I was lucky enough to have chosen this weekend to visit the In-Laws up in Cloquet. Early Saturday morning I headed up to Superior Street where it continues along the North Shore east of its intersection with Highway 61. The first bird I encountered was a Great Gray Owl on Superior Street. I stopped the car a good distance from the bird and got out my scope to view it hunting. After changing perches a couple of times the bird looked right at me for about a minute and then flew towards me. I was honestly a little concerned because I had read about the birds showing some aggression at their nest sites and I wondered if the bird was disturbed by me even though I was at least 100ft. away. Much to my delight the owl instead cruised low to the ground right past me and landed on another perch about the same distance away behind me. It was absolutely incredible and really shows that you don't have to get in the birds face in order to get them to perform for you! Thanks to the help of others I located four more Great Gray Owls later in the morning. One was further east along Superior Street, another on Stoney Point, another just east of Stoney Point on Scenic Hwy. 61 and the last in Two Harbors on Park Road. The Great Gray Owl had been somewhat of a nemesis species for me before this winter. I had searched for it unsuccessfully at least a half a dozen times before finding one in Aitkin County and the next time I found this species was was almost six years later in the same county this winter, so only two sightings. Then on this morning I saw five birds. Crazy! I also had to live with the torment of knowing that I moved to Minnesota the winter after the big owl invasion and so I would run into local non-birders that would continuously tell me how incredibly common this bird was that I could somehow not find. I guess it was worth the wait for another invasion year to fully enjoy this northern delight! The rest of the morning was certainly not wasted. There was a large raft of Long-tailed Ducks in Agate Bay and more closer to Duluth. The Long-tailed Ducks are also amazing looking birds! I had only seen single females before and the males were absolutely stunning! They were very actively playing in the water and flying around. Of course the other highlight of the day was the King Eider. This 1st year male bird was very cooperative once it decided to settle down just east of the ice sheet and just west of Lakewood Road. With a scope you could see the pinkish bill and that it was about the same size as the trio of White-winged Scoters it was hanging out with but had more upright posture than the slouching scoters. The eider was a "life" bird for me and attracted quite the crowd of birders on and off for hours. There were so many birders parked and looking at the bird that many non-birders would stop and ask what the commotion was all about. We would describe the bird and its rarity and they would be impressed but I don't think it would have lasted if we would have let them take a look at the distant bobbing drab duck through a scope. I guess sometimes beauty is in the eye of the beholder:) Overall it was a magical morning and really shows how truly amazing the Duluth area/ northeast Minnesota can be for birding. I met birders who came from all over the country and all seemed equally as excited as I was that the sun was shining, it was warm out, there was no wind and the birds were cooperating marvelously! Thanks to everyone who helped with bird sighting information! Jason Caddy [email protected] 949-370-3157 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
