Just over a week ago, the Duluth National Weather Service office spotted something on their radar that they initially thought could be a plume of smoke from a forest fire that popped up. As it turned out, it was about 600,000 ducks that took off from the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge, just south of McGregor.

On Thursday of this week, the folks at the Duluth National Weather Service office again saw something pop up on radar that looked similar to what they saw on October 16. Again, it turned out to be ducks. Only this time, it was a near record observation.

The estimated count of Thursday's event was 900,000, which falls just short of the state record for the most waterfowl observed in one location at one time in Minnesota. The record, which was also set at the very same wildlife refuge in October of 1994, is 1 million ducks.

Here's the event, as seen by the team at the Duluth National Weather Service office via their weather radar.

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