FALL DULUTH MBW SUMMARY
October 14 - 15 - 16, 2016
Red-throated Loon, Agate Bay, 16 October 2016 (KRE photo)
Though perhaps too warm Saturday afternoon (70 degrees!) and with dark overcast that morning, the weather during these three days was still quite decent overall. True, the conditions weren’t conducive to producing much migration, but it never rained (or snowed) on us, nor did the high winds forecast for Friday ever materialize. And for the most part the birding was as decent as the weather, and we came up with a fairly impressive list of interesting highlights.
On Friday’s pre-MBW, we spent most of the day in Two Harbors in Lake County, with a drive up to Castle Danger to end the day. Here we had close looks at a freshly-plumaged adult Grasshopper Sparrow, which is quite unusual anywhere in NE Minnesota; almost as unusual was the juvenile Red-throated Loon we then found after lunch, and later we came up with three Surf Scoters. Noteworthy as well in Two Harbors were four meadowlarks (0-1 is normal here) and a few Cackling Geese, and there was a nice-looking Am Golden-Plover at Castle Danger’s sewage ponds.
There wasn’t quite as much bird activity on Saturday, but three White-winged Scoters and a Dunlin at Park Point brightened up the overcast morning, as did a couple of Black-bellied Plovers and a Bonaparte’s Gull. Things then slowed down a bit until we finished the day in Knife River back in Lake County, where there was lots of activity as numerous robins and other birds swarmed around the mountain ash trees.
We then returned to Lake County on Sunday where we had a brief view of an early juvenile Northern Shrike, an unexpected fly-by Red-bellied Woodpecker, and a fly-away Black Scoter in Knife River – and finding all three scoters is not easy to do. And back in Two Harbors there was yet another Red-bellied (0 is normal in NE Minn), a late Tennessee Warbler, and the Red-throated Loon was not only still present but also uncharacteristically close to shore.
BIRD LIST (78 species)
• PRE = found only on Friday’s pre-MBW
• MBW = found only on main Saturday-Sunday MBW
(species not marked PRE or MBW were found on both)
Cackling Goose PRE
Canada Goose
American Black Duck MBW
Mallard
Northern Pintail PRE
Green-winged Teal MBW
Redhead MBW
Ring-necked Duck PRE
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter MBW
Black Scoter MBW
Bufflehead PRE
Common Merganser MBW
Red-breasted Merganser MBW
Ruffed Grouse MBW
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Horned Grebe MBW
Red-necked Grebe
Turkey Vulture PRE
Bald Eagle
Sharp-shinned Hawk PRE
Cooper’s Hawk PRE
American Coot PRE
Black-bellied Plover MBW
American Golden-Plover PRE
Dunlin MBW
Bonaparte's Gull MBW
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker MBW
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Merlin
Northern Shrike MBW
Blue Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Horned Lark PRE
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush MBW
American Robin
Gray Catbird PRE
European Starling
American Pipit MBW
Cedar Waxwing
Lapland Longspur
Tennessee Warbler MBW
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Tree Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow MBW
Savannah Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow PRE
Fox Sparrow MBW
Song Sparrow PRE
Lincoln's Sparrow PRE
Swamp Sparrow PRE
White-throated Sparrow
Harris's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal PRE
Western Meadowlark PRE
Rusty Blackbird
Common Grackle PRE
Purple Finch MBW
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow
* * *
FALL DULUTH MBWeekend & NORTH SHORE PRE-MBW SUMMARY
October 2 - 3 - 4, 2015
Well, the October 2 pre-MBW was supposed to be along the North Shore, but we made it only as far as Two Harbors before we turned around. We had at least found two Surf Scoters at Stoney Point, a cooperative Lapland Longspur and a late House Wren in Two Harbors, but the migration that morning was almost non-existent, the winds off the lake were starting to pick up in the early afternoon, and there had been sightings in previous days of California and Lesser Black-backed gulls at the Superior Entry breakwaters. So we regrouped back at the Superior Entry, only to be greeted by sustained 25-30 mph winds that made gull-watching quite a challenge. But everyone was able to get good scope views of a second-year Thayer’s Gull on the breakwall on the Minnesota side – a decent enough consolation prize since those two rarer gulls were no where to be seen.
The east winds on Saturday weren't supposed to be as bad, but by the afternoon they were again blowing at 25-30 mph. We spent the morning at Park Point and at least turned up both a fly-over American Golden-Plover and a fly-away Black-bellied Plover, along with an immature Franklin’s Gull (a Duluth rarity) which appeared on the ballfield for the benefit of about half the group who hadn’t yet departed for lunch. Though the winds were from the wrong direction, we spent the early afternoon at Hawk Ridge and predictably saw hardly any raptor movement (but at least we were entertained an officious and overly-zealous traffic officer/volunteer who apparently had nothing better to do). Since the winds were still too strong off the lake, we wisely elected to spend the rest of the afternoon somewhat out of the wind at Indian Point and on Clyde Avenue near Morgan Park along the St Louis River. Here we found an unexpected Virginia Rail (most were even able to briefly see it), somewhat late Solitary and Spotted sandpipers, a cold Eastern Phoebe, and our best views of a close and cooperative Harris’s Sparrow.
It was a relief when the winds actually did subside on Sunday, although the migration was still slow. (After 4-5 days of persistent fog and drizzle finally ended the previous weekend, a rush of migrants pushed through the last few days of September, so that relatively little was still around to see during our MBW.) But on Sunday morning at Stoney Point, Two Harbors, and Castle Danger, we relocated the Surf Scoters and found a late Black-throated Green Warbler, some found the Cackling Goose again (a few had also seen it on Friday), and there was another Lapland Longspur posing for all to see at close range. Some of us then made another try for gulls at Park Point and Superior Entry before returning home but came up empty. In all, then, we managed to come up with 78 species, which was understandably fewer than normal (the mid-80s is probably our average on this MBW), with 55 species on Friday's pre-MBW (7 of these were only seen that day), and 71 on the main Saturday-Sunday MBW.
BIRD LIST
• NS = seen on October 2 “North Shore” pre-MBW
• FD = seen on October 3-4 Fall Duluth MBW
Cackling Goose NS,FD
Canada Goose NS,FD
Wood Duck FD
American Black Duck FD
Mallard NS,FD
Green-winged Teal FD
Redhead NS,FD
Greater Scaup FD
Surf Scoter NS,FD
Hooded Merganser FD
Common Merganser NS,FD
Red-breasted Merganser NS,FD
Common Loon NS,FD
Pied-billed Grebe NS,FD
Horned Grebe NS,FD
Red-necked Grebe NS,FD
Double-crested Cormorant NS,FD
Great Blue Heron FD
Turkey Vulture FD
Bald Eagle NS,FD
Sharp-shinned Hawk NS
Virginia Rail FD
American Coot FD
Black-bellied Plover FD
American Golden-Plover FD
Spotted Sandpiper FD
Solitary Sandpiper FD
Franklin's Gull FD
Ring-billed Gull NS,FD
Herring Gull NS,FD
Thayer's Gull NS
Rock Pigeon NS,FD
Belted Kingfisher NS,FD
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker NS,FD
Downy Woodpecker NS,FD
Hairy Woodpecker NS,FD
Northern Flicker NS,FD
Pileated Woodpecker FD
American Kestrel NS
Merlin NS,FD
Eastern Phoebe FD
Blue Jay NS,FD
American Crow NS,FD
Common Raven NS,FD
Horned Lark NS
Black-capped Chickadee NS,FD
Red-breasted Nuthatch NS,FD
White-breasted Nuthatch NS
Brown Creeper NS,FD
House Wren NS
Winter Wren FD
Golden-crowned Kinglet FD
Ruby-crowned Kinglet NS,FD
Swainson's Thrush NS,FD
Hermit Thrush NS,FD
American Robin NS,FD
European Starling FD
American Pipit NS,FD
Cedar Waxwing NS,FD
Lapland Longspur NS,FD
Palm Warbler NS,FD
Yellow-rumped Warbler NS,FD
Black-throated Green Warbler FD
Chipping Sparrow FD
Clay-colored Sparrow FD
Savannah Sparrow NS,FD
Song Sparrow NS,FD
Lincoln's Sparrow NS,FD
Swamp Sparrow NS,FD
White-throated Sparrow NS,FD
Harris's Sparrow NS,FD
White-crowned Sparrow NS,FD
Dark-eyed Junco NS,FD
Red-winged Blackbird NS,FD
Purple Finch NS
Pine Siskin NS,FD
American Goldfinch FD
House Sparrow NS,FD
Also see the 2016 and 2015 MBW summaries
following the summary of the 2018 MBW
__________
FALL DULUTH MINNESOTA BIRDING WEEKDAYS SUMMARY
OCTOBER 10 - 11 - 12, 2018
Mediocre "digiscope" image (due to the wind and rain) of the adult Sabine's Gull
still in breeding plumage at the Park Point Recreation Area. (KRE photo)
"Digibin" image of a cold Cape May Warbler in Two Harbors
trying to find insects with temperatures in the mid-30s. (KRE photo)
In a way, the two photos above pretty much sum up our Duluth-based MBW – a rarity blown in by those destructive gale-force winds off Lake Superior on Wednesday, followed on Thursday by a late-lingering migrant try to deal with 20+ mph NW winds, snow, "highs" in the 30s, and some January-like wind-chills that made life difficult for both birds and birders. Note that this time the W in MBW stood for Weekdays, designed to avoid higher lodging costs and leaf-watching traffic so characteristic of fall weekends here. But any delusions of brilliance your Spineless, Wishy-washy Tour Leader might have had with this strategy quickly vanished when he canceled Tuesday's birding (when the weather was supposed to be bad but turned out to be somewhat reasonable) and rescheduled it for Wednesday (when that meteorological event had earlier been forecast to be winding down – but didn't).
Still, we somehow managed to come up with a grand total of 96 species (the most ever on this MBW?!) during these three days. In addition to the adult Sabine’s Gull huddled on the Park Point ballfields among the other gulls (nice spotting, Judy), some of our better finds included: Surf and White-winged scoters on the bayside of Park Point, plus 3 Ruddy Ducks there on Friday (a rarity in NE Minn); 8 shorebird species, highlighted by Black-bellied and Am Golden-Plovers, Dunlins, and Pectoral Sandpipers on the flooded Park Point ballfields (especially on Friday when all 4 foraged together in front of us); hunting Merlins at almost every place we went; late-lingering Blue-headed Vireo and Gray-cheeked Thrush; non-stop Am Robins by the 100s migrating down the N Shore on Thursday- Friday, along with good numbers of Blue Jays, both kinglets, thrushes, sparrows (12 species total), Rusty Blackbirds, and Yellow-rumped Warblers; a few early and sought-after Bohemian Waxwings; and 6 warbler species (all of them desperate to find insects in the cold): Orange-crowned, Nashville, American Redstart,
a late Cape May, Palm, and Yellow-rumpeds – the latter species at almost every place we went (under the watchful eyes of Merlins).
But perhaps the most impressive birding we had was saved for last on Friday afternoon, when the winds had finally moderated and the sun came out, and those of us still in town watched dozens of Yellow-rumpeds forage around the edges of the standing water on the Park Point ballfields, as both plovers, Dunlins, and Pectorals ran around just behind them.
We all thank Dave Benson for his co-leadership – especially on Wednesday when I got to stay inside most of the day! And I thank all of you who came out despite the weather and got soaked, wind-blown, and wind-chilled in the process – but at the same time managed to maintain your patience and a good-natured attitude through it all.
Bird List
• W = seen on Wednesday, Oct 10 (48 species)
• Th = seen on Thursday, Oct 11 (80 species)
• F = seen on Friday, Oct 12 (67 species)
Snow Goose W,Th
Canada Goose W,Th,F
Wood Duck F
Mallard W,Th,F
American Black Duck W
Northern Pintail F
Green-winged Teal W,Th
Greater Scaup W,Th
Lesser Scaup F
Surf Scoter Th
White-winged Scoter Th
Common Merganser W,Th,F
Red-breasted Merganser W,Th,F
Ruddy Duck F
Horned Grebe Th,F
Red-necked Grebe Th,F
Rock Pigeon W,Th,F
Mourning Dove W,Th,F
Black-bellied Plover Th,F
American Golden-Plover W,Th,F
Sanderling W,F
Dunlin Th,F
Pectoral Sandpiper Th,F
Wilson’s Snipe F
Spotted Sandpiper Th
Greater Yellowlegs Th,F
Sabine’s Gull W
Bonaparte’s Gull W
Ring-billed Gull W,Th,F
Herring Gull W,Th,F
Common Loon Th,F
Double-crested Cormorant Th
Turkey Vulture Th,F
Bald Eagle W,Th,F
Northern Harrier Th
Sharp-shinned Hawk Th,F
Cooper’s Hawk Th
Broad-winged Hawk Th
Red-tailed Hawk Th,F
Belted Kingfisher F
Red-bellied Woodpecker F
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker W
Downy Woodpecker W,Th,F
Hairy Woodpecker Th,F
Northern Flicker W,Th,F
Pileated Woodpecker Th
American Kestrel F
Merlin W,Th,F
Blue-headed Vireo Th
Blue Jay W,Th,F
American Crow W,Th,F
Common Raven W,Th,F
Horned Lark W,Th,F
Black-capped Chickadee W,Th,F
Red-breasted Nuthatch W,Th,F
White-breasted Nuthatch F
Brown Creeper W,Th,F
Winter Wren Th
Golden-crowned Kinglet W,Th,F
Ruby-crowned Kinglet W,Th,F
Eastern Bluebird W,Th,F
Gray-cheeked Thrush Th
Swainson’s Thrush Th
Hermit Thrush W,Th,F
American Robin W,Th,F
European Starling W,Th,F
Bohemian Waxwing Th
Cedar Waxwing W,Th,F
House Sparrow Th,F
American Pipit W,Th,F
Purple Finch Th
American Goldfinch Th
Lapland Longspur W,Th,F
Snow Bunting Th
American Tree Sparrow W,Th,F
Chipping Sparrow W,Th,F
Clay-colored Sparrow W,F
Savannah Sparrow Th,F
Fox Sparrow Th,F
Song Sparrow W,Th,F
Lincoln’s Sparrow W,Th,F
Swamp Sparrow F
White-throated Sparrow W,Th,F
Harris’s Sparrow Th,F
White-crowned Sparrow W,Th,F
Dark-eyed Junco W,Th,F
Red-winged Blackbird Th
Rusty Blackbird Th,F
Common Grackle W,Th
Orange-crowned Warbler Th
Nashville Warbler Th,F
American Redstart Th
Cape May Warbler Th
Palm Warbler W,Th,F
Yellow-rumped Warbler W,Th,F
Northern Cardinal Th
* * *
