Hello: 17 hardy birders met me in Duluth to be led around in
Hello: 17 hardy birders met me in Duluth to be led around in Sax-Zim Bog. The weather was calm and some what pleasant until late afternoon when the winds picked up and snow squalls after snow squalls dumped on us. The first bird of the day was a Great Gray Owl that Kim Risen spotted along the McDavitt Rd to which he called me on my cell to share the sighting with us. Thanks Kim! After watching the Great Gray Owl make several plunges in the snow trying to nab a vole under the snow cover we decided to head back to our cars and go look for the Hawk Owl along the Kolu Rd. This Hawk Owl has been reported almost every day for nearly a month or so and it was seen Friday evening by Kim Risen's group.Today despite four stops by our group and looked for by several other birders in the bog, the Hawk Owl never made a appearance on the Kolu Rd. We ended up visiting my feeders along the Admiral Rd and we were treated by a male Hoary Redpoll and had side by side comparisons with Common Redpolls. A Boreal Chickadee showed up to munch on the peanut butter I put out for it and then the Gray Jays came in like a swarm and gathered huge chunks of the peanut butter. After enjoying the show at my feeders along the admiral road we headed over to the large feeding station off the Owl Avenue that is put together by Sparky Stensaas through Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Organization. When we arrived there was not a bird to be found and I learned by chatting with one of the birders that a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew in and nabbed a Common Redpoll and pretty much scared most of the winter finches away. So we left the feeders and headed down to the Blue Spruce Road feeders off CR 133 and were treated by a large flock of Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls. Among the Common Redpolls I saw at least 2 Hoary Redpolls. After the Blue Spruce Road we drove back to Meadowlands to eat lunch at the Trailside Bar & Lounge. For those that never ate here.. well you are missing out on some GREAT food! After lunch the weather was getting worse and the winds were very gusty plus the snow squalls that we encountered were almost pure white outs. We drove around in the late afternoon looking for more Great Gray Owls and hopefully relocate the Northern Hawk Owl along Kolu Rd but I think the weather drove all the owls deep in the woods for cover. Everyone had a terrific time and some saw some lifers. Even though this was not a official MOU field trip pretty much everyone attended were MOU members. Thanks to all who attended and next year I'll organize this field trip again. Good Birding 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
