I was very relieved to read Julian's account. About 3:25 pm yesterday, I was on my front porch at 49th Avenue East and Peabody Street in Lakeside (pretty much due south of Hawk Ridge) watering my plants when I saw a falcon-shaped bird, with more delicate and erratic flight, due south of me toward Lake Superior, darting about and appearing to be hawking insects, but it was a distance and I didn't have my binoculars. I immediately thought Mississippi Kite, but by the time I grabbed my binoculars, the bird had disappeared. It seemed like too much of a rarity to count without confirmation, but I didn't see one reported from Hawk Ridge yesterday (it may have been too far off to see from there) so was thinking it was the proverbial "one that got away."
This is hardly a rarity, but on Friday I saw a Ruffed Grouse in my neighborhood--a first in the 39 years we've lived here (I've had them up on Hawk Ridge and in Lester Park, but never in the residential part of my neighborhood). Today, our mail carrier said he'd seen it hunkered down in the woods at the SE corner of Dodge and 47th Ave. E. Best, Laura Erickson Duluth, MN On Mon, Sep 14, 2020 at 10:10 AM MOU <[email protected]> wrote: > (Posted by Julian Sellers <[email protected]> via moumn.org) > > I observed a Mississippi Kite yesterday in Duluth. Here's my report to > eBird. > > I was at a private home with a deck with a partial view to the north and > northeast and a wide > view to the southeast (toward the Duluth harbor and St. Louis Bay). The > location is 7.8 miles > southwest of the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory. The forecast was for good > raptor migration > with a northwest breeze, but at my location the cloud cover did not > disperse until about 14:45. > At about 15:15, I started seeing kettles of Broad-winged Hawks and some > other individual > raptors. At about 15:40, I saw what I first took for a falcon, due to its > long, pointed wings and > long tail, approaching at a moderate height from the north. I soon > noticed that its flight was > not falcon-like; it glided, executing an occasional quick twist, turn, or > dip hawking insects. I > also noticed a light-colored head and a light body contrasting with an > all-dark slightly flared > tail. The trailing edge of the secondaries, seen from directly below, > appeared white. I > observed the bird for a minute or two before I lost it as it glided out > over the bay. About five > minutes later, it returned, gliding in the opposite direction (northwest) > over the ridge. > > Julian Sellers, St. Paul > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social > distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. > -- Laura Erickson Duluth, MN For the love, understanding, and protection of birds www.lauraerickson.com www.patreon.com/lauraerickson You were made and set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment. —Annie Dillard Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
