So far this winter season there is hardly any snow on the ground and yesterday while driving around looking for birds the landscape looked more like April than December. I drove down the Admiral Road (CR 788) and stopped at traditional bird feeder site which is located about 2.7 miles north of the Kolu Rd or roughly 3.0 miles north of the Sax Road (CR 28). I stopped at this location to hang up a sunflower feeder and some suet feeders up for the birds. This spot has grown in popularity because the feeders attract resident birds like Gray Jays and Boreal Chickadees. In the past some nearby birding folks from Hibbing maintained the feeders and then a man from Wrenshall took over but I figure all that driving and spending money on feed was getting expensive for these folks to keep these feeders filled with feed each week. So I figure with all the guiding I’ll be doing this winter season I will be visiting this site quite a lot and I can maintain the feeders with my clients. I also would welcome anyone who makes a visit to Sax-Zim Bog to bring along some store bought suet and some sunflower seed and fill the feeders if you make a visit to this site.

Before I made my stop at the Admiral Road, I was birding along the McDavitt Road in search of Great Gray Owls and other winter birds. I stopped my truck and walked down the old logging road off the McDavitt Road and located a female Black-backed Woodpecker working on a spruce tree for beetles and heard several White-winged Crossbills flying over head. The day was getting dark by the time I finished hanging up the feeders and headed back to Meadowlands to grab some dinner at the Trailside Bar & Lounge and then prepare my notes for the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival meeting at the community center.

Last Saturday on December 10, 2011 I guided a client from Texas who wanted to see all the winter bird specialties in Sax-Zim Bog and in Duluth. Our first stop was on the McDavitt Road where my client spotted some small birds flitting in some tamaracks. She point the direction to me and I was trying to see if any of these small birds could be redpolls but then she says “Oh my a owl”. Then she says “I think it is a Great Gray Owl because I can see the bow tie” and sure enough there was a Great Gray Owl hiding behind some spruce trees!! The owl came out and landed in the open allowing us to watch the owl as it looked for rodents along the road. I got out and took some photos and was happy the owl was very tolerant of us for close views but the light was just awful for photography.

We then headed down to Duluth to look for Snowy Owls and sure enough it did not take long to find a cooperative owl roosting on the railroad tracks in the Port Terminal area. The owl was very tolerant of us as we parked my car some what near the owl and use the car as a blind to take photos. I noticed the owl looked odd with some feathers not in the right places and it looked injured to me. So I got out and walked towards the owl to see if the owl was okay. I got within 15 yards of the owl and it flew a short distance away from me. I made a call to the local snowy owl research/ raptor bander and he also saw this same owl with the odd feathers sticking out of it the other day. The bander has been watching this same Snowy Owl and was planning on capturing the owl to make sure the Snowy Owl weight is up to par and look for any injuries. On Sunday evening on December 11 ,2011 the owl was captured and banded. The Snowy Owl researcher notified me the owl is a immature female owl and she weighed good and all is well with her. That is good knowing that the majority of these wondering Snowy Owls are finding food and doing quite well so far!

The ended at Canal Park where we were joined by my good friend Peder who helped with my client locate her first Iceland Gull, Thayer’s Gull and Glaucous Gull. We also found two Great Black-backed Gulls roosting on the break wall. With this mild winter we are experiencing this season I am fairly certain these gulls are going to stick around in the Canal Park district of Duluth.

So YES there are a lot of good birds to be fond up here!! The Christmas bird counts are taking place this weekend and there will be more reports coming from Aitkin, Sax-Zim Bog and the Duluth area next week and I’ll create another post to update everyone on what birds are around this winter.

Good birding

Mike