Duluth RBA

Previous reports: August 3 20 27 , September 10 20 24 , October 1 .
Other Hotlines: Minnesota Statewide
-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*October 1, 1998
*MNDU9810.01

-Birds mentioned
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Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 1, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiler: Kim Eckert
Transcriber: Craig Mandel, MnBird Volunteer
Re-transcriber: David Cahlander (dac@skypoint.com)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, October 1, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

As evidenced by unscheduled updates of this tape on both last Friday and last Monday, the past 7 days of birding in the Duluth area have been quit eventful, and since Monday's update the birding has continued to be noteworthy, highlighted by: a SMITH'S LONGSPUR or two plus a wide variety of sparrows still at the 40th Avenue West Erie Pier area, a RED-THROATED LOON, WESTERN GREBE and SURF SCOTER at Park Point, two PARASITIC JAEGERS still at Wisconsin Point, and a best of all SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER in Cook County spotted by Dory Spence on September 29th in Tofte near the Holiday gas station along Highway 61. Unfortunately I'm told that at least one birder was unable to relocate the flycatcher yesterday.

After Steve Roman of the Twin Cities found a LARK BUNTING at the 40th Avenue West area in Duluth on Monday morning, there were a lot of birders there Monday afternoon and on Tuesday trying unsuccessfully to relocate it. However, as a consolation one or two SMITH'S LONGSPUR were still there and relatively easy to see on both Monday and Tuesday along the southeast side of the levy. Also there on one or both of these days were at least 16 species of sparrows, including VESPER SPARROW and LARK SPARROW, which are unusual in northeastern Minnesota, along with several late BOBOLINKS.

I have not heard if anyone has checked 40th yesterday or today, but SMITH'S LONGSPURS had been seen there since Saturday the 26th and may still be present, and to reach the 40th Ave. West area, take the 40th Avenue West exit off of Interstate 35, cross over to the bay side of the freeway and park by the yellow gate just beyond the frontage road, and then hike down gravel road to the dried up water impoundment.

Among all the rarities seen at Park Point or Wisconsin Point during the three-day period September 24th to the 26th, were SABINE'S GULL, LITTLE GULL, BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE, both POMARINE JAEGERS and PARASITIC JAEGERS, a very early OLDSQUAW and also an early THAYER'S GULL. To my knowledge, however, none of these have been seen since the 26th, except for two PARASITIC JAEGERS which were seen again yesterday at Wisconsin Point.

Also yesterday a WESTERN GREBE was seen on Lake Superior out from Canal Park near downtown Duluth. A Juvenile RED-THROATED LOON was on the lake out from the Park Point Recreation Area, and today a SURF SCOTER was seen on the bay side of the Point at 33rd Street.

At Hawk Ridge the totals for the month of September have been added up, and they are as follows: TURKEY VULTURE - 730 OSPREY - 503 BALD EAGLE - 242 NORTHERN HARRIER - 713 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK - 11, 057 COOPER'S HAWK - 110 NORTHERN GOSHAWK - 26 BROAD-WINGED HAWK - 8,655 RED-TAILED HAWK - 429 AMERICAN KESTREL - 1,678 MERLIN - 176 PEREGRINE FALCON - 61 SWAINSON'S HAWK - 6 UNIDENTIFIED - 4;

for a monthly total of 24,400.

Adding in the 26 OSPREYS counted in August for a total of 529, this species has set a record high for any season at Hawk Ridge. But on the other hand it is certain that the BROAD-WINGED HAWK total will be a record low. With just 718 counted in August there have only been 9,383 BROAD-WINGS counted this season, far below the previous low of 12,622 in 1987.

So far this season at the Ridge there have been only 8 days with counts over 1,000, only two days with totals over 2,000, and the highest count this year was on September 21, with a modest total of 4,454 -- 3,734 of these BROAD-WINGED HAWKS.

On the other hand, the banding of owls at the Hawk Ridge Banding Station at least has been doing well, with 50 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS netted last night and 76 the night before.

Finally, there are still 4 places remaining for our annual October Duluth Birding Weekend October 16, 17 and 18, with all proceeds going to benefit the programs and research at Hawk Ridge. For more information on the schedule of activities give me a call at 525-6930, or call the Hawk Ridge naturalist Dave Benson at 728-5812.

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, October 8, 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.]

From mnrba-owner@LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU Fri Oct 9 07:06:02 1998 Received: from LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU (majordom@LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU [199.17.128.157]) by abby.skypoint.net (8.8.7/jl 1.3) with ESMTP id HAA11988; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 07:06:00 -0500 (CDT) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU (8.8.7/8.8.7) id HAA01402 for mnrba-outgoing; Fri, 9 Oct 1998 07:05:51 -0500 X-Authentication-Warning: LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU: majordom set sender to owner-mnrba@linux.winona.msus.edu using -f Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 07:01:21 -0500 (CDT)
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Oct. 8 Duluth Birding Report

Sender: owner-mnrba@LINUX.WINONA.MSUS.EDU Precedence: bulk Status: RO

Hotline: Minnesota Duluth/North Shore
Date: October 8, 1998
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 525-5952
Compiled and written by Kim Eckert

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, October 8, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Once again the birding in Duluth this week has continued to be interesting, with highlights since last weekend including WESTERN GREBE, HARLEQUIN DUCK, all three SCOTERS, SANDHILL CRANE, FRANKLIN'S GULL, BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED and VESPER SPARROWS, SMITH'S LONGSPUR, and RED and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL; all this plus a PACIFIC LOON at Mille Lacs Lake and a good flight of both hawks and owls at Hawk Ridge.

The WESTERN GREBE reported on last week's tape was relocated on October 4 on Lake Superior out from the Recreation Area at Park Point. Also on the lake side of the Recreation Area on the third, two early HARLEQUIN DUCKS were seen flying by. All three SCOTERS were seen on various days this week at various locations at Park Point, with that SURF SCOTER reported on last week's tape still present today, on the bay side at 33rd Street.

SANDHILL CRANES were seen both yesterday and today, migrating over Hawk Ridge, with 20 yesterday and at least 12 today. Also at the Main Overlook at Hawk Ridge, some early migrating BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were seen about a week ago. This tape had reported on some even earlier Bohemians at Hoyt Lakes in northern St. Louis County back on September 23.

A FRANKLIN'S GULL was found at Canal Park near downtown Duluth on October 5.

Dave Benson found an unexpected NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW at the 40th Avenue West Erie Pier area on October 2, and this bird was relocated there near the eastern corner on October 4. At least one SMITH'S LONGSPUR was also present in the same area as of last weekend, as they have been for at least the previous week.

A VESPER SPARROW was found today on Park Point, near the Sky Harbor Airport buildings.

Both RED and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS appeared this week in Duluth after several days' absence. A RED was found October 6 along Chester Creek, and WHITE-WINGEDS were found yesterday migrating down the North Shore near the Lakewood Pumping Station.

The migration of both hawks and owls at Hawk Ridge has been good on some recent days. On the night of October 7-8, no fewer than 135 N. SAW-WHET OWLS were netted at the Banding Station. At the Main Overlook yesterday the first GOLDEN EAGLE of the season was seen, and today the first ROUGH- LEGGED HAWK, along with a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, was counted.

Today was also the biggest flight day of the month so far at the Main Overlook. As of 2:00 p.m. over 1000 hawks had been counted, including: 121 Turkey Vultures, 31 Bald Eagles, 600+ Sharp-shinned Hawks, 4 goshawks and 200+ Red -taileds.

Finally, elsewhere in northeastern Minnesota, Tony Hertzel of the Twin Cities found a PACIFIC LOON October 5 on the west side of Mille Lacs Lake, near the Wigwam Bay Resort along Mille Lacs County Road 35.

The next scheduled update of this tape will be on Thursday, October 15.

[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.]




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