[mou-net] Koochiching County
The MN Birding Weekends (MBW) group turned up several birds of note there this weekend, June 16-17-18, including Green Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk, two Am 3-toed Woodpeckers, Dickcissel (also in Itasca Co), and Red Crossbill: Green Heron - SE side of Tuefer Lake, 3 mi E of Northome Red-shouldered Hawk - Pine Island Forest Rd, ~ 6 mi N of CR 30 (~16 mi W and 6 mi N of Big Falls) Am Three-toed Woodpecker - 2 locations: CR 13, 1 mi S of CR 77 (or ~11.5 mi N of Big Falls); and Twomey-Williams Forest Rd, 1.2 mi N of CR 30 (9.5 mi W and 1.2 mi N of Big Falls) Dickcissel - N side of CR 3, just W of Hwy 65 (~13 mi S of Littlefork); also in Itasca Co at 2 spots on Priem Rd (which turns E off CR 42, ~ 5 mi NE of Bigfork) Red Crossbill - a pair in “downtown” Littlefork, just W of Main St Other birds of note on this Koochiching Co MBW included: Trumpeter Swan, Red-necked Grebe, Sora, Black-backed Woodpeckers (CR 77, 1 mi E of CR 13; CR 13, 1.5 mi S of CR 77; and in Itasca Co at Scenic State Park), Peregrine Falcon (Int’l Falls sewage ponds), Olive-sided and Yellow-bellied flycatchers, Black-billed Magpie (both counties), Boreal Chickadee (CR 13), 20 warbler species (incl Golden-winged, Connecticut, and Wilson’s; Connecticut also at Scenic State Park), and Le Conte’s Sparrow. In all, we had 135 species on this 3-day MBW, which was co-led by Dave Benson. Kim Eckert, Duluth http://www.mbwbirds.com Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Koochiching County Big Day and Pine Island State Forest
Ben Fritchman, John Hockema, and I did a Big Day in Koochiching County yesterday. Shorebirds and migrant passerines were largely absent, nocturnal birds were especially quiet, and conditions were wet and windy, but despite that we found a respectable 122 species thanks mostly to finding lots of breeding forest birds. Some of our highlights are listed below: Spruce, Ruffed, and Sharp-tailed Grouse - Had nice observations of both male and female Spruce on Toumey-Williams in separate locations. Good looks at the Ruffed between the 2 Spruce observations. Saw the Sharp-tailed sitting low in a willow along 217 a few miles east of Littlefork. Black-billed Cuckoo - 1 on Toumey-Williams Great Horned Owls - 1 heard on 71 about a mile north of Big Falls, 1 seen flying across Toumey-Williams, and nice looks at a fledgeling sitting on a snag just before the entrance of Franz Jevne State Park 8 species of flycatchers/kingbirds - Yellow-bellied and Olive-sided singing in good numbers along Toumey-Williams and an Olive-sided in Big Falls Philadelpia Vireo - in the woods near the Littlefork sewage ponds (which also had numerous swallows of various species and several Bobolinks present Black-billed Magpies - in Big Falls, on CR 101, and Hwy 11 Boreal Chickadee - on CR 86 north of CR 32 Connecticut Warbler - several singing along Toumey-Williams with additional observations on Fiero, CR 101, and CR 86 As fantastic as Pine Island State Forest (Toumey-Williams and associated roads) is for birding, this area is in jeopardy. The Subsection Forest Resource Management Plan for Pine Island and other state forest land of the Agassiz Subsection calls for a *significant* increase in the cutting of lowland conifers (which the paper industry is VERY hungry for right now) and an overall strategy of drastically reducing the age of lowland conifer forest in the Agassiz Lowlands. This might be good for the industry, but there is no good way to spin it for the lowland conifer-dependant birds of Pine Island State Forest. Parts of it are difficult to read, but you can see the management plan at this link (at least the graphs are pretty accessible) from the DNR website: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/subsection/agassiz/agassizlowland_SFRMP_strategicdirection_standselection02_25_08.pdf and you can see the stand list at this link: http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/forestry/subsection/agassiz/agassizlowlands_SFRMP_7YearStandList_AppendixA.pdf. The stand list is pretty easy to read--simply look at the cover type, acres, age, and prescription. -- Shawn Conrad www.itascacnfbirding.com Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Koochiching County this morning
I spent some time in Koochiching County near Big Falls this morning and had a few fun sightings despite the rain. I apologize for the vague locations...I was enjoying myself and not paying that much attention: - Spruce Grouse on Pine Island Forest Road - Boreal Chickadee in the spruce bog near mile marker 141 on Hwy 6 - American Pipits...several small flocks on CR 30 and a small flock with some Lapland Longspurs at a logging landing on Pine Island Forest Road - Black-billed Magpies...3 of them on CR 30, E of Toumey-Williams - Harris's Sparrows (and a Brown Creeper) at the Big Falls municipal campground--this species plus White-crowned and numerous White-throated Sparrows have been present at my feeders for several days - Blue-headed Vireo *singing* along Pine Island Forest RoadPalm and Yellow-rumped Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets in the same jack pine stand -- Shawn Conrad www.itascacnfbirding.com Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Koochiching County Yard/window birds
Woke up this AM to first ever pair of American widgeons in yard w/ usual wood ducks and a pair of deer. Also had: C. goldeneyes Mallard, red breasted mergansers, FOY cowbirds, B.T. Grackles, red wing blackbirds, pelicans, mourning doves, evening grosbeaks, eagle, red and white nuthatches, pine siskins, white throated and chipping sparrows, chickadees, purple finches, dark eyed junco, C. Geese and a light dusting of snow to go with the little old snow still along driveway. The hooded mergansers using one of the front nesting boxes were conspicuous in there absence! The widgeons hung around for over 3 hours and may still be around. A very good sunny morning on the Rainy River Tom Crumpton Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Koochiching County
Milt Blomberg forgot to mention that the information we got for birding most of Koochiching and Itasca Counties came from Shawn Conrad. If you need a good guide or info for this great birding country contact him in the Grand Rapids area. He has a web page for his guiding so type in Koochiching Birding and Shawn Conrad and his site will show up.Thanks Shawn for the help. As I was driving through the area with Milt it brought back memories of how natural and beautiful Koochiching County is and how abundant the rare bird species are. *I lived up there for 8 years and still go back once a month.*If anyone wants to join up in about a month I would be willing to have you tag along. Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Koochiching County
Spent some time in Koochiching near Northome working on one of my houses and decided to take my 10 year old daughter birding in the afternoon. This is her list She compiled for the day. 1 Red Tailed Hawk 1 Rough Legged Hawk 5 Pine Grosbeaks 100s of Redpolls ( 1 Hoary) 45 Snow Bunting 60 Ravines 11 Crows 2 Magpies 21 Goldfinch 8 Purple Finch 1 Tree Sparrow numerous Black capped Chickadee 17 Blue Jays 1 Red Crossbill 2 Pileated 3 Downy 2 Hairy 11 Red Breasted Nuthatch 3 White Breasted Nuthatch 1 Horned Lark 3 Rock Dove 3 Ruffed Grouse ( no Spruce) Talking to the Locals they said Evening Grosbeaks are few and they haven't seen many Cedar or Bohemian Waxwings. Also, Pine Siskins have been in low numbers.. As an addition Morrison County has more Dark Eyed Junco's showing up. There still are a lot of Redpolls and Horned Larks. The Barred and Great Horned Owls are calling in more locations and the Cardinals are more active along with the Woodpeckers knocking. Found more areas with striped trees with recent flecking but didn't view any Black Backed Woodpeckers. Eagles and Hawks are starting to show up in more abundance. Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
