Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Facilitated Trip / Tour

Year 10

Many people have asked me to guide them for winter birding trips in northern Minnesota, including (perhaps mainly) Sax-Zim Bog.  This winter between February 5 and 8 I will facilitate winter birding in northern Minnesota.

Very important: My birding experience, facilitation and guiding comes at no charge … for free! I am taking zero money for facilitating this event! My love of birds and northern Minnesota’s wildlife is the basis of my gift to the attendees.

One needs to sign up / register now. The actual event which includes lodging and meals is being run by Duluth’s South Pier Inn (registration /information link given below), an excellent place of lodging on the Park Point side of the Aerial Bridge. Rooms look out directly upon the Duluth Ship Canal. I am a friend of the South Pier Inn’s general manager, and have agreed to facilitate the winter birding.

Each evening prior to the next day’s birding I will help plan outings at a hosted dinner. The first night will even include dinner at Duluth’s prestigious private club, the Kitchi Gammi Club. This private club was built by the lumber and mining barons in the early 1900’s.

Space is limited. The South Pier Inn will start confirming registration requests on December 27 … two days after Christmas.

Birding a World Without Color!

Year 10
A world without color! It seems as if at least once a week since the Fall bird migration started, I have visited the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area (Minnesota Public Radio News Link). It has been a little over two years since the wildfire, which means nature is already recovering. Two of the first bird species that often move into a burn area are Black Backed Woodpeckers, and Northern Hawk Owls. I have been looking for both species.
Northern Minnesota’s boreal forest is at the southern edge of the vast boreal forest stretching north to the tundra line in Canada. Thus, we are often not a “hot” spot for these bird species that love freshly burned out regions. However, the woodpeckers are all over the place in the Greenwood Burn Area, and I had been hoping I would eventually find a Northern Hawk Owl this Fall. Jackpot this morning in the fog!
This image shows the Hawk Owl perched at the top of a burned out spruce. My hope is now a second Hawk Owl of the opposite sex will show up this winter to make for some “owl love” and nesting!
And two close-ups taken taken in the freezing fog this morning. There might not have been any color but I was thrilled with the find!

In case anyone wonders given how many folks are visiting Sax-Zim Bog right now, I was by my lonesome this morning well north of Two Harbors … not even other cars from non birders!

Great Gray Owl Northeastern Minnesota Update

Year 10

I had a great morning up in Sax-Zim Bog watching Great Gray Owls … many of them! In fact over the past two weeks I have seen quite a few Great Gray Owls throughout Northeastern Minnesota (not just Sax-Zim Bog). Yesterday over one hundred miles from the Bog I saw owls both in the morning and the early afternoon … with a break in between for church. About nine days earlier I saw some Great Grays in a totally different part of NE Minnesota. My point is our local owls seemed to have had a decent time this year raising owlets. I suspect a lot of the birds I am seeing right now are juveniles who are lousy hunters, and thus have to spend more time in search of prey.

Part of the reason for my success over the past two days in seeing owls is the weather had been ugly for many, many days which prevented Great Grays from successfully hunting. Normally I would never have looked for owls this morning. It was windy and very sunny which are NOT conditions which encourage owls to hunt, but if you are hungry …

Here is a picture of a Gray Jay / Canada Jay taken two days ago. Note how the bird is drenched. As noted the weather has been horrible.

As noted the sun finally returned this morning. Can you image having this experience??! I talked with the young couple and their car had an “open moon roof”. Perhaps the wife looked like a meadow vole!

Here are some more images from this morning. A good time was had by all (specially me, or at least me and the couple in the car).