[mou-net] Snowy Owl in Roseau

[Agassiz Audubon]

On Friday, Tracy Halstensgard of the Roseau River Watershed District
reported that she spotted a Snowy Owl on 270th Street - 1 mile west of
State Hwy 89 in Roseau

-- 
Heidi Hughes
Warren MN


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[mou-net] Snow Geese over Crosby Farm Park, St. Paul

[linda whyte]

Late this afternoon a large flock of Snow Geese flew S/SW over the
Mississippi at Crosby Farm Park. Their vocalizing gave them away, high
though they were. The long skeins of the two groups were easy to spot
between tree branches, even without binoculars, with black wing-tips
contrasting sharply against white bodies in the bright sunlight.
They seem like irrefutable harbingers of winter.
Linda Whyte


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[mou-net] FW: Power Company's Guilty Plea Nets Big Fine For Bird-Killing Wind Turbines

[G Andersson]

from Huffington Post 

 

gordon andersson

st paul

  _  






 

 

Power
  Company's Guilty Plea Nets Big Fine For Bird-Killing Wind Turbines 


WASHINGTON
  -- Duke Energy's renewables division will pay $1 million in fines and
restitution for unlawfully killing golden eagles and other threatened birds
with its wind turbines, the Department of Justice announced
  Friday in
its first criminal enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Duke Energy
Renewables Inc., a subsidiary of North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp.,
pleaded guilty to violating the

federal law that protects

hundreds of bird species. The company admitted killing 14 golden eagles and
149 other protected birds, including hawks, blackbirds, larks, wrens and
sparrows, at two sites in Converse County, Wyo., from 2009 to 2013. "This
case represents the first criminal conviction under the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act for unlawful avian takings at wind projects," Robert G. Dreher,
acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment
and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement. Duke "acknowledges that
it constructed these wind projects in a manner it knew beforehand would
likely result in avian deaths," but since then has taken steps to "minimize
the hazard," Dreher said. The company's plea agreement with the government
requires it to pay the fine and to put in place a plan to prevent bird
deaths at its four commercial wind farms in Wyoming. Duke Energy Renewables
will be on probation for five years. The penalty will be paid to
conservation groups that include the North American Wetlands Conservation
Fund, the Wyoming Game & Fish Department, and the National Fish and Wildlife
Foundation. "Our goal is to provide the benefits of wind energy in the most
environmentally responsible way possible," Greg Wolf, president of Duke
Energy Renewables, said in a
  statement. "We
deeply regret the impacts to golden eagles at two of our wind facilities. We
have always self reported all incidents, and from the time we discovered the
first fatality, we've been working closely with the Fish and Wildlife
Service to take proactive steps to correct the problem." The American Wind
Energy Association, the lobbying group representing the industry, issued a
statement arguing that wind energy's impact on birds is not that
significant. "This agreement will help advance the knowledge of wind
wildlife interactions to further reduce the industry's relatively small
impacts," the group said. "No form of energy generation, or human activity
for that matter, is completely free of impacts and wind energy is no
exception," said the statement. It pointed to a 2009
  study from
the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority that found that
wind energy has a lower impact overall on birds than other energy sources.
Bird and wildlife conservationists often favor renewable power, but wind
turbines can have a brutal effect on birds without mitigation. George
Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy, acknowledged this tension
in a statement. "Wind energy is not green if it is killing hundreds of
thousands of birds," Fenwick said. "We are pro-wind and pro-alternative
energy, but development needs to be bird smart. The unfortunate reality is
that the flagrant violations of the law seen in this case are widespread." 

  

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[mou-net] [mou-rba] Duluth RBA 11/23/13

[Jim Lind]

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Duluth/North Shore
*November 23, 2013
*MNDU1311.23

-Birds mentioned
Harlequin Duck
Long-tailed Duck
Red-throated Loon
Turkey Vulture
Thayer's Gull
Iceland Gull
Glaucous Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Golden-winged Warbler
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore
Date: November 23, 2013
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU)
Reports: (218) 834-2858
Compiler: Jim Lind (jsl...@frontiernet.net)

This is the Duluth Birding Report for November 23rd, 2013 sponsored by
the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union.

A HARLEQUIN DUCK was found by Dudley Edmondson on the 12th at Canal Park
in Duluth, and it was still present on the 18th. Jan and Larry Kraemer
found an adult ICELAND GULL on the 15th at Canal Park and a RED-THROATED
LOON on the 14th through the 16th. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS, THAYER'S
GULLS, and GLAUCOUS GULLS continue to be seen at Canal Park.

The female LONG-TAILED DUCK at the McQuade Road boat launch was still
present as of the 17th. Erik Brunke and others found a LONG-TAILED DUCK
on the 14th at Burlington Bay in Two Harbors.

Anthony Mitchell photographed an extremely late GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER on
the 12th in the Lakeside neighborhood of Duluth. Jan and John Green saw
two late TURKEY VULTURES on the 11th along MN Highway 61 at Larsmont.

The next scheduled update of this report will be on November 29th.

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 m...@moumn.org, or visit the MOU web site at moumn.org.


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[mou-net] [mou-rba] MOU RBA 23 November 2013

[Anthony Hertzel]

-RBA
*Minnesota
*Minnesota Statewide
*November 23, 2013
*MNST1311.23

-Birds mentioned
Mute Swan
Tundra Swan
Long-tailed Duck
Cattle Egret
Osprey
Osprey
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Lewis's Woodpecker
Prairie Falcon
-Transcript

Hotline: Minnesota Statewide
Date: November 23, 2013
Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://moumn.org
Reports: (763) 780-8890
Compiler: Anthony Hertzel (r...@moumn.org) 

This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Friday November 22nd, 2013.

The LEWIS'S WOODPECKER is still being seen at the feeders of Janet
Anderson in the town of Roosevelt. This is along Roseau County Road 17
just north of highway 11 and the first house on the left after passing
over railroad tracks. Please do not call or bother the Andersons in the
evenings, and note that the bird also visits the house directly to the
east in Lake of the Woods County.

I have a report but no details of a PRAIRIE FALCON seen on the 11th near
Hawley in Clay County.

Two MUTE SWANS were associating with several hundred TUNDRA SWANS on the
Mississippi River about a mile south of the Weaver boat landing in
Wabasha County on the 15th.

On the 22nd, a LONG-TAILED DUCK was found on Medicine Lake in Plymouth,
Hennepin County. It was seen from the swimming beach at French Park.

There was a late CATTLE EGRET seen on the 7th at corner of Anoka County
Road 18 and Furman Street, which is about three miles west of Forest
Lake in the town of Columbus. And a late BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER was seen
on the 12th at Miesville Ravine County Park in Dakota County.

On the 21st, there were still more than 6,000 SANDHILL CRANES at
Sherburne NWR in Sherburne County, and there was a late OSPREY
photographed on November 19th at West Rush Lake Landing, in Chisago
County.

The next scheduled update is Thursday November 28th, 2013.


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