-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*December 31, 1998
*MNDU9812.31

-Birds mentioned

• Oldsquaw
• Bald Eagle
• Sharp-shinned Hawk
• American Coot
• Mew Gull
• Ring-billed Gull
• Herring Gull
• Thayer's Gull
• Iceland Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Gray Jay
• American Robin
• Northern Mockingbird
• Bohemian Waxwing
• Cedar Waxwing
• Northern Shrike
• Northern Cardinal
• American Tree Sparrow
• Snow Bunting

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: December 31, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiled and written by: David Benson drbenson@cp.duluth.mn.us
Transcriber: Barb Adams, MNBird Volunteer badams@css.edu
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

Hello, this is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, December 31, 1998, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

The big news in Duluth birding lately continues to be the gulls at the Superior landfill. Peder Svingen has been checking the dump during the past week and has found a number of interesting gulls including a first winter GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, ICELAND GULLS of several plumages including an adult Kumlien's Gull, THAYER'S GULL of several ages, a Thayer's-Iceland intermediate Gull, GLAUCOUS GULL and HERRING GULLS of all ages, and a couple of hybrids. The RING-BILLED GULLS have apparently left for the season and there have been no sightings of the MEW GULL in recent days.

Raptors continue to migrate through Duluth and along the North Shore. Mike Steffes reported an adult SHARP-SHINNED HAWK along the North Shore on the 23rd, and there are still a lot of BALD EAGLES flying.

There are no recent reports of winter Owls in the area.

Birding yesterday at Sax-Zim was very quiet; however, there was still a flock of 40 SNOW BUNTINGS in a field along County Road 52 and it's still a good place to look for some of the more common specialties of the area including GRAY JAYS and NORTHERN SHRIKES.

BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS have arrived in good numbers in Duluth and are relatively easy to find in most areas of the city right now.

Molly Evans reported an AMERICAN ROBIN and a CEDAR WAXWING at her yard in the 2900 block of Greysolon.

And Don Kienholz had an AMERICAN TREE SPARROW coming to his feeder on Martin Road on the 29th of December.

On Christmas day, 3 OLDSQUAW were seen by Jeff Newman in the 4200 block of Superior Street on Lake Superior. And there's been a pair of NORTHERN CARDINALS coming to a feeder on 27th and 6th Street in East Duluth.

The Grand Marais Christmas Bird Count, compiled by Frank Nicoletti, took place on the 28th of December. Highlights included: 1 NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, an AMERICAN COOT in the Harbor, 96 AMERICAN ROBINS and over 4000 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS.

And one final note on the Duluth Christmas Bird Count; two species were missed at the compilation - - a Varied Thrush and a Harris's Sparrow - - both in the 5800 black of Tioga Street in East Duluth. And that brings the total to 61 species.

The next scheduled update of this tape is not until next year.

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 or for further information call Kim Eckert at 525-6930.

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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