A small group of us descended on Park Point for the morning/early afternoon
today (9/23). I joined Tom, Carol-Ann, and Heather-Marie Bloom, as well as
visiting friends August and Judy Mirabella. The best single bird of the day
was a lone Western Grebe seen in the bay from the airport just past the Park
Point Recreation Area. The bird obligingly joined a few Horned Grebes for a
good chunk of our observation. Peder Svingen reported that the bird was
still present mid-afternoon.
But the overwhelming bird highlight was an apparent fallout of
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (YBSA) throughout Southworth Marsh and the Park
Point Recreation Area. It was not uncommon to find multiple birds within a
single tree, particularly bayside willows. Realizing the magnitude of
YBSAs, I spent a good hour and a half (1200 - 1330) scouring the recreation
area, from the bus turn around out to the volleyball courts, which yielded a
surprising 60 birds. Peder Svingen took up the second shift and
meticulously counted YBSAs in Southworth Marsh, coming up with an additional
39 birds. Altogether, we amassed no less than 99 YBSAs within a relatively
tiny area (!). [Using Google Earth, this distance was found to be just
over 0.9 miles.] Peder went on to tally yet another 36 sapsuckers on a hike
from the airport out to the breakwater, for a nifty total of 135 (!). This
unlikely congregation more than triples the previous all-time Minnesota high
count (44 birds at Lakewood, 22 September 1987) . Although I had not
counted in Southworth and the recreation area yesterday (9/22), a hike out
to the tip of Minnesota Point (from the airport) produced a measly two or
three sapsuckers, more than suggesting a large flight in the past 24 hours.
Other collective highlights include 11 American Golden-Plovers, single
Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrushes, 10 species of warblers, White-crowned
Sparrows, a striking adult Harris's Sparrow, and 2 Fox Sparrows.
Good Birding,
Cameron Rutt
Duluth,
St. Louis County
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