I'm forwarding this from Brandon Best of Lubbock Texas, who has been
birding in northeastern Minnesota for a couple of days:
Greetings all,
I have been in Northern Minnesota the last two days, with two more days to
go. I have been fortunate to see a few birds worth reporting.
15 Jan, Monday
Drove up the magical Lake CR 2 from Two Harbors to Ely. About 100 yards
north of the Sand River, I had one male SPRUCE GROUSE. A very nice fellow
was pulled over on the side of the road, and I asked him if he was looking
for grouse, he said yeah, one was just here a few minutes ago, it couldn't
have gone far. So we looked for it, and I spotted it sitting in a tree.
Had he not clued me in, I'd of never seen it. That was my first lifer for
this trip.
A little later, in the department of better-lucky-than-good, I made a
random stop at a spot that looked good for a scenic photograph. As I got
out of my car, I heard birds calling, so I looked around. Amidst the
Black-chapped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, I had 1 COMMON and 2
HOARY REDPOLLS and 2+ BOREAL CHICKADEES. I was able to get good looks at
all three species, and got an especially good look at the redpolls from
below. This site was 4.4 miles south of the Sand River or about 11.6
miles north of CR 15, there was a sign on the east side of the road for
someone's house, which I think said no trespassing or private road.
Late in the afternoon, I was able to stop by the Nelson's in Silver Bay,
and easily saw the GRAY CATBIRD, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and male VARIED
THRUSH. I only saw one sparrow, though I recall there were two at this
location.
16 Jan, Tuesday
Started out at the Duluth Harbor and Canal Park, with nothing of great
interest present. So I went over to Wisconsin Point, with more of not
much to speak of, and then the Superior Landfill. I must have
misinterpreted The Birder's Guide to MN, or else things have changed since
publication, but when I asked about viewing the gulls, a lady there told
me I could not be inside the fence, I had to stay outside the fence and
look in. That made life more difficult, it would have been really nice to
see the inside of the dump, given how many gulls flew up when one of the
two Bald Eagles flew over them. Later, I saw a pickup loaded with garbage
bags make it inside. If I bring a bag of garbage and pay the fee, do I
get access to look at the gulls? At any rate, the best here were several
GLAUCOUS GULLS and at least one adult THAYER'S GULL.
Returning to Canal Park, I checked out the raft of Mallards at the very
north end of the park, behind the under-construction Canal Park Lodge.
Here I found several American Black Ducks, the female HARLEQUIN DUCK and
female HOODED MERGANSER. This was about noon.
Headed north of Duluth from there, checked the spot for the Northern
Hawk-owl twice and found nothing. Also drove up Rice Lake Rd a bit to see
if it had moved, but no luck. I headed over to the Sax-Zim area and
struck out on pretty much everything that's been reported recently.
Really I had only a few ravens, BC Chicks, and a Rough-legged Hawk.
I raced back to Duluth, and made it to the harbor at 4:30. In the failing
light, I got awesome looks at the SNOWY OWL on the west side of Garfield
Ave & I-535. As previously mentioned, it was in the field just north of
Duluth Ready-mix. I parked on the dirt triangle just north of the custom
motorcycle shop which is under the bridge, and hiked back towards the
guardrail on the west side of the road. This bird's hunting method looks
just like a kestrel- looking down while flapping/hovering in the breeze.
Brandon Best
Lubbock, TX
Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN
www.birderblog.com
There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds.
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the
winter.
--Rachel Carson
