Lady Aurora Dances and Rare Birds Fly!

Year 10,

Oh wow! Yesterday was magical. How else can you describe a day that begins with watching in Duluth a rare, beautiful bird that normally hangs out west of the Rocky Mountains, and ends with a magical dance by Lady Aurora?! In addition this was the day immediately following the one where I watched not one, but two Great Gray Owls hunting at once. Life is special and precious!

My special day began after some morning appointments.  A local home owner has graciously opened up his yard to allow birders to see a Varied Thrush that likes to eat suet off the ground underneath some bird feeders. This West Coast bird has no business visiting the Arctic Riviera at the start of winter.

Here is the Varied Thrush’s normal range (map courtesy of Cornell’s All About Birds … learn more about this orange and slate blue beauty)

Normally, this Lifer for me would be enough to call it a fantastic day, but Lady Aurora decided to dance last night. While most people had followed the media hype the prior night and chased the Northern Lights, when the prior night’s early technical numbers were poor followed by an early moonrise with 90% of the light of a full moon, I slept! However, last night was different! When the Northern Lights numbers spiked by 5:30 pm (sunset was at 4:20 pm this far north), and knowing the moon would not rise till 8 pm, I initiated my chase of the Northern Lights (read more about how I track a potential Northern Lights display).

On a frozen lake north of Two Harbors, Lady Aurora came out and danced for me. The ice was groaning and cracking as it froze thicker in the cold night air, which made for an earie performance. It is worth maximizing the image to enjoy the details and lake ice reflections (more to come from this dance, but time to get ready for morning birding in Sax-Zim Bog).

When Great Gray Owls Outnumber Humans!

Year 10

With yesterday’s post I showed the route I intended to take through the deep boreal wilderness near Minnesota’s border with Canada. I left my small motel 30 minutes before sunrise, and was rewarded with this view ten minutes before sunup.

Shortly thereafter the clouds took over, and light snow began to fall. I timed my entrance onto the back roads west of Big Falls with perfect timing. The light was just bright enough to bird. With dismay early on in my drive I realized that the bird I had just flushed from a spruce (unseen by me) looked like a Great Gray Owl … disappearing into the heavy woods.

200 hundreds down the road I stopped and exited my car. Within seconds the owl appeared another 100 yards down the road … gliding slowly across the road into the forest on the other side of the boggy meadow. My best view was very obstructed, and after waiting ten minutes and losing sight of the Great Gray Owl, I decided to continue my journey. However two miles down the road I had this conversation with myself:

  • Self #1: “Maybe the owl will come back out”
  • Self #2: “I don’t understand how the owl moved 300 yards that quickly to reappear on the other side of me. Might there be two owls?”
  • Self #3: “Nahhh!”

Anyhow I drove back very slowly (4 mph) and quickly spied an owl.

Great Gray Owl #1 (a juvenile, I think)

Suddenly it launched and swooped down towards the ground. Uff dah!!! There was a second Great Gray Owl on the ground not 50 yards away from me. It had just made a kill, and owl #2 (I assume a juvenile) wanted free food.

Great Gray Owl #2 (an adult, I think)

For the next 90 minutes I watched both owls hunt. It was in an area that I had always thought looked like perfect owl habitat. The light was poor, but the owling was fantastic! My only complaint of the morning was the two owls never landed / perched near each other. Owl #1 often flew right at Owl #2, which then always moved. It was too dark for flight photographs.

Ultimately I decided it would be hard to top this experience, and given the amount of time I had spent owling, it was time to head home. Life is good, but the bucket list drive will have to occur another day! And if that is not enough, while typing out this post shortly after 6 pm (very dark here in northern Minnesota … sunset was at 4:25 pm over 90 minutes ago), my local Great Horned Owls are hooting up a storm in my yard. It actually sounds like Poppa Owl and a youngster begging for food. I guess they don’t want me to get too enamored with the “other owls!” (as a fyi … male and female Great Horned Owls have much different pitched level hoots … kids begging is begging the whole world over. Most people would not even recognize the screeches as a juvenile owl begging)

Incoming! Birding Journey Ahead!

Year 10

I am staying in a delightful little motel up in Littlefork, Minnesota (near Minnesota’s northern border with Canada). Marsha is the hostess / owner, and she is well known in the birding community as providing a great friendly place to stay “up north”. Check out the Home Town Motel.

I am birding the Pine Island State Forest. The lack of snow so far to start this winter means I have great access to the back country. Yesterday afternoon I was in birding heaven on Toomey Williams Forest Road. Today I will drive the route I have always wanted to take in early winter … Big Falls to Waskish. My 70 mile route once I leave Big Falls will be devoid of any civilization, even one single cabin … two hours on dirt roads without any backtracking! The dropped pin is at the end of Toomey Williams Forest Road, and where I normally turn back towards Big Falls.

Here are just two photographs from yesterday afternoon. I will work on more later, but it’s 6 am and time to get my act in gear.

Incoming! (Immature Male Pine Grosbeak)

Take-Off!