After failing to see any significant movement of Bald Eagles today in Duluth (31 March) in the very strong NW winds (gusts to 37 mph), I grudgingly opted to look at gulls instead. The mouth of Miller Creek and the ice behind WLSSD off 27th Ave West had many gulls, including 450 Herring Gulls, 2 Thayer's Gulls (1 adult, 1 second-cycle), 2 Iceland Gulls (both first-cycles), 8 Glaucous Gulls (6 first-cycles, 1 second-cycle, and 1 third-cycle), and 10 Great Black-backed Gulls (3 first-cycle, 4 second-cycle, and 3 third-cycle). This does not include an adult Great Black-backed Gull that was seen at this location two days ago on 29 March 2013. Although a maximum of 7 Great Black-backeds were seen at Canal Park this previous winter (28 December 2012), I have not watched gulls enough the last two months to know how many of these 10-11 Great Black-backeds overwintered and how many are spring migrants (its probably a combination of the two). This count of 10 Great Black-backeds is a new state high count, similar to Peder Svingen's counts of 9 at this same location on 26 February 2011 and 8 on 13 March 2011. Undoubtedly, even higher counts of Great Black-backeds will be seen in the near future.
Karl Bardon Duluth, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
