I forgot to add one of my favorite sightings of the day... we also had a Northern Shrike today!
On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 3:59 PM, Erik Bruhnke <[email protected]> wrote: > This morning with a friend, I birded Sax-Zim Bog. We started about 7:25am > on County Road 7, and birded until about 1:00pm. What a wonderful day of > birds today! While at the rib-cage/birdfeeding area, there were easily 50+ > Common Redpolls, and one HOARY REDPOLL. Two absolutely gorgeous Northern > Hawk Owls were seen. There's lots of other cool sightings, and here's my bog > list from today... > > Sax-Zim Bog > > Bald Eagle (1) > Northern Hawk Owl (2) > Black-billed Magpie (2) > Blue Jay > Gray Jay (3) > Common Raven > Downy Woodpecker > Hairy Woodpecker > Black-capped Chickadee > Common Redpoll > Hoary Redpoll (1) > White-winged Crossbills (2) > Pine Grosbeak (4) > > I identified the Hoary as soon as I saw the field marks... This bird, while > feeding on the ground with the other Redpolls, and showed a slightly > pale-flushed face, with literally a 'hint' of pale gray marks on the side > flanks (sides). The flanks of this bird initially looked pure snow white, > until I focused on it for a second more, and saw a few very pale gray > specks. As soon as this bird turned away, a snow-white rump was visible. > Also as it turned away, the folded wings were noticably paler gray than the > nearby Common Redpoll's folded wings (Common Redpolls tend to show a > slate/black wings, whereas the Hoary Redpoll's wings appear more of a > 'bleached' slate gray color). This is the third Hoary Redpoll I've ever > seen, and I've found that it's good to look for that frosty/pale overall > appearance of the bird's body (of course, note the specific field marks to > make sure everything is in check for a Hoary Redpoll, and not a pale Common > Redpoll). > > > After I got back to Duluth, I decided to head over to Canal Park, and just > enjoy a brief afternoon of looking for birds there. I saw: > > Canal Park > > Rock Pigeons > Glaucous Gull (1 flyover, and that's it for gulls today) > Bald Eagle (1) > Common Goldeneyes > Mallard > > > > Thanks everyone for assisting me with recently seen sightings. Based on the > recently observed sightings that were forwarded to me in the bog, the > White-winged Crossbills were new, as well as one of the Hawk Owls... Let me > know if you're headed up to the bog sometime, and I'd be glad to backchannel > the locations to ya :) > > > Good birding, > Erik Bruhnke > > Duluth, MN > [email protected] > www.pbase.com/birdfedr/naturallyavian > > > > > ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
