Did I forget to mention the Phainopepla … in northern Minnesota, not in the Desert southwest of Arizona??! (first ever sighting in Minnesota). Yesterday was a day of birding I will not forget for a looonnnnng time.
I had been birding well north of Two Harbors where I saw 17 Spruce Grouse, including a flock of ten birds! When I got back into cell phone coverage area there was a voicemail from my wife, who definitely is NOT a birder. She was bicycling up the North Shore when she noticed a lot of folks near McQuade Harbor with cameras and binoculars. She stopped to ask what they were seeing, and voila! … A Red Morph Screech Owl, and a Phainopepla.
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In the afternoon I in turn went cycling over to McQuade Harbor and was rewarding with better views of the Phainopepla! What the heck is a bird from the desert southwest doing on the shores of Lake Superior?! The Phainopepla was just up the shore (about 20 yards) in the trees by the shut-down motel near McQuade Harbor.
The Red-Morph Screech Owl
The Spruce Grouse (video link for email subscribers)
The Phainopepla (near Duluth, Minnesota … not Tucson)