On Monday the 17th I saw a probable Snowy Owl fly over MN53 (just N. of Stebner Rd. in Hermantown) in the predawn darkness. It was heading towards the Federal Correctional Facility. I was on my way to the Sax-Zim CBC so didn't have time to search for it.
But I finally had a chance to look for it today (Sat. Dec 22) and found a Snowy Owl behind the Natural Resources Research Institute (intersection of MN 53 and Airport Road) at dusk/dark (5pm). It flew to a nearby power pole and continued hunting eventually flying off toward the Correctional Facility or Cirrus Designs...or the airport?? This Airport Road loops back to MN53 at Stebner Road. It is a heavily marked bird with much dark banding on the tail...Most definitely a female. WARNING: This is not a good place to be stopping and scanning for birds. I was nearly arrested in this area a few years ago when photographing a male Snowy between the prison and the airport. Three prison security trucks, an Airport Authority vehicle, the Hermantown K-9 unit and a St. Louis County Sheriff converged on me. Thank goodness for digital cameras as I was able to show them that I was really photographing owls and not other "sensitive targets." I was told to go shoot owls elsewhere as "there are owls all over the place." Sparky Stensaas 2515 Garthus Road Wrenshall, MN 55797 218.341.3350 cell sparkystensaas at hotmail.com _________________________________________________________________ The best games are on Xbox 360. Click here for a special offer on an Xbox 360 Console. http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/wheretobuy/
