Literally hundreds of migrants were moving down the North Shore of Lake Superior in Duluth near the Lester River this morning. Thinking I would make just a quick check of migration this morning, and expecting perhaps a couple Tennessee or Nashville Warblers, I was rather shocked to see large flocks of warblers migrating overhead. Since I did not begin counting until 6:15 am when migration was well underway, I likely missed many migrants prior to 6:15. Nevertheless, in 2 hours I counted 441 migrants moving down the shore, including the following: 3 Common Loons, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 1 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (perched), 2 Eastern Kingbirds, 1 Barn Swallow, 2 Cliff Swallows, 1 Swainson’s Thrush, 3 American Robins, 36 Cedar Waxwings, 6 Tennessee Warblers, 4 Nashville Warblers, 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 1 Blackburnian Warbler, 189 unidentified warblers, 2 White-throated Sparrows, 174 Red-winged Blackbirds, and 3 Purple Finches. Although I do not begin official count duties for Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory until August 15th, I have often made more casual counts along the shore beginning in late July, and based on these observations, migration of this magnitude appears to be several weeks ahead of schedule.
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
