HMANA Conference 2010, Duluth Minnesota, Days 1 and 2: Rice Point Hawk Watch and Wisconsin Point

We arrived at the Duluth airport on wesnesday April 15th around 11:30.  After quickly getting to the hotel, we headed up to Rice Point, which is a Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory hawk watch that overlooks Duluth and Lake Superior.  As soon as we got there, a sharp-shinned hawk and a broad-winged hawk flew past at a very close distance.  These species made up the majority of the flight for the day, but there were also many bald eagles, a merlin, a few cooper's hawks, red-tails, and many migrating turkey vultures.  Highlights were the merlin and two dark-morph rough legged hawks, both of which I needed for my year list to keep my lead over Alex.  There were also two loons in addition to 4 sandhill cranes that flew right over the treeline.  You could see them making the decision on which way to go when they saw the top of the ridge, and we watched them travel down the ridge for about 10 minutes.  There were also tons of migrating northern flickers flying by, and we spotted one yellow-bellied sapsucker.  American white pelicans were also a highlight at the hawk watch. In total we counted 136 raptors at the hawk watch while we were there, and the total for the day was around 350...not a bad day at all!

immature bald eagle

sandhill cranes

bald eagle over the city

broad-winged hawk

broad-winged hawk

bald eagle

osprey

After getting back to the hotel and registering for the conference, we took a walk down to Lake Superior.  Not much was happening inland, but there was some waterfowl activity about 500 meters out.  This included lesser scaup, red-breasted mergansers, and horned grebes.  We also saw two bald eagles fly over, in addition to another flock of American white pelicans.

Lake Superior

This morning, we woke up early, and head to Wisconsin Point on a "field trip" that was offered by the conference.  It was incredibly windy out on the point, but we did see buffleheads and goldeneyes there, in addition to a bald eagle. 

Wisconsin Point

On the protected side of the bay, there were large rafts of ducks which included common mergansers, redhead, and canvasback, but were mostly comprised of greater and lesser scaup.  There were also two trumpeter swans and a sandhill crane, highlights for the morning.  Small songbirds and sparrows were nonexistant with the high winds.  For the trip total to Wisconsin Point, we had 39 species.

birding in the bay

greater and lesser scaup

scaup

When we got back to the hotel, we had a quick snack before heading back up to Rice Point.  The high winds had most raptors bypassing the site, and we only saw a few sharpies, bald eagles, and red-tails; nothing compared to yesterday.  There were a few species of note, though, including more American white pelicans, a peregrine, and a northern harrier. 

the walk to Enger Tower

We spent most of our time at a park on top of the ridge surrounding Enger Tower, which was built with resources donated by the Prince of Norway in 1936.  He wanted to show his appreciation for the people of Duluth, and believed that Duluth held great opportunity for immigrants.  He wanted to preserve the natural area of the ridge.  And good thing he did, because it is a great birding hotspot.  Yellow-bellied sapsuckers were probably the most abundant bird in the Scotch pines, and at one point there were 4 around us.  A quick glance into a pine revealed a sapsucker contently sitting and eating. There were also many downy woodpeckers, and flickers could be seen rocketing over the ridge on the high winds with wings tucked.  We also saw a hairy woodpecker, and got very close to it for great photos.

downy woodpecker

yellow-bellied sapsucker

northern flicker

hairy woodpecker

Both kinglet species were present, in addition to black-capped chickadees and dark-eyed juncos and eastern phoebes.  We also spotted a hermit thrush and a winter wren hopping around in the underbrush. 

We saw three species of butterfly in the park, including spring azure and morning cloak, and a beautiful Milbert's tortoiseshell.

spring azure

 

Compton tortoishell

morning cloak

Alex making friends with the morning cloak

We got back to the hotel just in time to see a presentaiton about the hazards of hawkwatching (think sun exposure, bears, bikers, vandalism, etc.), and also a presentation by Vic Berardi about photographing raptors in flight, which left me feeling inadequate and wanting to accidentally "lose" my camera so I can get a new one.   After a quick nap we headed to dinner and a presentation about "trees of life" and how scientists map lineages of birds.  Trees of life can be used to better understand raptor migration, habitat selection, and behavior.

Tomorrow we will attend the Sax Zim Bog field trip in the morning.  So far we have 67 species for the trip and hope to add more tomorrow.