A 3-day Minnesota Birding Weekdays trip, October 10-11-12, based in Duluth surprisingly came up with a total of 96 species despite – or perhaps because of – the challenging weather. Gale-force NE winds off Lake Superior along with steady light rain on Oct 10 made the birding difficult at best, and overnight the winds shifted to 20+ mph from the NW and brought in some snow, “high” temperatures in the 30s, and frigid wind-chills on Oct 11. It wasn’t any warmer yesterday but at least the winds finally moderated.
In addition to the adult Sabine’s Gull huddled on the Park Point ballfields among other gulls and previously reported to mou-net on Oct 10, some of our other highlights were: - Surf and White-winged scoters on the bayside of Park Point between 40th St and the Recreation Area - 3 Ruddy Ducks (a rarity in NE Minn) on the bayside just S of the Recreation Area - 8 shorebird species: Black-bellied and Am Golden-Plovers (especially on the Park Point ballfields yesterday), Sanderling, Dunlin and Pectorals (among the plovers), Wilson’s Snipe, a late Spotted Sandpiper in Knife River, and Greater Yellowlegs - 9 raptor species, incl a late Broad-winged Hawk, and Merlins almost everywhere we stopped - Red-bellied Woodpecker (uncommon-rare on the North Shore) - Late Blue-headed Vireo and Gray-cheeked Thrush in Two Harbors - Non-stop Am Robins by the 100s migrating down the N Shore on Oct 11-12, along with good numbers of Blue Jays, both kinglets, thrushes, sparrows (12 species total), Rusty Blackbirds, and Yellow-rumped Warblers - A few Bohemian Waxwings along Skiff Landing Rd in Knife River - Fly-by Snow Buntings at the McQuade Rd public access on L Superior - 6 warbler species (all desperate to find insects in the cold): Orange-crowned, Nashville, American Redstart, a late Cape May in Two Harbors, Palm, and Yellow-rumpeds; most impressive yesterday were the dozens of Yellow-rumpeds foraging on the edge of the standing water on the Park Point ballfields My thanks especially to Judy Johnson who first spotted the Sabine’s Gull and to MBW co-leader Dave Benson. Kim Eckert, Duluth http://www.mbwbirds.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
