10:15-11:30 AM Imm. Lark Sparrow seen on west (harborward) side of the Park Point recreation area beach house, generally in the short lawn between the stone steps and the southern picnic shelter. Ben got a few photos, and after one alarming flush the bird was gracious enough to fly back in and show itself for a few other interested humans. I seem to encounter Vesper Sparrows in Duluth every spring--more seldom in autumn--but this was my first Lark Sparrow in the city in 10 years of birding here. I wonder where it came from.
Also seen, mostly on the lake side, were around 20 Baird's Sandpipers with one Buff-breasted Sandpiper loosely associating, plus Semipalmated Sandpiper and Semipalmated Plover. The Baird's I saw were all juveniles, and very confiding. As was the Buff-breasted which approached Ben within about 5 feet. I was interested to watch it forage at the water's edge very much like small Calidris, then pick its way up the beach until it disappeared into the dune grass. Mostly it kept to the water's edge and showed only a hint of the high-stepping gait I see in this species when it's foraging on lawn or fields. Notably absent were the Purple Martins which kept me company through all the Red-throated Loon searches in July; a few Barn Swallows flew over, and the resident Eastern Kingbirds were still feeding their fledglings, finding food the swarms of juvenile Starlings and Ring-billed Gulls didn't get first. Chris Mansfield Duluth -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080824/4126d10d/attachment.html