a BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK Oct 23 in Two Harbors in Lake Co on 3rd Ave between 1st and 2nd St.

Other birds of note reported on the Oct 23 update were: a PACIFIC LOON found Oct 20 at Flood Bay, which is just NE of Two Harbors in Lake Co; the first SNOWY OWL of the season unusually early on Oct 21 along the Croftville Rd, which is just E of Grand Marais; a THREE-TOED WOODPECKER seen Oct 21 and 23 on Forest Rd 315, about 1/2 mi N of the hawk owl location; a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE Oct 20 at the Black-headed Grosbeak location in Two Harbors; and a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD on the 21st along Hwy 61 near the jct with the E end of Cook Co Rd 14, which is about 13 mi E of Grand Marais (the location reported originally was incorrect).

Unfortunately, none of these birds has apparently been relocated by anyone on subsequent days, although it is possible at least some of those hawk owls and the Three-toed Woodpecker are still present, and a SNOWY OWL seen yesterday, the 25th, at the Good Harbor Bay / Cutface Cr wayside just W of Grand Marais may have been the same individual as the Croftville Rd owl.

Despite the rain and fog the last few days, there have been several other birds of interest reported in N E Minn. Yet another N HAWK OWL was found on the 24th, this one in the Sax-Zim Bog along St Louis Co Rd 319, 3/4 mi E of Co Rd 7, as this unusually early movement of this owl into N Minn continues. Also near here on the same day, 2 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS were seen along Co Rd 7, about 2 mi S of 319 -- and there have been several reports of this species recently both along the North Shore and inland away from the lake.

Also on the 24th, 3 GREAT GRAY OWLS were found: one of these at Hawk Ridge along the Pinewoods Tr, which begins off Skyline Pkwy, 3/4 mi beyond the Main Overlook; another was just NE of Duluth about 1 mi up St Louis Co Rd 266 -- to reach this location, from Hwy 61 go 6 mi N on the Homestead Rd, at the T turn W and go 1/2 mi to the App Rd, then go N 1 mi to 266; and the third Great Gray was along Aitkin Co Rd 18, 1/2 mi W of Pietz's Rd or 3.5 mi E of U S Hwy 169 (and this is probably the same owl seen near the corner of 18 and Pietz's Rd on the 22nd).

On Oct 24 as well, a first-winter GLAUCOUS GULL was relocated at Knife River in Lake Co, and along with it was an imm THAYER'S GULL. And today, the 26th, a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was reported flying through Two Harbors along 3rd Ave, and another PACIFIC LOON turned up, this one on L Superior between downtown Duluth and Canal Park.

Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime which needs to be reported immediately (which has often been the case this fall), this report is normally updated once a week on Thursdays, so that the next scheduled update will be on November 2. 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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