An unexpected gift of time off from work for my husband, led to a spur of the moment trip to "the Bog". It was gratifying that he was able to see most of what I saw in last month's Brrrdathon, and we were able to add a bit more as well. The Redpolls, including a couple of Hoaries at Morse's feeders on Blue Spruce Road, were far more numerous this time, outnumbering Pine Siskins by far. Purple Finches were favoring heavily the feeders on Little Whiteface Road. Pine Grosbeaks were still out in force, and there were more Rough-legged hawks and N.Shrikes than before. The Boreal Chickadees (2, I think) at the Admiral Road feeders seemed to have lost a little of their shyness, and the Gray Jays remain in evidence in several places. Most fun were the magpies missed last month: 2 on Cranberry Road near the RR tracks, and 3 just north of Mueller's grove of feeders. It was also fun to watch Ruffed Grouse feeding high in shrubs and trees, when viewed through a moon roof almost directly beneath them; interesting, how they negotiate moving along those fragile branches, swinging one foot in front of the other and grasping with their toes, reminiscent of a sloth moving hand over hand. The Bog is always worth repeat visits!
(By the way, we made a pass along Stony River Forest Road, a personal favorite, more for the ambiance than for the birding, and had no trouble driving it in the Outback. There wasn't enough time to try Whyte Road, though.) 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
