Yesterday I skiied a 9 or 10 mile circuit with a neighbor and his dog (aged 15 years) gallivanting to and fro the whole way. This trail is, I think, maintained by the DNR and is called the Lake Williams Trail. It is accessed from the Arkola Road just west of Cotton, MN. Sax Zim Bog is just off to the west.
At sundown we sat down on the trail and immediately heard what sounded like a snipe winnowing. The only bird in sight was a hawk owl at the top of a huge ash or poplar. A little internet research later confirms the sound would be right for a male hawk owl reaching out to attract a mate, though I can't make my speakers work to hear an exact replica. A bit later in twilight, crossing an expanse of black spruce bog, I heard a boreal chickadee just off my right, and stopped to try sorting the bird out of the bundled foliage. I also made the semi-mistake of trying to call my friend back to share in the experience but alas, was not loud enough and was too loud so the bird, maybe for reasons of its own, retreated. But on a nearly birdless day in that place that seemed as if it could go on and on till we were in the sub-arctic, still skiing and getting ever older, these two birds were the highlights. -- *Tanya Beyer* www.etsy.com/shop/EpiphaniesAfield ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
