We had a successful owling expedition to Aitkin County on Thursday, March 17th, with a total of 50 Great Gray Owls and 1 Northern Hawk Owl. In addition, we saw three Great Gray Owls on the way from Duluth on Hwy 210 in Carlton County.
We traversed Co. Hwy 4 (Dam Lake St.) twice, first east to west from Hwy 65 to Dam Lake at 4:45 to 5:15 pm, and then back, west to east from 5:20 to 5:55 pm, recording actual locations of the owls on each traverse. This gave a total of 22 non-duplicative GGOWs. We saw four other GGOWs on Hwy 65 from the northern border of Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge to Co. Hwy 4. On the way home, from 6:00 to 6:30 pm, we counted six GGOWs on Co. Hwy 13 from East Lake to Lawler; then 18 more on Co Hwy 16 from Lawler to Tamarack. The sky was clear the whole time and there was a beautiful sunset at about 6:15. The Northern Hawk Owl was at the Rice River on the Rice Lake NWR. Other raptors were two Red-tails and one Rough-leg in Aitkin County and a Bald Ealge in Carlton County. Jan and John Green
