The last four days of birding in Duluth have been fantastic. The fallout of warblers which occurred on Sunday, May 19th continued for four straight days! I have never known this to happen, but the strong Northeast winds, rain, and fog which grounded the birds on the 19th continued until Wednesday afternoon, giving the birds no option to leave. Even more amazing was that all these hundreds of warblers fed mostly on the ground, giving unparalleled views. Of the 25 species I saw the last four days, all of them were seen at close range within just a few feet. I had numerous warblers try to land on my tripod while taking photos and a Black-and-white Warbler even landed on our legs! On Tuesday May 21st I counted all warblers seen in a 3 mile stretch of Park Point and had a state high count of 452 Palm Warblers, with smaller numbers (nothing record breaking) of 22 other species, including 3 Connecticuts. Numerous thrushes, sparrows, and empids were also involved in this fallout. Waterbirds have also been grounded by the weather, with a state high count of 1447 Red-breasted Mergansers counted along Park Point on May 20th, and today there were record numbers of scoters. After counting 106 White-winged, 14 Surf, and 7 Black Scoters on Park Point (on the bay and lake side between the rowing club and the recreation area), I heard there was a flock of 284 scoters near Leif Erickson Park (about 4-5 miles away) found by Greg Garmer and counted by Greg and Peder Svingen. I found 13 Surf Scoters in this flock, leaving a total of 271 White-winged Scoters. This gives a total of 377 White-winged Scoters (previous state high was 150), 27 Surf Scoters (previous high was 25), and 7 Black Scoters (second highest spring count). Karl Bardon Duluth, MN
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