Well not the Great Gray Owl, but volunteer naturalist Rich Hoeg! Next week, on Wednesday and Thursday (November 9th and 10th), Rich will be the guest speaker for Kane County Audubon and the DuPage Birding Club. His presentation will focus primarily upon birding in Sax-Zim Bog. My Thursday evening presentation will be available via Zoom. Thus, you need not live in the Chicago area. My presentation outline.
Sandhill Cranes mate for life. This morning I found the Mr. and Mrs. renewing their vows in the Sherburne National Wildlife Reserve. Even though it was only 26F shortly after sunrise, the loving couple felt like performing a “dawn dance”.
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Another piece of information I did not know, in addition to the Wildlife Drive, between September 1st and the start of deer hunting season, there is a another dirt road one may drive which starts at the Blue Mound Cemetery (3.5 miles long with a side trip to the public boat launch). It was well worth the drive, and next year I will come down from Duluth and make certain I try the road closer to September 1st
The Offering Followed by the Dance (maximize to see the crane’s beak)
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)
