EARLY FALL DULUTH MBW SUMMARY

Aug. 30 - Aug. 31 - Sept. 1, 2025

It’s kind of hard to explain what happened on our Labor Day MBW! Normally, you can’t count on a good movement of fall migrants until a cold front brings them in from the north – warm and clear fall days like we mostly had (especially on Saturday) are typically the slowest, So how was it that our best day for migration was during warm and clear conditions on Monday morning – as evidenced by the steady flight with 100s of Blue Jays, and a decent variety of warblers at Stony Point? And the rain on Sunday morning didn’t do us any favors, as it failed to provide us any fall-out of migrants once it stopped by the time we got to Two Harbors. Normally, any morning rain or fog tends to ground migrants into view for birding purposes. But not this time.

The passerine migration was generally disappointing, although somehow we eventually pieced together a respectable composite total of 19 warbler species. But no waves of them were concentrated anywhere, and our best highlights involved non-passerines instead: a wayward Rufous Hummingbird at a Fredenberg Twp. feeder (thanks, Chris Elmgren!); an usually low-altitude feeding frenzy of nighthawks (seen by those still birding late afternoon/early evening on Sunday); and some quite unexpected water birds.

Indeed, the North Shore is not known for its water birds in early fall, but on Sunday we discovered a Red-necked Phalarope at Beaver Bay’s sewage ponds (new on Jim Lind’s Lake county list of 300-plus!), a locally uncommon/rare Virginia Rail was relocated and clearly heard at the MNDOT ponds near Silver Bay, Jim found us a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese at Flood Bay near Two Harbors (as 3 pelicans and a Green Heron unexpectedly appeared while we were there). Then on Monday, a group of 20 pelicans flew overhead at Knife River, and those MBWers who arrived on time at dawn at Brighton Beach that day were surprised by a fly-by Great Egret.

Craig and I thank you all for joining us, especially DC-residents Martha & Tim who evaded Trump’s troops to be here, and Pam who drove up all the way from Texas to bird with us. And for me, it was great to see son Jordan and dad Dennis Randall again: they hadn’t been on a MBW for a few years, and joining them this time was future-Randall-family-member Rachel.

And, finally, don’t forget that John Quinn’s JTL REPORT promises to provide its own unique and entertaining summary of our weekend – as long as you don't doze off or get lost as you try to unravel the threads of all his tangeants.   –KRE

Bird List (Composite total = 107 species)

• St L= found in St. Louis Co.

• Lake = found in Lake Co.

• species not annotated S or L = found in both counties

Greater White-fronted Goose        Lake

Canada Goose

Trumpeter Swan        Lake

Wood Duck        Lake

American Wigeon        Lake

Mallard

American Black Duck        StL

Green-winged Teal        Lake

Ring-necked Duck        Lake

Hooded Merganser

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser        Lake

Horned Grebe        StL

Red-necked Grebe

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Common Nighthawk

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird        StL

Virginia Rail        Lake

Sandhill Crane        StL

Semipalmated Plover        StL

Sanderling        StL

Baird’s Sandpiper        StL

Least Sandpiper        Lake

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Wilson’s Snipe        Lake

Spotted Sandpiper        Lake

Lesser Yellowlegs        Lake

Red-necked Phalarope        Lake

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Common Loon        StL

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican        Lake

American Bittern        Lake

Green Heron        Lake

Great Egret        StL

Great Blue Heron        StL

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Broad-winged Hawk        Lake

Red-tailed Hawk        StL

Belted Kingfisher        StL

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker        StL

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker        StL

Pileated Woodpecker        StL

American Kestrel        StL

Merlin

Eastern Kingbird

Alder Flycatcher        Lake

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe        StL

Philadelphia Vireo        StL

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

Black-capped Chickadee

Barn Swallow        Lake

Cedar Waxwing

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

Northern House Wren

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher        StL

European Starling

Swainson’s Thrush

American Robin

House Sparrow        StL

House Finch        StL

Purple Finch

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow

Clay-colored Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow        Lake

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle        StL

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler        StL

Nashville Warbler

Mourning Warbler        StL

Common Yellowthroat

American Redstart

Cape May Warbler        Lake

Northern Parula

Magnolia Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler        Lake

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler        StL

Palm Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler        StL

Wilson’s Warbler        StL

Scarlet Tanager        StL

Northern Cardinal        StL

Rose-breasted Grosbeak