Early this morning around 9:30 am I found an adult Slaty-backed Gull at the Superior Entry, Duluth/Superior, where it was seen on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the shipping channel. Later in the afternoon around 2 pm the same Slaty-backed Gull showed up at Canal Park. At both locations the bird was very cooperative, coming in very close and giving us fatntastic views and photographic opportunities. I will post a photo to MOU-recently seen. As with the Slaty-backeds I found in Duluth in 2009 and 2010, this bird will likely be seen regularly in the coming weeks, with the best time to look probably at Canal Park in the afternoon, since most gulls in the area seem to wander that way in the afternoon to loaf and preen before heading to roost out on the lake. Gull-watching has been good as usual in Duluth, with overall counts this season of 13 Great Black-backeds (2 adults, 4 third-cycle, 2 second-cycle, and 5 first-cycle), 7 Icelands (4 adults and 3 first-cycles), at least 18 Glaucous (4 adults, 2 third-cycles, 5 second-cycles, and 7 first-cycles), and 20+ Thayer’s Gulls. The number of Great Black-backed is impressive, with daily counts as high as 7-8 individuals (and numbers will probably increase as winter progresses) A good variety of waterfowl are also in the Duluth harbor, with 13 species of ducks seen yesterday, including a female Wood Duck, female Ring-necked Duck, and a male Gadwall near WLSSD, a flock of 4 White-winged Scoters off of Leif Erikson park, while a Lesser Scaup, 4 Greater Scaup, and an adult male Barrow’s have been all been seen at the Superior Entry. All of these species are somewhat unusual in Duluth in mid-winter. Details of the Barrow’s were posted to MOU Recently seen by Peder Svingen. 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