Thankful for BLKI

So going back to Wednesday just before Thanksgiving I was on a southern county birding circuit with Peter Nichols and Greg Jahner looking for ducks and gulls. During this period we were alerted via the MOU listserv that Gavin Anderson had spotted an interesting gull he surmised might be Sabine's Gull while driving over the Hastings bridge. We were already heading to this location to view the sandbar and lock & dam areas so we kept our eyes open for any potential rarity, but found nothing of the sort. Kevin Smith also happened upon us interested in looking for the potential bird. He was on his way to work and we all parted ways soon enough. Later we also scouted Hazen P. Mooers open space which is just up river from the lock and dam. We found many gulls, but nothing on the order of Sabine's Gull.

Fast forward past the Thanksgiving holiday loaded with an awesome meal from my parents in Wisconsin and a new report surfaced on the next day.

Karl Isley of Cottage Grove wrote down a detailed account of a bird he viewed for 20 minutes on the ice at Hazen. His description had Pete encouraging him to post Black-legged Kitiwake via eBird for review and to start getting the word out about such a rarity in Washington County.

A few of us chatted on Messenger and I noted I'd be on site by sunrise looking to work for the bird all day if necessary. I arrived as promised with a Starbucks iced tea in hand to keep me alert. A couple other birders that had seen the eBird report were also present and I was aware of Liz Harper and Alex Sundvall having abandoned an in progress Duluth birding effort to arrive in Hastings for the potential bird.

Eventually Gavin Anderson showed up also hoping to see the bird he likely had seen over the Hastings bridge a few days prior. A number of us figured his initial id while driving was pretty close for a juvenile Kitiwake which would indicate the bird may have been around for several days in the area. This stretch of river is pretty massive with many backwater roost sites and feeding zones.

Fortune smiled though as the warm weather did leave a nice close ring of ice for daytime preening and resting of gulls. As our numbers swelled to about a dozen Liz and Alex arrived and attention turned from the ice ring to the bulk of Mooers lake. Roughly 2,000 mixed gulls sat on the water and amazingly Liz pulled out the first sighting of the day of the Kitiwake. It was a good distance out, but was unmistakable with a dark collar and bold black markings on the wings and head.

Updates began on social media platforms and the chase was on for many birders. Josh Wallestad came in from 2.5 hours away to snag this life bird. I'm sure he will relate the details of his adventure in his blog soon. I quickly saw 2 dozen friends and other birders stream in from all parts of the metro looking to add the bird now that it has been refound.

In total I spent about 5 hours at Hazen hunting or helping others get on this wonderful bird. I even had a great opportunity to finally meet county birding legend Bill Litkey and talk with him. It was fun to hear he had seen my name popping up a lot this year and asked me some questions about my birding at Big Marine Park/Lake. I shared as many details as I could with him and he listened eagerly asking questions about my access points. It was great to think I might have added something to his knowledge of the county as I know he has helped my birding success greatly this year.