This is the Duluth Birding Report for Wednesday, October 27, 2004,=20 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.
We may be at the beginning of a large irruption of northern owls. Steve=20= and Diane Millard found 7 NORTHERN HAWK OWLS in the Sax-Zim area on=20 Monday and Tuesday, including several birds along Cty Rd 7 north of 133=20= and another bird a mile east of Cty Rd 7 on Stone Lake Rd. Another bird=20= was reported on the Beyer Rd near Jean Duluth Rd and the Strand Rd on=20 the 24th. The Millards also found a GREAT GRAY OWL on Cty Rd 83, 2.5 miles south=20= of 27. Jim Lind found another today on the Stanley Rd (Cty Rd 9) about=20= 4 miles west of Hwy 61 and the Two Harbors Ford dealership. Doug=20 Johnson found another along Hwy 61 one mile west of Flood Bay. Yet=20 another Great Gray was seen along Cty Rd 16 between Makinen and=20 Brimson. The bird =A0was in the vicinity of the extensive spruce bog one=20= mile west of the entrance to the Whiteface National Forest Service=20 Campground. Uwe Kausch had a GREAT GRAY OWL at his house northeast of=20 Duluth. The first SNOWY OWL of the season was found October 23rd at Paradise=20 Beach in Cook County, about 14 miles northeast of Grand Marais. The CLARK'S NUTCRACKER in Silver Bay was seen by many observers through=20= the 24th, but to my knowledge it has not been seen since. Mike Hendrickson saw a PACIFIC LOON and a BLACK SCOTER on Lake Superior=20= off Park Point today. Chris Wood found a first-winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at the mouth=20 of the Knife River on the 26th. Jim Lind found a first-winter THAYER'S=20= GULL there on the same day. Peder Svingen and Phil Chu found 5 CATTLE=20 EGRETS in Two Harbors on the 23rd. The birds were on the ball field=20 along Hwy 2, two blocks north of 61. They were still present on the=20 24th. A HARLEQUIN DUCK, a LONG-TAILED DUCK, and SURF SCOTERS have been=20= seen in Burlington Bay at Two Harbors at various times this week. Two HARLEQUIN DUCKS were seen at Grand Marais over the weekend, and=20 SURF SCOTERS and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were observed at Paradise Beach=20= during the last week. Several THAYER'S GULLS and at least two GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS have=20 been seen at the Superior Entry between Minnesota and Wisconsin Points=20= earlier this week. Mike Conley had an albino AMERICAN ROBIN in Proctor=20= on the 21st and 22nd. The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday, November=20= 4. The telephone number of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert is 218-728-5030.=20 Information about bird sightings may be left following the recorded=20 message. The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota=20 Ornithologists' Union (MOU) as a service to its members. For more=20 information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum to=20 [email protected], or visit the MOU web site at mou.mn.org.=
