(Please excuse the late report---motel internet connection was so slow it kept "timing out.")
Weather turned lovely for birding in Sax-Zim Wednesday. Ravens were plentiful, and congregated on or near roads in a couple of places. Two of them seemed to have scored chunks of food that appeared white---perhaps suet, or hare---but flew off before the prizes could be identified. Gray jays were also widely distributed and generous with good views, especially at feeders on Blue Spruce and Admiral roads, and on Nichols Lake Road at and near its intersection with state hwy 7. In general, the concentration of activity was highest at feeders: Along hwy 7, west side, north of Lake Nichols Rd and south of Kelsey/Whiteface Rd., house #8863 (pine grosbeaks, pine siskins, purple finches, chickadees) McDavitt Rd. feeders (many chickadees, and possible boreal, heard only, plus a hairy woodpecker ) Admiral Rd. feeders (again, many chickadees; many red-breasted nuthatches plus a couple of white-breasted, gray jays, and a stunning number of pine siskins; also a pileated woodpecker working and seen in the vicinity). Before reaching these feeders, we encountered a very co-operative ruffed grouse feeding right on Admiral Road; it flew up and perched on a low spruce branch at the roadside. Little Whiteface Rd.: many chickadees, purple finches, goldfinches, pine siskins; also some red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, and a couple of passing redpolls Owl Avenue:gray jays, chickadees and pine grosbeaks Thursday we made a second pass through the area. At the Blue Spruce feeders were red-breasted nuthatches, gray jays, chickadees, pine grosbeaks, purple finches, goldfinches, and pine siskins. (The last two species made frequent forays to the roadside snowbanks to pick grit and possibly seed, from or with the snow.) The Little Whiteface feeders hosted the same species, minus the gray jays but plus a few redpolls. Several gray jays and pine grosbeaks were dominating the Arkola feeders, which we had somehow missed the day before; it was on that road that we had also had a brief, unconfirmed encounter with a flock of redpolls. On hwy 7 there was a large flock of snow buntings across from the entry to the Sax Wildlife Management Area with the brown DNR sign. The day was rounded out in late afternoon by a Northern hawk owl, perched on a spruce-top right on the roadside, at the junction of Whyte Forest Rd. and Stoney River Forest Rd. This morning we returned to Stoney River Rd. and refound the hawk owl, or another one, north of the Thursday location, about halfway to the railroad tracks, or halfway between the alder thickets and the tamarack bog. It was again beside the road, perched at the top of a spruce. Shortly thereafter came a lifer mammal sighting: our first lynx. When we approached from afar it was seated in the road, then arose to trot down the road away from us. Seemingly reluctant to leave, it stopped and turned toward us in full profile; there was no mistaking it for bobcat. It left the road then and we stopped to see its tracks, and the many tracks of snowshoe hare around them. (This was 5.5 miles north of Forest Freeway 11.) In a last effort to see a boreal chickadee, we did a stake-out at the Admiral Road feeders, and our patience was finally rewarded. The bird was rather cautious, feeding on the side of the carcass away from us, and at first peeking repeatedly over the top of it. Eventually it gave us full views, and we could see the chocolate-brown cap, the facial white fading into gray, and the russet flanks. Many thanks to all the people maintaining the feeders and reporting on the birds. Linda Whyte ---- 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
