Thought I share and get everyone updated on bird sightings in the Duluth area & Sax-Zim Bog.
Sax-Zim Bog: - I put up the Admiral Road feeders about a week ago and they are located roughly 4.0 miles north of CR28 (Sax Road) on the Admiral Rd. The feeders are doing quite well with at least two Boreal Chickadees and up to five Gray Jays making daily visits to the feeders. I'll be adding a platform feeder with hopes of attracting Pine Grosbeaks and Redpolls. - The Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Org. feeders located 3 tenths of a mile north of Overton Rd on Owl Avenue have been attracting Pine Grosbeaks and Redpolls and occasionally some Evening Grosbeaks and Gray Jays. Also coming to the feeder is a Brown Creeper and possibly a White-throated Sparrow. - Blue Spruce Rd Feeder off CR 133 is doing really good with good numbers of Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbeaks. The feeders are also attracting good numbers of Common Redpolls and one Hoary Redpoll. - Great Gray Owls have been seen along the McDavitt Rd including a sighting today by my group and another Great Gray Owl was seen on the north logging road off McDavitt Rd way off on the very west end of the road. By the way this road is over grown with cattails and fallen timber which means you park your car and walk the old road in on the trail which by the way is a uneven trail with many times walking over fallen logs and large clumps of grass. Its very easy to fall and trip up on this trail if you decide to walk the trail in. I also found another Great Gray Owl on Hwy 5 north of CR 27 (Zim Rd) last Tuesday evening. - There were two reports of Hawk Owls in the bog and so far it appears they have moved on or these owls are hunting far away from any nearby roads. One owl was at the intersection of Cranberry Rd and CR 28 and the other was on the Stone Lake Rd. I looked yesterday and today and could not relocate any of these owls. - NO sightings this early winter of Black-backed Woodpeckers in the bog. I walked the south logging road off McDavitt Rd which leads to the east and could not detect one woodpecker. Hopefully these woodpeckers are still in the bog some where. - Sharp-tailed Grouse are roaming around a lot and with the warm temps they possibly still could be found at the traditional lek locations but there have been some sightings on Owl Avenue just south of CR 52 (Arkola Rd) - Other birds like Northern Shrikes, Rough-legged Hawks and Magpies can be found in the open areas in Sax-Zim Bog. - Snow Buntings can be found in the bog along CR 7 between CR 52 and the Byrn's Greenhouse. - White-winged Crossbills can be found anywhere in the bog and today I heard some fly over McDavitt Rd. **WARNING** For those that do know here is a friendly reminder: Please do not park your car anywhere near the corner of the Stickney Road and the Sax Road. The person who lives in the farm house protects his privacy and that includes the public road (Stickney Rd). Yes I know he doesn't own the public road but the person who lives there believes he does and its just best to ignore this area and keep on driving by. If you have a bad situation with this person please call the St. Louis County Sheriff and report it. Do not try to reason with him because he will just get more angry at you. So please do not park near this intersection. Duluth: Canal Park: GULLS!! There are 3 Iceland Gulls (kumlien's race) an adult, 3rd cycle and first cycle. Thayer's Gull (all the cycles can be found) Glaucous Gull (1-2 gulls only have been seen off and on) Great Black-backed Gull (all cycles can be found) * If you have not heard yet or if you have not seen the recently seen picture on the MOU website but an adult winter Black-legged Kittiwake was discovered by Jan & Larry Kraemer this past week. It was seen only for a short time and a Blad Eagle flew over and scared up all the gulls and the kittiwake has not been seen since despite several tries by local birders. This is the first adult I am aware of to be found in Minnesota and this is a very exciting discovery by Jan & Larry and CONGRATS to them for finding this bird!! I have not heard of any reports of Snowy Owls in the Duluth harbor area and I have looked a few times and failed to find any. With many crab apple trees still holding onto berries I have not seen or heard of any consistant place to locate Bohemian Waxwings and the large flock of Pine Grosbeaks ate themselves out of Park Point Rec area and with all this warm and balmy weather many of winter finch numbers have gone down. I am hoping for more snow and temps in the teens or single digits.. (-: That is about it.. Mike Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota MikeHendricksonGuiding.com Sax-ZimBog.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
