Yesterday evening while driving around the Duluth Harbor (Garfield Ave and the immediate shipping/industrial area), I spend almost an hour taking it easy and looking for a Snowy Owl. As I was getting ready to leave, a distant OWL caught my attention, flying in the distance (I was facing southwest, looking in the direction of the Duluth entrance just off of the Blotnik Bridge). Over the highway was this owl, lethargic-yet-snappy wingbeats. I was sooo excited! After slamming on the brakes, I took a second to view the bird through binocs, then started taking pictures. I was expecting the bird to be getting closer or farther away, as I watched it. After nearly two minutes, I realized that this heavy-bellied, large-winged owl wasn't flying in towards/away direction, but was hovering in place!!! It is so amazing to see birds put forth the tremendous amount of energy when they are hovering in place, especially with the larger raptors that have to really work against a great deal of resistance with their wings. After the ~2 minutes went by, the owl dove down. I quickly drove over to the lake-side of the harbor and scanned for the owl, with no luck. It was one of those "wow, this bird is giving me goosebumps" moments! Below are some photos of the hovering Snowy Owl.
http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481206 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481207 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481208 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481209 (Diving) http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481210 (one last hover, just beyond the highway) A perfectly intact, frozen egg I found on the ground, in a grassy area along the harbor. I think it's a Canada Goose egg. It was so weird to see this time of year. http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481211 I showed a lady around Sax-Zim Bog all day this past friday, and we worked hard to see what we saw. The temps just barely broke double digits, and the windchill kept birds hunkering down in the thickets. We were treated to Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, a very brief look at a possible female Hoary Redpoll among the Common Redpolls.Blue Jays also made an appearance at the feeders. Throughout the rest of the bog vicinity we had wonderful views of the fluffy Gray Jays, the Boreal Chickadee along the Admiral Road feeders, and many views of Common Redpoll and White-winged Crossbill flocks! Great Gray Owls eluded us, likely due to the harsh weather conditions, as did any of the three-toed woodpeckers (both the Black-backed Woodpecker and American Three-toed Woodpeckers have three toes; a trait unique to only them). Regardless, it was a very fun day! Below are some photos from the trip. Red-breasted Nuthatch, trying to stay warm http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481199 Female Evening Grosbeak http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481198 Excitement at the feeders (the first photo includes a funny caption) http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481203 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481200 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481201 http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481202 Ending the day with gorgeous views of civil twilight http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/141481205 Good birding, Erik Bruhnke Duluth, MN -- *NATURALLY AVIAN* - Guided Birdwatching Trips and Bird photography www.pbase.com/birdfedr www.naturallyavian.blogspot.com [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
