--=====================_372506968==.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Hello All, After completing our necessary errands this morning Cindy and I decided to run up to the Hedbom Forest Road to see if we could refind any of the birds we encountered there last Saturday. The weather this AM was a bit cold. A heavy frost stayed on the all the vegetation until noon and, although the forest was quiet compared to Saturday, the birding was still very good. The Hedbom Forest road is in extreme NE Aitkin County, putting it squarely in our backyard. How lucky are we? Our complete trip list for the morning: Northern Shrike -2 Great Gray Owl - 1, one of the pair that we watched on Saturday, it has a distinctive facial pattern--the white area below the bill and the distal portions of the white 'bow tie' are a dark gray leaving only a very thin section of white. Neat bird to see. It was hunting along the roadside and bog edges in the same area we located the pair on Saturday when we arrived at about 10:00 AM, it was still hunting the same areas when we left about 12:30 PM. Black-backed Woodpecker - 4 along the Hedbom Forest Road, three males. American Three-toed Woodpecker - 1 male along the Hedbom Forest Road White-winged Crossbill - one flock of 30 birds. There are a great many cones on the Tamaracks & Black Spruces here. The redpolls, siskins and crossbills were all feeding on Tamarack cones. Red Crossbill - one flock of 6 birds Pine Grosbeak - 1 male Common Redpoll - 109 - flocks weren't as numerous as Saturday, but I didn't spend as much time out of the car pishing. Stopping at every opening in the forest with alder shrubs and pishing, as I did on Saturday, will result in many more redpolls. They are REALLY heavy in the alder and Tamarack areas as they are feeding on alder catkins and Tamarack cones. Hoary Redpoll - 1 in a flock of Common Redpolls Boreal Chickadee - 1 heard along the Hedbom Forest Road Pine Siskin - 28 (plus 100's at a feeder closer to our house) Gray Jay - 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch - 6 Ruffed Grouse - 1 Rough-legged Hawk - 2 Bald Eagle -3 Pileated Woodpecker - 1 Black-capped Chickadee - stopped keeping an actual count as there were LOADS of them coming in to pishing. American Goldfinch - 2 Crow - no #'s Raven - no #'s Have a great day! Kim & Cindy Risen Tamarack, Aitkin County www.naturescapenews.com --=====================_372506968==.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <body> Hello All,<br><br> After completing our necessary errands this morning Cindy and I decided to run up to the Hedbom Forest Road to see if we could refind any of the birds we encountered there last Saturday.<br><br> The weather this AM was a bit cold. A heavy frost stayed on the all the vegetation until noon and, although the forest was quiet compared to Saturday, the birding was still very good. The Hedbom Forest road is in extreme NE Aitkin County, putting it squarely in our backyard. How lucky are we? <br><br> Our complete trip list for the morning:<br><br> <b>Northern Shrike</b> -2<br> <b>Great Gray Owl</b> - 1, one of the pair that we watched on Saturday, it has a distinctive facial pattern--the white area below the bill and the distal portions of the white 'bow tie' are a dark gray leaving only a very thin section of white. Neat bird to see. It was hunting along the roadside and bog edges in the same area we located the pair on Saturday when we arrived at about 10:00 AM, it was still hunting the same areas when we left about 12:30 PM.<br> <b>Black-backed Woodpecker </b>- 4 along the Hedbom Forest Road, three males.<br> <b>American Three-toed Woodpecker</b> - 1 male along the Hedbom Forest Road<br> <b>White-winged Crossbill </b>- one flock of 30 birds. There are a great many cones on the Tamaracks & Black Spruces here. The redpolls, siskins and crossbills were all feeding on Tamarack cones.<br> <b>Red Crossbill</b> - one flock of 6 birds<br> <b>Pine Grosbeak</b> - 1 male<br> <b>Common Redpoll</b> - 109 - flocks weren't as numerous as Saturday, but I didn't spend as much time out of the car pishing. Stopping at every opening in the forest with alder shrubs and pishing, as I did on Saturday, will result in many more redpolls. They are REALLY heavy in the alder and Tamarack areas as they are feeding on alder catkins and Tamarack cones.<br> <b>Hoary Redpoll</b> - 1 in a flock of Common Redpolls<br> <b>Boreal Chickadee</b> - 1 heard along the Hedbom Forest Road<br> Pine Siskin - 28 (plus 100's at a feeder closer to our house)<br> Gray Jay - 2<br> Red-breasted Nuthatch - 6<br> Ruffed Grouse - 1<br> Rough-legged Hawk - 2<br> Bald Eagle -3<br> Pileated Woodpecker - 1<br> Black-capped Chickadee - stopped keeping an actual count as there were LOADS of them coming in to pishing.<br> American Goldfinch - 2<br> Crow - no #'s<br> Raven - no #'s<br><br> Have a great day!<br><br> Kim & Cindy Risen<br> Tamarack, Aitkin County<br> <a href="http://www.naturescapenews.com/"; eudora="autourl"> www.naturescapenews.com<br><br> </a></body> </html> --=====================_372506968==.ALT--
