The owls in Carlton County are now harder to find. The snow and the cold may have pushed them farther south. On Tuesday I counted 48 GGOWs and on Thursday, none...then today I had only 10 Great Grays and 1 Hawk Owl. They were a lot farther from the roadside and a lot deeper into the fields and meadows, with the ditches having fairly hard packed snow along the right-of-ways form the plowing. Some of the snow crust in ditches supported my 165 # weight and I was able to walk quite well on the crust along the road side ditches. The farther south I went the more birds I found, like around Holyoke area and Nickerson and points south. Winter has struck a good blow to the critters. Saw lots of Common Red Polls and a few hoaries, lots of siskens and many pine grosbeaks. Bruce
"I care to live, only to entice people to look at Nature's loveliness." -- John Muir ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Lind" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 9:02 PM Subject: [mou] northbound Great Grays > This afternoon I talked to some birders from Colorado at Lighthouse > Point in Two Harbors, who said they saw 21 Great Gray Owls flying UP > the shore across Agate Bay yesterday evening. This was very > surprising to hear, since just 12 days ago, on January 3, at least 16 > Great Grays were seen flying DOWN the shore (southwest) over > Lighthouse Point and Agate Bay, with many more birds seen in > subsequent days flying over the treetops in and near Duluth, all > headed southwest. Large numbers of Great Grays have subsequently > been seen in Carlton, Pine, and Aitkin counties in MN, and Douglas > Co. in WI. > > So this evening Sharon and I went to Lighthouse Point from 4:55 to > 6:00 pm, and we counted 27 Great Gray Owls flying northeast across > Agate Bay and up the shore. Many were seen perched in the treetops > at the crest of Port City Hill on the western shore of Agate Bay, > then flying over the bay and over our heads. This was really an > amazing thing to see. > > With the bitter cold of the last few days, and 10" of additional snow > on the North Shore Wednesday, it is hard to imagine why birds would > suddenly be moving north. I have heard recent reports from people in > Cook County who continue to see Great Grays along the shore, and I > assumed these were birds continuing to head south from Canada. It > seems too early for birds to be headed back to breeding areas, but > who knows? > > I know where I'll be tomorrow night. > > Jim Lind > Two Harbors > _______________________________________________ > mou-net mailing list > [email protected] > http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net >
