Hi Jim-I'm excited to report a new backyard bird for me....a Vesper's Sparrow.  I've had two since yesterday afternoon.  I've have many opportunities to study them and I even finally saw the chesnut lesser coverts on one.  I hadn't seen this bird mentioned yet for spring returnees so that's why I'm sending you this observation.  Hope you're having a good spring.  Cindy Edwardson

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 9:38 PM, Jim Lind <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*April 23, 2009
*MNDU0904.23

-Birds mentioned -Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: April 23, 2009
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 834-2858
Compiler: Jim Lind ([log in to unmask])

This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

A LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE was seen briefly in Two Harbors on the 20th at the ball field along CR 2, two blocks north of Highway 61. Single SHORT-EARED OWLS were seen on the 17th along Lake County Road 12, 0.8 mile west of CR 2, and along the Stanley Road (CR 9) three miles west of MN Highway 61. Another SHORT-EARED OWL was seen on the 19th along CR 14, about five miles west of CR 2 at the railroad crossing.

Frank Nicoletti saw a SHORT-EARED OWL fly in off Lake Superior at Wisconsin Point on the 22nd. Peder Svingen saw a first-cycle ICELAND GULL on the 21st on the Wisconsin side of Interstate Island. He also saw a first-cycle GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL, 11 GLAUCOUS GULLS, and four THAYER'S GULLS at Wisconsin Point. A RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER was found by Mike Hendrickson on the 22nd near his yard in Smithville in west Duluth. Flocks of AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS and small numbers of SANDHILL CRANES have been seen almost daily at the West Skyline Hawk Count in Duluth.

Bill Tefft saw a late-lingering flock of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in Ely on the 17th along Sheridan Street near 4th Avenue.

New arrivals this week include AMERICAN COOT, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, LESSER YELLOWLEGS, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, SAVANNAH SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, and BREWER'S BLACKBIRD.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday, April 30th.

The telephone number of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert is 218-834-2858. Information about bird sightings may be left following the recorded message.

The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) as a service to its members. For more information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum, e-mail us at [log in to unmask], or visit the MOU web site at moumn.org.