Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
Minnesota Statewide RBA
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-RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *December 17, 1998 *MNST9812.17 -Birds mentioned
Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: December 17, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (612) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel (tony@millcomm.com)
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)
This is the Minnesota birding report for Thursday December 17th sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
Bill Doran found an immature SNOWY OWL on the afternoon of December 11th. The owl was atop a Dairy Queen sign in Mountain Iron, St. Louis County. This was along U.S. Highway 169 just west of its intersection with U.S. Highway 53. A SHORT-EARED OWL was reported December 15th by Dave Soverign four miles west of the town of Stark, along Chisago County road 10. And a LONG-EARED OWL was seen at Highland Park in Bloomington on the 14th near the lake.
On the 11th, Doug Johnson birded the north end of Lake Bemidji from the Northwoods Boat Landing on Beltrami County Road 19 about five miles north of the town of Bemidji. There he discovered a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER in with a flock of about 200 COMMON GOLDENEYE, along with CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, LESSER SCAUP, RING-NECKED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, plus at least one DOUBLE- CRESTED CORMORANT. Two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were still on Centerville Lake in Anoka County on the 14th. And a HARLEQUIN DUCK was seen December 16th by Lucy Hartwell at Robinsons Bay on the east side of Lake Minnetonka in Hennepin County.
An adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL was seen by Bruce Fall at Black Dog Lake on the 11th. This may a different bird than the one being reported from the Pine Bend landfill in Dakota Conty, as that was identified as a third winter bird.
In Rochester, Olmsted County, a CAROLINA WREN was seen again at Leslie Kottke's feeder on December 17th, along with two TUFTED TITMICE. Please call Leslie before visiting.
Jane Arndt watched a COOPER'S HAWK at a feeder in Rosemount, Dakota County on the 12th. Another COOPER'S HAWK was seen in Blaine on the 16th. Up to a dozen ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS were counted by Ken LaFond at Carlos Avery Refuge in Anoka County on the 13th.
RED CROSSBILLS seem to be in abundance this year with reports coming in from across the northern half of the state. Joe Beck found several as far south as Carlos Avery Refuge in Anoka County on the 14th
Other birds reported from many areas include RED-TAILED HAWK, NORTHERN SHRIKE, and PINE SISKIN. Interesting was the report of several EASTERN BLUEBIRDS from Sherburne County, especially near the town of Elk River.
The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday December 24th.
Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MnRBA@linux.winona.msus.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info end) to mnrba-request@linux.winona.msus.edu.
