Between Wednesday and today (12-14th), five twin cities birders (Chih-Ming Hung, Gopi Sundar, Swati Kittur, Sara Loss, myself) headed to the Sax-Zim Bog for a couple days of birding and to nearby Hibbing to visit family. It was a fantastic trip (though cloudy with on-and-off snow the entire time) with numerous great sightings. Undoubtedly, the highlight was watching two Great Gray Owls, including one hunting, on McDavitt Rd. on Wednesday evening (the 12th; previously reported by Sparky Stensaas). For my wife and I, this was our first Minnesota Great Gray, after 4 straight winters, and half a dozen Sax-Zim trips attempting to see one (we even found one this previous summer in Yellowstone NP before ever finding one in our own state). For the others, originally from India and Taiwan, this was among their most memorable birding moments... ever!
The notable sightings are as follows: Great Gray Owl (2) - McDavitt Rd. Northern Hawk Owl - McDavitt Rd. (present every time we passed its territory) Black-backed Woodpecker (2) - one fly-over on McDavitt, one close-up perched view just feet from the Admiral Rd. feeders. Boreal Chickadee (2) - Admiral Rd. feeders Rough-legged Hawk - County Rd. 7 Common Redpolls - Many more than we expected, given the lack of reports this winter - A flock of 20 at the east end of Stone Lake Rd on Wednesday; a flock of 40 on CR 133 near Blue Spruce Rd. on Thursday; a few at the Morse feeders on Blue Spruce Rd (Thurs); and (outside of the bog) a flock of >50 in Hibbing at the Hull Rust mine overlook on the north edge of town. The Hibbing flock contained a probable Hoary, but we were unable to re-locate it after the first quick glance, so we can't be sure. Bohemian Waxwings - city of Hibbing, about 20 mixed with several Pine Grosbeaks near the intersection of E 25th St. and 10th Ave E. Northern Goshawk (3) - all immature plumaged in the bog Pine Grosbeaks - dozens in numerous locations in the bog and in Hibbing area Gray Jays - several in numerous locations in the bog Scott Loss St. Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
