Had an excellent time this morning. The Spruce Grouse were out on hwy #2 between Greenwood Lake and Sand River (distance of about 7 miles). In addition, along this stretch I saw lots of redpolls, and a good number of pine grosbeaks and grey jays. I did not find the last 4+ miles from just past Sand River to hwy# 1 very "birdy". I was in the area from 8:30 to 10:00 am. I only saw the grouse around 8:30 am. I should have arrived a touch earlier.
Coming back down to the Duluth area, I stopped and watched a rough legged hawk successfully catch lunch on the north side of the expressway near Lakewood Rd. Finally as I drove into my own driveway I scared a pileated woodpecker. Upon investigation I found a perfected drilled new woodpecker hole in a tree next to my driveway. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get a nest. If not, at least some feeding will be going on in the yard. I live just below the 1st bridge on 7 Bridges Rd, right across from Amity Creek. Not from today, but here is an update on the northern hawk owl (Kelly J's near the end of Jean Duluth Rd). While I never saw the owl during our severe cold, for the past three days I've seen it every day hunting on the Kelly J's side of the road ... anywhere from the farm down to the stream at the base of the hill. I have photos of one of the Spruce Grouse I saw this morning, and a video of the Northern Hawk Owl viewable via my blog at http://www.365DaysOfBirds.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
