Yesterday (11/8), for our last survey of fall 2009 - out of Hovland - Heidi Seeland was kept company by a hunting Northern Hawk Owl. The bird was present for much of the day, still being seen up until she left (~845 - 1430). More specifically, this location was off the Arrowhead Trail, in a clear-cut on the left, just past Jackson Lake Road. From my vantage point, off of nearby Moose Valley Road, I was able to see a distant dark-mantled gull. Passing eagles put it up multiple times along with a group of Herring Gulls (HERG), and despite being approximately 1.5 miles away, it looked to be an adult-type Great Black-backed Gull (larger and broader-winged than the circling HERGs, with a very dark mantle/upperwings). Needless to say, however, I could not make out the specifics to be absolutely certain of the identification. Also, among other distant waterbirds, I could see a single male Long-tailed Duck at similar range. Aside from those, a nice finch flight kept things interesting, until it shut off at 1230: Pine Grosbeak - 57 Red Crossbill - 22 White-winged Crossbill - 351 Common Redpoll - 135+ Strangely, while essentially all other finches were southbound, every single one of the Pine Grosbeaks was seen heading up the shore (!?). This was my first triple-digit day for both White-winged Crossbill and Common Redpoll. Good Birding, Cameron Rutt Duluth, St. Louis County ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html