Guided a group of birders from Nebraska today and day 2 with Ted from Virginia.
Highlights: Spruce Grouse: Female on the Whyte Rd about mile east of Stoney River Rd and a male about a mile and half east of the Stoney River Rd. We saw another female Spruce Grouse on the Stoney River Rd about a 1/4 mile north of the Whyte Rd. ** I saw 3 lifer mammals on the Stoney River Rd!! We were waiting in my Yukon on the Stoney River Road for the Nebraska birders to meet us after they were done viewing the male Spruce Grouse on the Whyte Rd. When all of a sudden I noticed some shapes walking about a 1/4 mile from us. I put my binoculars on the shapes and originally told my passengers they were Timber Wolves but as the shapes got closer to us I noticed they were not Timber Wolves but LYNXES!!! One of the Lynxes sat on the road and faced us and the other ( smaller ) Lynx was moving along the side of the road. We wonder if they spotted the female Spruce Grouse on the road since the grouse was holding very still. Then the grouse errupted and flew into the woods and the two Lynxes walked into the woods on the east side of the road. Then the third jumped into the road and followed the other two Lynxes. We knew one was smaller than the other one but the third that jumped out in the road after the other two left, we could not determine if it was smaller or not since we had no size comparision. Then as we sat in my Yukon giving high fives a Snow Shoe Hare ran across the road as if the cats scared it as they were walking into the woods. I always wanted to view these mammals and my wish came true today! Even though they were pretty far from us for photos it was a really cool sighting for all of us! Two Harbors: Bohemian Waxwings along the road that leads to the Light House and South Avenue. There at least 10 Bohemian Waxwings among a good size flock of Cedar Waxwings. Jim Lind told me these waxwings were in this area last week. Thanks Jim! Duluth: Canal Park Gulls: 5 species 1. Great Black-backed Gulls ( 3 = 2nd cycles 1= first cycle and 1=adult ) 2. Glaucous Gull ( 3 first cycles and 1 2nd cycle ) 3. Thayer's Gull ( 1 adult ) 4. Iceland Gull ( 1 first cycle ) * We had a unid large owl fly across the Stoney River Rd north of the Whyte Rd. * Whyte Rd & Stoney River Rd continues to be a great spot for Spruce Grouse. I got excellent photos of a female Spruce Grouse to go along with my male Spruce Grouse I took yesterday. With the warm weather we saw very little as far as finches in northern Lake County. Good Birding Mike 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
