What I expect is not what I see! Over the last three days Great Gray Owls have outnumbered Pine Grosbeaks 4 to 1! In addition, late yesterday afternoon I discovered six Horned Larks. In short none of these sightings are normal …

• Seeing four Great Gray Owls in a single afternoon, and NOT being at Sax-Zim Bog was crazy nice. Each owl was a private showing for me!
• Pine Grosbeaks are normally a common winter sight here on the Arctic Riviera. However, I count myself lucky with having found one female pine grosbeak this morning. These birds are staying up in Canada as their food sources are plentiful up there. I scanned the trees and listened for the telltale song of other Pine Grosbeaks, but it was just the lone bird.
• Horned Larks being seen in December 20th is not normal. They migrate through the Northland and should be way south of us now, but six individuals found a wind swept field in which to search for seeds.
• Although I did not see any crossbills over the past few days, it is a banner year for this species. Normally I would be very happy to spy and individual or two.

Two of the Great Gray Owls seen earlier this week …

Owl #1 (in the 1st image the owl is carefully watching a Bald Eagle fly over)

Owl #2 (right at sunset)

One Lone Pine Grosbeak (a new verse for the 12 Days of Christmas?!)

Six Horned Larks

Sunday. three couples including Molly and me drove northwest from Duluth to watch the Canadian Pacific’s Holiday Train arrive in Plummer, Minnesota. The train arrived at the frozen prairie town after sunset, in the dark. Shortly thereafter the door of a special boxcar folds down and a Christmas concert ensues in support of the local food bank. Within an hour of arriving the train moves to the next small town. Thanks Canadian Pacific (CPKCR)!

This is the third time we have travelled and watched on of CPKCR’s Holiday Trains. While one train works its way across the northern United States, another train crosses Canada.  We had fun a few years ago up in Schreiber and Nipigon, Ontario. Most of the small towns have corresponding events which support their local food banks.

From Plummer, Minnesota … the 2024 Holiday Train!

The Train Arriving in Plummer (video link for email subscribers)

Short Excerpt from the Concert (video link for email subscribers)

Actually, this is the third time in 9 days … thus the word “reprise” may not be correct as I think it means repeat for a second time. Anyhow I drove north of Duluth yesterday morning. I felt the combination of heavy rains overnight combined with dry conditions and light winds after sunrise might make Great Grays hunt during the day. In addition, parent owls are feeding their juveniles less and less, and given the youngsters are lousy hunters, hunting after daybreak becomes more common.

When my friend and I found the owl it looked drenched, and for the first 45 minutes of our visit, the owl was just trying to dry off. Eventually it flew over to a tree only 10 yards from where I was standing. The key attribute of this tree was it was more open to the breeze. You could tell the Great Gray Owlet really just wanted to get dry.

Anyhow … from yesterday (video link for email subscribers)

Sleeping then Preening

I have NO IDEA at what the owl was looking!

Take-Off (landed right next to me … only 10 yards away!)