-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*December 20, 1998
*MNDU9812.20

-Birds mentioned

• Double-crested Cormorant
• Canada Goose
• Green-winged Teal
• American Black Duck
• Mallard
• Gadwall
• American Wigeon
• Lesser Scaup
• Common Goldeneye
• Common Merganser
• Red-breasted Merganser
• Bald Eagle
• Northern Goshawk
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Rough-legged Hawk
• Golden Eagle
• American Kestrel
• Merlin
• Ruffed Grouse
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Thayer's Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Rock Dove
• Mourning Dove
• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Pileated Woodpecker
• Blue Jay
• American Crow
• Common Raven
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Red-breasted Nuthatch
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper
• Golden-crowned Kinglet
• Townsend's Solitaire
• American Robin
• Brown Thrasher
• Bohemian Waxwing
• Cedar Waxwing
• Northern Shrike
• European Starling
• Orange-crowned Warbler
• Northern Cardinal
• White-throated Sparrow
• Dark-eyed Junco
• Snow Bunting
• Pine Grosbeak
• Purple Finch
• House Finch
• Red Crossbill
• White-winged Crossbill
• Common Redpoll
• Pine Siskin
• American Goldfinch
• Evening Grosbeak
• House Sparrow

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 20, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525- 5952
Compiled and written by: Kim Eckert (kreckert@cp.duluth.mn.us)
Transcriber: Barb Adams, MNBird Volunteer (badams@css.edu)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

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

With the sudden arrival of colder than normal temperatures yesterday, high winds for much of the day, and some blowing snow in the morning, conditions for the December 19 Duluth Christmas Bird Count were not the best. However, we still managed to come up with a better than average total of 58 species, tallied last night, mostly due to several late, lingering water birds staying later than normal in the Duluth Harbor area due to the recent warm temperatures. And there is still a possibility of one or two other species still being reported belatedly.

As I read through the list of species seen yesterday, take note of what is missing from this list and please leave a message after the tone at the end of this tape if you are aware of anything else that was seen in Duluth on the 19th.

4 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS (which is only the second record for this count)
119 CANADA GEESE
1 GREEN-WINGED TEAL (also a second Duluth CBC record)
43 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS (a record high for this count)
1807 MALLARDS (also a record high number for the Duluth count)
1 GADWALL (another second Duluth CBC record)
1 AMERICAN WIGEON (a first Duluth CBC record)
1 LESSER SCAUP (a third record for this count)
145 COMMON GOLDENEYES
36 COMMON MERGANSERS
4 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS
25 BALD EAGLES (a record high)
2 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS
3 RED-TAILED HAWKS
8 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS
4 GOLDEN EAGLES (only a third record for this count)
2 AMERICAN KESTRELS
3 MERLINS
46 RUFFED GROUSE
13 RING-BILLED GULLS
419 HERRING GULLS
1 THAYER'S GULL
2 GLAUCOUS GULL
1652 ROCK DOVES
21 MOURNING DOVES
1 small, unidentified owl (seen at the corner of 27th Ave. east and
Superior Street)
79 DOWNY WOODPECKERS
25 HAIRY WOODPECKERS
2 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS (which were both seen in the pine plantation
behind Hawk Ridge)
4 PILEATED WOODPECKERS
15 BLUE JAYS (which is a very low number; the only time we had less than
this was way back in 1965)
298 AMERICAN CROWS
73 COMMON RAVENS
1849 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES
169 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH
76 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH
1 BROWN CREEPER
14 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS (a record high)
5 AMERICAN ROBINS
1 BROWN THRASHER (still lingering at a feeder on west Wabasha Street)
1348 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS
64 CEDAR WAXWINGS
5 NORTHERN SHRIKES
964 EUROPEAN STARLING
3 NORTHERN CARDINALS
9 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS
132 DARK-EYED JUNCOS (a record high)
6 SNOW BUNTINGS
only 1 PINE GROSBEAK, which is certainly a record low
32 PURPLE FINCH
51 HOUSE FINCH
68 RED CROSSBILLS
32 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS
only 11 COMMON REDPOLLS
87 PINE SISKINS
44 AMERICAN GOLDFINCH
1 EVENING GROSBEAK (another record low number)
156 HOUSE SPARROWS

Note that no one reported such species as Bufflehead, Great horned Snowy or Barred Owls, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Varied Thrush, or Common Grackle even though all of these are recorded on the majority of Duluth counts. It was also disappointing to have missed TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE (of which several have been seen in the past couple weeks) and that the only species of sparrow lingering at feeders was WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. And especially that an amazingly late ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, which showed up in my yard on Friday, could not be relocated on Saturday.

The next scheduled updates of this tape on Thursday, December 24 and Thursday, December 31 - - both of which will be done by Dave Benson. If you'd like further birding information or have birds to report in the next couple weeks, you can contact Dave at 728-5812 or call Mike Hendrickson at 626-2268.

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

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