To add to Mike's report, I saw and photographed a great gray owl along Hwy. 7 just south of Byrns Greenhouse at sunset.
Steve Foss See www.stevefossimages.com for guided photo excursions and full-service photography "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." Anais Nin --- On Sun, 12/28/08, Michael Hendrickson <[email protected]> wrote: From: Michael Hendrickson <[email protected]> Subject: [mou-net] Sax-Zim Bog Birds & Reports To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, December 28, 2008, 7:31 PM Out today with Liz Stanley. Sax-Zim Bog Highlights: Northern Hawk Owl: Intersection of CR 28 & CR 7. The Hawk Owl along the Stickney Rd was not seen after 3 attempts for it. I know some other birds have looked for it as well with no luck. The Hawk Owl at the intersection of CR 28 & CR 7 was also seen on the south end of Admiral Rd by several birders. So this owl is moving around in a large area so patience is needed to view this owl. Then again there could be 2 owls in this area. Great Gray Owl: McDavitt Rd about 3.5 miles north of CR 28. This owl is being very consistent to see in the am hours and the pm hours at this location. * I have searched numerous times at dawn hours for owls on Lake Nichols Rd (CR 232) and also east of Stickney Rd on CR 28 with no luck. Hopefully these owls are still around. American Three-toed Woodpecker & Black-backed Woodpecker: 4 miles north of CR 28 on McDavitt Rd. On the far north side of the bog habitat there are woodpecker workings on both sides of the road. Today they were on the east side of McDavitt Rd. Look for the pack down foot paths going into the bog to locate these woodpeckers. Boreal Chickadee & Gray Jay: Admiral Rd feeder which is 4 miles north of CR 28. This feeder is attracting a lot of birders because this is probably the best spot in the bog to observe this chickadee. Even with 10 birders standing on the road near the feeder up to 3 Boreal Chickadees came in and out of woods to feed on the suet! Gray Jays were feeding out of the hand as well. No Hoary Redpolls were reported today from this feeder. Pine Grosbeak & White-winged Crossbills: Seen several groups of grosbeaks along CR 83 west of McDavitt Rd feeding on grit on the road. White-winged Crossbills were photographed on the Admiral Rd by Steve Roman and I seen several flocks fly over the Country Market Store in Meadowlands. There are some large spruce trees near the sewage ponds just south of the Country Market and I assume they were heading there. Snow Buntings are still being seen near the intersection of CR 28 & CR 7. They have been observed all along CR 7 up to Byrne's Greenhouse in the past week. 14 Northern Shrikes were counted in several locations in Sax-Zim Bog. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bird Reports: * Peder Svingen reported to me in the last two days that a Snowy Owl has been roosting on the ice near the Park Point Sky Harbor Airport. Look on the bay side for this owl. Sometimes its roosting near a chunk of ice or its out in the open. This might be the best location during the day hours to look for a Snowy Owl in Duluth. * John & Chris Hockema inform me today that they saw 3 Spruce Grouse on Lake Co. Rd 2 about 1 mile north of the Sand River pull off. They also saw another Spruce Grouse on Highway 1 near mile marker 300. John & Chris also found some Red Crossbills on Lake Co. Rd 2 gritting on the road. * I searched twice for the Varied Thrush on the corner of Charlotte & Eileen Streets near the UMD campus in Duluth and saw zip. There is a feeder behind the house on the corner of Charlotte & Eileen St. * No recent reports of the Barrow's Goldeneye I relocated on Dec 26th off 21st Ave East. The ice shifted and there is a lot of open water on Lake Superior so the goldeneye could be anywhere. The best spot to search for now would be to scan thru the hundreds of Common Goldeneyes under the Ariel Lift Bridge in Canal Park. * Please remember to donate $ at the feeding stations in Sax-Zim Bog. At the Morse's Feeding Station there is a bluebird house to put money in and at the Abramson's Feeding Station there is mailbox with a slot in it. If you are going to the Admiral Rd feeding station I am sure Josh Mandich would not mind if you filled the feeder with some black oil sunflower seeds. There is also another feeder you can add seed to and that is on Owl Avenue on the north end of the bend of Owl Ave. on the west side. This feeding station was built by John Seikula. John also added some deer ribs to the station like the Admiral Rd feeders. So right now there are 5 active feeding stations in the bog!! Thanks Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/ Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/ ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
