Participants in the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory St. Louis County Birdathon found 178 species on Saturday, May 16th. Freezing temperatures (and snow!) in the morning and sustained winds of 20+ mph for most of the day slowed birding activity in most places, but heavy "reverse migration" was witnessed at spots along the shore of Lake Superior. Dave Benson's team saw thousands of warblers, swallows, and shorebirds flying southwest at Stoney Point in Duluth Township. They saw 24 warbler species at this location, including multiple Black-throated Blue Warblers and Connecticut Warblers.
Other species of interest included: 2 Long-tailed Ducks at Stoney Point Ruddy Duck, Hudsonian Godwit, Marbled Godwit, and Ruddy Turnstone at the Biwabik sewage ponds Sharp-tailed Grouse along the Arkola Road (CR 52) in the Sax-Zim bog and off CR 4 in Palo Yellow Rail along the Stone Lake Road (CR 319) in the Sax-Zim bog Wilson's Phalarope and Marsh Wren at the Embarrass rice paddies Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (the 1st for the Birdathon) on the west side of Indian Point The winning team, "Little to No Accumulation" (Dave Benson, Lars Benson, Jesse Ellis, and John Ellis), found 150 species in the county. A great compilation brunch was held at Hartley Nature Center on Sunday morning. On Sunday, May 17th, Dave and Sarah Grosshuesch found an adult Little Gull, American Avocet, Whimbrels, and large numbers of other shorebirds at the 40th Avenue West Erie Pier area in Duluth. Peder Svingen found 7 Red-throated Loons, 4 Surf Scoters, 2 White-winged Scoters, and 10 Whimbrels at Park Point and Hearding Island on Sunday. A Northern Mockingbird was seen on the 17th along MN Highway 61 in Lake County, 0.4 mile west of the Iona's Beach SNA. Jim Lind Two Harbors ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
