At 10:10 AM this morning (Saturday, 3/15), I found the adult Slaty- backed Gull and 31 Herring Gulls standing together on the ice on the Minnesota side of Interstate Island in the Duluth harbor. After about 5 minutes of watching the Slaty-backed Gull preen, the gulls were flushed by an eagle. The flock flew directly towards me and came within about 50 yards of my position before turning back towards Interstate Island. The definitive field marks of this species, including the "string of pearls" formed by subapical white tongue tips on p5-p8, dark slate gray mantle, broad white trailing edge to the inner wing, and large white mirror on p10 and smaller white mirror on p9, were well seen in flight. The gulls eventually landed on the south side of Interstate Island (i.e., the Wisconsin side of the state line) and bathed in the open water that had just been created by the Coast Guard cutter, Alder, as it broke ice for the departure of the Mesabi Miner from Midwest Energy Resources in Superior, the shipping season's first departure. The Slaty-backed Gull was still present when I left the area at 11:05 AM.
To reach the pullout from which Interstate Island and the rest of this area can be scanned with a scope, take the Port Terminal exit off I-535 and turn right on a gravel road just past the cement plant. The road curves around to follow the shoreline; the pullout is on the left side just south of the cement plant. Yesterday (Friday, 3/14), I found 7 species of gulls at Wisconsin Point. About 700 gulls were at the landfill and the rest, including the Slaty-backed and Great Black-backed, were on the ice on the lake side of Wisconsin Point. The following counts combine birds at the landfill and on Lake Superior off Wisconsin Point during 2 hours and 10 minutes of counting at both locations. Except for the recently arrived Ring-billeds, most of these birds have been seen regularly at the landfill and/or in the Duluth-Superior harbor throughout the winter. Ring-billed Gull -- 4 adults Herring Gull -- 1,092 Thayer's Gull -- 2 adults, 1 first-cycle Iceland Gull -- 1 adult, 1 third-cycle Slaty-backed Gull -- 1 adult Glaucous Gull -- 17 individuals (5 adult, 2 third-cycle, 1 second- cycle, 9 first-cycle) Great Black-backed Gull -- 1 second-cycle -- Peder H. Svingen Duluth, MN
