Minnesota Statewide RBA

Statewide RBA phone number: 763-780-8890 or 1-800-657-3700

Previous reports: August 24 31 , September 7 14 21 28 , October 5 12 19 .
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-RBA
*Minnesota
*Minnesota Statewide
*October 26, 2000
*MNST0010.26

-Birds mentioned
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: October 26, 2000
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://biosci.umn.edu/~mou/
Reports: (763) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel
Transcriber: Anthony Hertzel (ahertzel@uswest.net)

This is the Minnesota birding report for Thursday October 26th, sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

Many of the week's most significant findings were from the north shore of Lake Superior from Duluth to Grand Marais. These include Black-headed Grosbeak, Black-legged Kittiwake, Northern Hawk Owl, and Townsend's Solitaire.

A female or immature male BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK was found by Peder Svingen on the afternoon of October 23rd in Two Harbors, Lake County, feeding in a mountain ash tree on 3rd Avenue, just west of 1st Street. At this same location a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was reported on the 21st.

A juvenile BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE was found in the Grand Marais harbor, Cook County, on October 21st and it seen by several observers, but apparently it was only present for less than an hour and not seen again the following day.

A few NORTHERN HAWK OWLS have turned up along the Gunflint Trail in Cook County. One was seen October 21st in a burn along Forest Road 315, about 2.5 miles north of the west end of the Lima Mountain Road. The Lima Mountain Road turns west off the Gunflint Trail about 20 miles north of Grand Marais. Also noted was a THREE-TOED WOODPECKER about 1/2 mile farther north on 315. Possibly as many as five additional Hawk Owls were also seen on the 21st along the northern half of the Gunflint Trail beyond Poplar Lake.

The first SNOWY OWL of the season was reported on October 21 along the Croftville Road, just east of Grand Marais. And a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD was found on the 21st, toward the west end of Cook County Road 14, about eight miles east of Grand Marais.

Several other noteworthy birds were also reported from in and around the Duluth area. On the 20th a PACIFIC LOON was at Flood Bay, which is just northeast of Two Harbors in Lake County. A probable PARASITIC JAEGER was reported on the 21st on Lake Superior northeast of downtown Duluth. And SMITH'S LONGSPURS were at Stoney Point on the 20th.

Elsewhere, Cole Foster found a CAROLINA WREN on October 22nd in Minneapolis at Riverside Park along the Mississippi River. This is midway between Fairview Riverside Medical Center and the I-94 bridge. The bird was near the limestone staircase.

A SURF SCOTER and a MUTE SWAN were found in Rochester, Olmsted County at Lake George on the 25th. This is west of U.S. Highway 52 and just north of 20th street.

And in Aitkin County, a GREAT GRAY OWL was found by Warren Nelson on October 22nd. It was seen along Aitkin County Road 18 about a tenth of a mile to the east of Pietz's Road, or about two miles west of Aitkin County Road 5.

In cooperation with the Minnesota Office of Tourism, highlights of this hotline can be heard at a toll free number which is available to callers outside the Twin Cities area. That number is 1-800-657-3700.

The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday November 2nd.

Send your rare and unusual Minnesota sightings to our electronic hotline: MOU-net@biosci.umn.edu. To learn more, send a message (the message being these two words: info mou-net) to majordomo@biosci.umn.edu.




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