Gentlemen, thanks to all four of you for your suggestions about logistics in Baudette. I chose Rosalies for dinner, Walleye Inn for accommodations, and the Ranch House for breakfast. They were all quite satisfactory, although hours and menus were limited vs. summer season. Hey, a serious birder doesn’t need much of either food or sleep!
Now for the birds … On the way to Baudette the Barrow’s Goldeneye eluded me on all the Grand Rapids sewage ponds, tho the supervisor of the lagoons did recognize your name, Shawn, and appreciated my checking in per your suggestion. No shrikes revealed themselves – ‘tween seasons? Harriers everywhere. Fourteen waterfowl sps, mostly on streams since lakes mostly still frozen. And 12 rough-legged hawks SW of Baudette near my owl route. My two owl routes are SE & SW of Baudette; they seem typical of intensively farmed former bogland with little woods. So my evening survey totaled just two unknown hoots a half-mile away from one of the prescribed ten stops on one route. I felt well trained (CD of owl calls), and it was fun tho not productive, and Hawk Ridge benefits financially. My second route was not run: it follows a minimum-maintenance road, which passes through a log-loading depot where the mud was so deep that during my daytime canvassing my front-wheel drive nearly bogged down (apt term). No place for a sedan after dark (Co 166 between 165 & MN 72). At breakfast the next morning a logger of apparent Native American heritage suggested looking/listening for owls along Co 16 west from MN 72 along the Rapid River into the Red Lake Indian Reservation. I’ll suggest that to the owl-survey powers that be, as well as some owl haunts recommended in Kim Eckert’s book for alternative/additional routes. Ted, you’re local … any other locations for owls suggest themselves? Best birds on this trip were: K-Co = 4 magpies (on Co 11 near Frontier), 14 Snow Geese (Co 13) 1 Spruce Grouse (Co 13) Itasca Co = 23 Fox Sparrows on Co 7 100 yds north of Co 340. St Louis Co = a late Pine Grosbeak (Zim Cemetery) 1 Northern Goshawk along Admiral Rd. Award for most numerous: 600+ ring-billed gulls in a field along Co 19 SE of Baudette. Trip total of 63 sps, mostly road-birding (570 miles RT from Duluth). My Lake of the Woods County list has started with 26 sps. Increased Itasca from 122-->134 (a friend has a cabin there), Cass 30-->34, Beltrami 41-->49, and Koochiching 11-->36. Oh, yeah, and Ontario 7374. Year list up by 16 sps. Thanks again for your help, Frank Berdan ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
