Last weekend was the 7th Annual Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival and once again it was a huge success with no complaints.
We had over 165 registrations plus local students and parents coming to the festival. So overall we had slightly over 200 people coming to the three day festival. Of the 200 people 26 states were represented with one birder from the UK. The field trips were a huge success but only one bus on Saturday were able to view a Great Gray Owl. The field trip leaders did an outstanding job and received many compliments and tips for the outstanding job of leading people on the field trips. I would like to thank the following leaders: Roy Zimmerman, Alex Watson, Lars Benson, Jerry Dirks, Clinton Nienhaus, Ben Harste, John Kelsey, Judd Brink, Chris West, David La Puma, Jessica Gorzo, Max Schnell, Rob Pendergast and Bill Tefft, I also would like to thank Mike Lentz and Nathan Lovas for conducting a wonderful photo workshop and they to got a lot of praise from those attended the photo workshop on Saturday. Finally I would like to thank Larry Weber for conducting a nature hike on Saturday and again a lot of praise from those that attended. The speakers were unbelievable and each gave a very informative presentation. Sandy Komito gave a GREAT presentation on Friday night and afterwards people rushed to him to get their books signed by him and get photographs with him. Scott Mehus of the National Eagle Center gave a Saturday afternoon presentation to the kids in the area. Scott incorporated the kids in his presentation as part of his talk on Bald Eagles. Kids were laughing and parents smiling and photographing their children having a blast at the presentation. Of course when Scott brought out the Bald Eagle the crowd of locals were all ooohs and awws. After the presentation Scott invited the audience outside to pose with the Bald Eagle for photographs. Saturday night Scott gave a another presentation to the main audience about the center and the Golden Eagle studies they are involve with. Thanks Scott! Other people to thank who made this festival happen are Sparky Stensaas of Friends of Sax-Zim Bog who opened the Welcome Center to the field trip participants and the restrooms they provided. The Festival and Sax-Zim Bog website is forming a great partnership with Friends of Sax-Zim Bog and in doing so is benefiting those who are making trips up here. The friendship Sparky and I have shared for many years are putting in a lot of work to make Sax-Zim Bog the place to be during the winter months! Watch for a Spring Owl Trip that Sparky and I are leading to raise money for the bog. We will announce the field trip on the Facebook sites ( Sax-Zim Bog and Friends of Sax-Zim Bog ) and also on the MOU listserv in next few weeks from now. Of course the core of people to thank for organizing the festival is the Toivola-Meadowlands Development Board. The people who sit on this board are all local people who were born and raised in the Meadowlands area. I would like to single out Dave & Helen Abramson and Jeff Kletcher (mayor of Floodwood) who without them there would not be a festival. Thank You everyone! Of course I would like to thank the MOU for allowing me to post updates and announcement on the listserv about the festival. Thank You. The Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival is growing as one of the top if not the top birding festival in Minnesota with 200 people showing up for three day event. We are averaging attracting birders from more than 25 states each year and we are doing this with very little advertising and the bulk of advertisement is coming from word of mouth and those who are spreading the word. I would like to thank David La Puma of Leica Optics for coming up and being one of our vendors. Leica got a lot of attention of the 200 people and I am sure they made some sales too. Highlighted Birds during the Festival: - Northern Goshawk - Ruffed Grouse - Sharp-tailed Grouse - Glaucous Gull - Great Black-backed Gull (WI Landfill) - Lesser Black-backed Gull (WI Landfill) - Thayer's Gull (WI Landfill) - Snowy Owl ( 4 individuals ) 1. CR 27 near Greenfield Rd 2. two on CR 7 near Sod Farms and 4. Riley Rd - Hawk Owl ( 4 individuals ) 1. Owl Avenue 2. .5 mile W of Hwy 5 on CR 27, 3. Stone Lake Rd and 4. Lester River Rd - Great Gray Owl ( just one sighting on the Admiral Rd ) - Great Horned Owl ( possible Arctic Race ) - Black-backed Woodpecker ( 2 males on McDavitt Rd ) - Boreal Chickadee - Northern Shrike - Bohemian Waxwing in Ely, MN - Black-billed Magpie - Gray Jay - Snow Bunting - Pine Grosbeak - Evening Grosbeak Thanks again and hope to see you next year. If you want to stay on top of news, sightings and photos of the Sax-Zim Bog please search for us on Facebook. Search for Sax-Zim Bog. Thanks Mike -- *Mike Hendrickson* *Mike Hendrickson Guiding <http://mikehendricksonguiding.com>* *Sax-Zim Bog <http://www.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
