Having missed the North Shore birding excitement of the past couple of months, we took advantage of the recent weather to get to Duluth and the Bog. On both days we visited Park Point, enjoying different highlights each day. Wednesday, a very co-operative Merlin teed up on a spruce across from Layfayette Square for a long look. At the recreation area, a less co-operative flock of seemingly Red Crossbills did a fly-by and fly-over; the moon-roof was uncovered, but seeing mostly underside silhouette was less than satisfactory. Hiking toward the Superior Entry, we spotted two loons fishing the waters between the water station and the lighthouse. They were so extremely dark and lacking in white that they seemed not to be Commons; the closest plumage match in the Sibley was Pacific Loon, but lacking scope, we had no other clue. The bay side was dominated by Golden-eye, and Gulls (whose specific identities, beyond the obvious, continue to frustrate for now ).
Today we were happy to see a couple of Black Ducks land among some mallards on the Bay side of Park Point, close to the Franciscan nursing home. En route to the recreation area, we found a Shrike passing through, skirting the bay side briefly from tree to tree. We tried to re-locate it, following all the way to the airfield. There we found 2 female Pine Grosbeaks, gorging on a crab-apple tree just inside the gate. Wednesday ended with a brief run up to Two Harbors, along old Hwy 61. At the Stony River turnout, a small flock of Common Redpolls were feeding in the grasses at the roadside. Just south of the Stonegate Lodge sign, there was a flock of about 50 White-winged Crossbills feeding voraciously in some tall spruce trees on the east side of the road. We were just about beneath them, and it was raining pine-cone debris for many minutes, as they hung upside down to feed, or wrested cones from the branches. In Two Harbors there were two or three Bufflehead, a couple of C. Goldeneye, and a few C. Mergansers sharing the water. The route home included a pass through Sax-Zim, with a stop at feeders on Blue Spruce Road, the new Friends-of-the-Bog feeders on Owl Ave., and Admiral Road. There were White Winged Crossbills along Blue Spruce, and the feeders had various expected species, including Pine Grosbeak. At Owl Avenue, a vocal flock of Evening Grosbeaks showed up for nice looks, though they did not come down to feed while we were there. The Admiral Road feeders was hosting both Common and Hoary Redpoll, plus at least one or two Boreal Chickadees. Further up the orad, at the gravel pit, a Rough-legged Hawk was on the hunt. Altogether, it was a very pleasant two days of "winter" birding. Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
