Spent the day by myself to do some scouting for the festival and get a good feel of any recent changes in the "bog". Admiral Rd. feeders are still attracting fair amounts of Pine Grosbeaks and up to 4 Boreal Chickadees. I did see 3 male White-winged Crossbills feeding over the area in a spruce tree. This species has been not reported as much this winter so it was good to see these birds today.
* McDavitt Rd Black-backed Woodpecker area on the east side where there was a firm foot path that led you out to the open area where the woodpeckers were seen quite regularly has now a newly bull dozed road instead. So there is no spruce tree to crawl under and a uneven foot path to balance on. I suspect the road was created this week so the cold air that is predicted to come into our area will freeze the water and ground to allow logging trucks to enter the bog and get those last winter log piles removed. Arkola Rd feeders are attracting a decent flock of Common Redpolls and I saw one Hoary Redpoll today about 300 yards east of the feeders in anther redpoll flock feeding on the road. Also this is the best location to find Gray Jays and possibly feed them from your hand. I heard reports today that a college group led by Chad Hiens was feeding Pine Grosbeaks from the hand at this location. How fun! There are also some Boreal Chickadees moving through the spruce trees near the feeders. I also saw some more Boreal Chickadees on the Overton Rd on the western side of S. Overton Rd. I been hearing Evening Grosbeaks are being seen at the Morse's feeders on the Blue Spruce Rd and am hours seem to be the best time to look for them. Owls.. I did not see any owls today and I did not meet any people who saw any owls today. I did though hear that a Great Gray Owl was seen last night and the Northern Hawk Owl is still being seen in the bog as well. There has been no updates on that reported Snowy Owl on CR 133 near the Blue Spruce Rd. Which seems to be a odd spot for a Snowy Owl but there are some open areas on the north end of Blue Spruce Rd ( CR 232 ). I am also hearing there are some new spots for some Great Gray Owls and our Feb 18 Great Gray Owl field trip buses will hopefully hit all those areas on Friday night to hopefully record a Great Gray Owl for the festival. By the way, today is the LAST DAY to REGISTER for the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival Feb 18-20 2011. To learn more click here: sax-zimbog.co It was fun to spend some time in the bog on this dark cloudy snowy sleeting day and get caught up on the latest happenings in the bog. Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://www.mikehendricksonbirding.com 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
