Tag Archives: MN North: Amity

Twenty Below Birding! (Barred Owl)

Year 8

Well actually -23F, but the alliteration sounds better on just the plain word “twenty”. Anyhow at 7:45 am this morning I was filling my own bird feeders (all eight of them), and noticed as I moved off a few feet that the chickadees seemed upset. I looked up and realized my feeders had another visitor, a Barred Owl! I could not have been more than six feet away from the owl at this time.  The Barred Owl has now flown around our yard a bit, but is presently back to the same exact perch right above one of the feeders where I first saw the bird … the first image shown … ten yards from our living room window!

First view … and the owl is now back two hours later at 9:45 am in the same exact spot.

More views of the new “Amity Owl”! It flew around the yard a bit as the Chickadees chased it from perch to perch.

Photo taken by my wife, Molly, with her iPhone!

Hiding from the Wind!

Year 7,

Merry Christmas from the Northwoods. There are a few hours between all the gleeful madness on this special day. Thankfully during this ugly Pandemic, my daughter’s family was kind enough to self-isolate earlier such that they might safely visit us for Christmas. The morning started early with four grandchildren trying to insure the household was up at 6:00 am! Thankfully everyone was awake, and even with our Christmas Blizzard, Santa find his way to Duluth following Rudolph’s red nose.

During our blizzard winds topped out at 70 mph on the open waters of Lake Superior. The temperatures dropped to make for nasty weather … wind chills of minus 25 to 30F degrees. Believe it or not, once the snow stopped I went birding on Christmas Eve (plowed roads only in the countryside). I knew that birds would be hiding from the wind while trying to experience the warmth of the sun. My major surprise was finding this female ring-necked pheasant … far out of range in northern Minnesota. The pheasant was standing on the side of a road in a location where the wind was blocked with lots of sun.

Earlier in the day we saw “Hector” who was visiting out yard. Hector is a male Pileated Woodpecker … named thusly by my eight year old granddaughter. She knows the difference between male and female Pileated Woodpeckers. Do you?! (hint: moustache and crest next to beak)

Wishing everyone the merriest and safest of Christmas.