Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
Duluth RBA
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-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *August 27, 1998 *MNDU9808.27 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: August 27, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Transcriber: Craig Mandel (EgretCMan@aol.com)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)
This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, August 27, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
Although no real rarities showed up in northeastern Minnesota this last week, this week certainly has been the most interesting one for birding here since June. Among the highlights were a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER among other SHOREBIRDS in Two Harbors, good NIGHTHAWK movements on three separate evenings, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER and CONNECTICUT WARBLERS banded at Hawk Ridge, and some additional sightings of both RED CROSSBILL and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS.
Jim and Sharon Lind found a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER August 25 along with some BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS along the rocky shoreline east of the old Coast Guard Station lighthouse in Two Harbors. Yesterday they also saw two RED-NECKED GREBES on Lake Superior near Gooseberry Falls State Park in Lake County. And on the evening of the 24th they counted 1140 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS migrating through Two Harbors during a 1-1/2 hour period.
NIGHTHAWKS were also moving by the 100s on both the 20th and the 23rd in Duluth. While no actual counts were made on either evening, during the day on the 20th Dave Benson counted over 400 NIGHTHAWKS at Hawk Ridge and John Heid saw over 1000 during a drive between Park Rapids and Duluth.
At Hawk Ridge there were finally good movements of RAPTORS on August 24 with a count of 101 and on the 25th with a count of 209. There were northwest winds on both of these days, and most of the hawks so far have been SHARP- SHINNED HAWK and BROAD-WINGED HAWK. Also at the Main Overlook Dave Benson saw a HORNED LARK on the 24th and a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO yesterday. But more interesting at the Ridge has Dave Grosshuesch's passerine banding. Since he started in mid- August he has netted 21 species of WARBLERS, most notably three CONNECTICUT WARBLER earlier this week and a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER yesterday.
Several additional RED CROSSBILLS have been seen recently in various locations. They were seen again yesterday on the 1900 block of West Kent Road in Duluth as they were last week. Today one was at the corner of Woodland Avenue and Jean Duluth Road. Some were also flying over Hawk Ridge, on both August 20 and 24. And on the 23rd RED CROSSBILLS were found by Ben Yokel and Karen Sussman in the Sax-Zim Bog area along St. Louis County Road 203, which is about 6 miles north of Meadowlands. Ben also reports that WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS were still in his yard, as they had been since June, on the Young Lake Road near the town of Melrude in central St. Louis County as of August 22nd. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS were also found west of Duluth in Aitkin County on August 20 along County Road 18, 4 miles east of US Highway 169.
Finally, Ben and Karen had a surprising total of 10 species of SHOREBIRDS at the Meadowlands sewage ponds on August 23, including BAIRD'S SANDPIPER and STILT SANDPIPERS. To reach these ponds go south from town about 1/2 mile on St. Louis County Road 227 and then hike east from the gate for about 1/4 mile.
Unless something unusual is seen in the meantime, which needs to be reported on immediately, the next scheduled update of this tape will be on Thursday, September 3, and as always if you have birds to report you may leave a message after the tone.
[Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MnRBA. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info end) to mnrba-request@linux.winona.msus.edu
Sightings can be called in directly to the tape, (218) 525-5952, by leaving a message after the tone at the end of the tape.]
