Hello All, Birding along the Hedbom Forest Road in NE Aitkin County over the holiday weekend continued to be rewarding.
Great Gray Owl has been seen daily. Most sightings this weekend were between 1.5 and 3 miles west of the St. Louis County Line or, if using a map, just east and just west of the small, northward curve on the otherwise straight east/west gravel road. On Sunday I found a Northern Hawk Owl along the Hedbom Forest Road about .5 miles west of the eastern gate or about 1.5 miles west of St. Louis County 837. It was perching atop tall spruces in an open field on the north side of the road. As far as I know it has NOT been relocated since Sunday. American Three-toed Woodpecker sightings continue to be easy and rewarding. On Sunday I was able to confirm the presence of at least THREE different individuals. Cindy and I had found two obviously different males on our earlier visits. On Sunday Al & Nathan Schirmacher and I watched what I think were the same two males and a female bird working the same small patch of forest. Butch Ukura and a group from Ohio were able to enjoy the same birds on Sunday. Interestingly, when walking through the woods the Red Squirrels would scold and chatter their warning notes at us. The American Three-toed Woodpeckers would STOP pecking on their tree of choice and would cling tightly and motionlessly to the trunk. After a few minutes (one - five, no more), one would begin working the tree and the others would immediately follow suit. If a squirrel would scold again, the three woodpeckers would stop in unison. This is a behavior that Cindy and I watched repeatedly yesterday. Black-backed Woodpecker sightings continue as well, but no daily count has been higher than four. There is SO much area to check here that getting an accurate count is difficult. We know there are at least five different birds, but there could easily be more. As the sun went down yesterday afternoon, Cindy and I put an extremely cooperative male Black-backed Woodpecker to bed. He worked the same small group of trees for the entire hour or so we spent watching and photographing him. Standing still and waiting for him to move a lower perch and/or into the sunlight worked very well for us. Great birds! Pine Grosbeaks remained elusive with our only sightings being individuals or small groups flying over. They haven't started coming into our feeders yet, but we see them most days driving along the roadways on our drive into town. White-winged Crossbills definitely outnumber Red Crossbills along the Hedbom Forest Road, but both species have been seen daily. None have been cooperative, but from the number of cones on the Tamarack Trees there is certainly enough food for them to hang around for a while. Red Crossbills have been seen daily as fly-overs. The best area to look for them might be the thick Red Pine stands on the western end of the Hedbom Forest Road. Common Redpolls continue to be easy to find in the alder thickets along the Hedbom Forest Road. We also had flocks of 25 - 50 birds flying over while we were walking in the forest. They respond quite well to pishing. I could get an entire flock to turn and come back to a perch close to us. This is how we have been able to get counts of flock sizes. Hoary Redpoll hasn't been seen by Cindy and me since last week and I didn't hear of any reported by those birders I ran into over the weekend. Searching through the larger flocks of Common Redpolls remains your best option. Evening Grosbeaks are most easily found at our feeders. While Cindy and I have had a few, mostly groups of < 5, fly-over while birding in Aitkin County, the daily visits of 50 - 100 birds in our neighborhood remain the best way to find Evening Grosbeaks. I have had a few requests to post better directions to the Hedbom Forest Road from the Floodwood side. Here they are: Take St. Louis County Road 837 SW out of Floodwood (also signed Laurie Road in at least two spots) about 4.5 miles SW of Floodwood CR 837 turns from blacktop to dirt. At that point there is a VERY confusing five-way intersection (Floodwood Road, Floodwood Road, CR 837, CR 834 and CR 832). There are also two white sign posts with eight to ten narrow white pointer/type signs (note the bottom sign on the right-hand pole indicates 'Hedbom Trail' to your right). Turn to the right/west and follow the more well traveled road signed St. Louis County Road 832. After one mile there will be a 'Robinson Road' that turns to the left/south and you will see a yellow metal gate and brown wooden sign that says, "Hedbom Forest Road, Savanna State Forest". This is the beginning of the Hedbom Forest Road. At the three mile point there is a large cut through the bog on the right/north side of the road, this is the Aitkin / St. Louis County Line. The woodpeckers and owls have been seen in the next two miles, most often in the Tamarack bog areas in the next mile. Look for the workings on both sides of the road. Copies of the Hedbom Forest Road account and map from our upcoming book are posted to our website: www.naturescapenews.com You'll links to the account on the top of the right hand navigation bar. Good Luck and Have Fun! Kim Risen Tamarack, Aitkin County
