Greetings, I visited Park Point located east of Duluth, MN on Tuesday, 8/4 as well as Sax-Zim Bog WMA.
I parked in the lot and walked westward about .1 miles on the port side (south side) of the spit of land, then turned and went across the road to look for shorebirds on Lake Superior shores. A couple Spotted Sandpipers were working the harbor shores, and I only observed one lone Pectoral Sandpiper on the beaches. I then turned my attention to the chip notes I had been hearing behind me in the woods. Chipping Sparrows and Red-eyed Vireos mostly until I began walking the wood edge back eastward toward the parking lot again. I simply stood in one place for nearly 30 minutes and let the parade of birds pass by heading westward working over the leaves in a feverish fervor. I made a specific effort to stop counting some species to be sure that I was not double-counting individuals. My counts are conservative normally, but today was difficult as I simply couldn't believe the flock's procession along this stretch! Some of the species in the traveling flock included: Ovenbird, Nashville Warbler (min. 17), Am. Redstart, N. Parula, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-throated & Red-eyed Vireos, Black-and-white Warblers. ------------------------------- At Sax-Zim Bog, there were a few flocks although in less numbers. The main flock of warblers I encountered were at the southern end more specifically the western corner of Poplar Road off Blue Spruce Rd, off Hwy 133. I parked/stood at the corner and was surprised again by another procession of warblers moving northwest over the road making it easy to count (the ones I could see/ID). The surprise here were 7 Golden-winged Warblers (4 immatures), 2 fall/imm. Chestnut-sided Warblers ,as well as some Black-and-whites in the mix as well as others. Hermit Thrushes were observed at both areas as well. I'm not ready for warbler migration yet! Full checklist on eBirds database. Good Birding! Chris Barrigar Cole Co. Russellville, MO [email protected] https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbarrigar "I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." JOHN MUIR ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
