Took a leisurely trip around the Superior Forest, Duluth, and up to Pigeon River over the weekend. Notables included:
jaeger sp. Park Point Bathhouse--2 seen coming from the north on afternoon of the 19th with one heading towards Superior entry and one towards Lift Bridge. Never approached closer than .75 mile. Light of wing and body so probably not Pomarines but best kept at sp. 19 Oct Blackpoll Warbler: had a nice view of a brush-inhabiting bird at Father's Baraga's Cross (Cook County) and possibly the only uncommon bird I have ever seen there in 47 stops dating back to near the middle of the last century. Bird gave a very throaty chip and popped up with pishing, back streaking, slender appearance, side streaks, narrow white wing bars, no buff, moderately yellow breast and throat and stunning yellow linings to feet and greyish legs (but definitely not a Pine which are known to have yellow feet on occasion). 21 Oct Probable Western Meadowlark--on walk out to Grand Marais Lighthouse, very pale backed and pale-headed bird with just very light lemony underparts. Gave occasional "tuck" alarm call while I watched from close quarters. Kim Eckert (pers. comm.) and Jim Lind believe most, if not all meadowlarks seen in the fall along the lakeshore are likely this species. 21 Oct Barrow's Goldeneye--a subadult male bird appearing very much like the Duluth Harbor bird we saw 2 weeks ago only slightly more advanced in plumage was on the Grand Portage sewage ponds yesterday afternoon with 15-20 Common Goldeneye. The bird had a fairly well-defined and large crescent patch yet still subdued compared to an adult male that extended both above and below the eye, a very boxy head with a very steep forehead, and white chest contrasting to dark splottchy sides interlaced with some white. It seems a remote possiblity that this was the same bird seen at Duluth some 110 miles away but if the bird was headed eastward and didn't want to fly into the due east winds that blew most of the week, maybe it could be. The plumage similarities were startling. The bird was not seen in flight. 21 Oct Lonspurs, pipits, --20-25 longspurs and at least 3 Water Pipits at the Grand Portage sewage ponds. All longspurs identified were Lapland but there were some suspicious birds seen but not heard in flight that warrant further study. Still plenty of Red-tails, eagles, and merlins along the North Shore waiting for some decent winds. The North Shore waterfalls are all running full bore and spectacular!! White-winged Crossbill--12 seen at Ely Lake south of Eveleth on the move southward. 20 Oct Bob Russell, Dakota County -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071022/de5a79b1/attachment.html
