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-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*December 20, 2001
*MNDU0112.20

-Birds mentioned

• Harlequin Duck
• Long-tailed Duck
• White-winged Scoter
• Northern Goshawk
• Dunlin
• Thayer's Gull
• Iceland Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Snowy Owl
• Barred Owl
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Boreal Chickadee
• Townsend's Solitaire
• Northern Mockingbird
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• American Tree Sparrow
• HOARY REDPOLL

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 20, 2001
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)

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

The Sax-Zim Christmas Bird Count was held on December 17th, and like other area counts this year, the species total was a new record: 32 species. The only species new to the count was AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. Highlights of the count included a NORTHERN GOSHAWK in the town of Cotton behind the city garage, two BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS, one on County Road 213, 1.3 miles north of 550 and another on Owl Ave (County Road 202) near the junction with 29, and BOREAL CHICKADEES on County Road 213 a mile north of 550 and on the trail that extends east from the end of County Road 155, which runs east from County Road 211. The only owl was a BARRED OWL.

Also on the 17th, Peder Svingen and Phil Chu found a number of interesting waterfowl in Cook County, including two HARLEQUIN DUCKS, an imm/female in the Grand Marais harbor, and an adult male at Paradise Beach, a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER at Chicago Bay, and LONG-TAILED DUCKS at many locations along the shore. They also found a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in the Grand Marais campground.

Last Saturday's Duluth Christmas Bird Count set a new record of 74 species. Highlights included the HARLEQUIN DUCK, 3 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, and 8 LONG-TAILED DUCKS on the harbor side of Minnesota Point near the Rowing Club, one THAYER'S GULL, one ICELAND GULL, and two GLAUCOUS GULLS at Canal Park, two SNOWY OWLS in the harbor, a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER near Edison School, a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER near the junction of Schultz and Arnold Road, a DUNLIN on the Lake side of Minnesota Point across from the Bayside Market, BOREAL CHICKADEES on Fiskett Road, and near 27th and 8th Street, the NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD that has been near Mesaba and 8th Street for several weeks, a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER near the Gardenwood Motel on the North Shore, and HOARY REDPOLL on Lauren Road.

The Two Harbors Christmas Bird Count was held on the 16th, and in spite of fog and rain, a record total of 44 species was tallied. Highlights included a GLAUCOUS GULL on the breakwater, a HOARY REDPOLL across from the school between 5th and 6th Streets, and 2 LONG-TAILED DUCKS in Agate Bay.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday the 27th. 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, 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 mou@biosci.umn.edu; or visit the MOU web site at mou.mn.org.

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