The Call of the Wild: A Far North Birding Adventure - Last but not Least

MINNESOTA - THE ROAD HOME

Day 4 and we had the luxury of of later start as this was our last day to focus on any more birding before our flight home that evening.  Since we were about 3½ hours from the Minneapolis/St Paul Airport, Josh had made some plans to see what we could find in the direction of the airport.  Due to a very nice sighting by Evan the day before of 3 Spruce Grouse near the home of Josh's parents where we were staying, we decided we should at least check it out in the hopes that these birds would show themselves to us as well.  As we drove the roads where they had been spotted, we were not having much luck, but Josh thought we might have a better chance being on foot, so he let Tommy and me out of the vehicle while he was going to travel a larger loop in the van.  As Tommy and I headed down the road, I turned around to see that Josh had departed and here we were all alone on this gravel road in a 'foreign' state in the freezing temps.  It reminded me of my youth and taking unsuspecting people out for a 'Snipe Hunt' at night, far out into the country.  They would take this person way out into a field at night in the dark and give them a burlap bag and tell that person to wait there and hold the bag open while they would go out and chase the 'snipe' into the bag.  Obviously, this was a prank and that poor soul left holding the bag open would get pretty frightened quite easily in a remote area with no one else around and in the dark with no flashlight.  Tommy was quite amused with that prank, but we also had all the confidence in the world that Josh would return; after all, he did leave his cell phone with us.

While walking the road we did not have any luck on the grouse, but we did find a couple of Common Redpolls and also heard a Common Raven, a Gray Jay, and a Blue Jay.  We also heard a woodpecker drumming just before Josh returned.  We told Josh about the woodpecker drumming as Tommy was pretty sure it was a Black-backed Woodpecker and he has some of the best ears for identifying birds by sound.  We played the recording to see if it would respond and sure enough, it did.  In fact, we had a male and a female respond to playback.  While the photos are less than stellar, I was able to capture a couple of photos of this new lifer.  What a way to start off the last and final day.  I was not expecting much on this last day in the way of new life birds, so this was a special treat.

 Black-backed Woodpecker

Black-backed Woodpecker - Male

We finally departed and headed to the twin cities and one of the places we wanted to visit was the same location that we attempted to find a Barred Owl, when we arrived, Fort Snelling State Park which is located very near the airport.  As we were driving in and focusing on the location as to where these owls were being seen, we drove by an area of water and part of the water was not frozen and Evan made a casual comment about swans in the open water.  That got my attention very quickly and sue enough on the far side of the pond were several swans.  The expected species would be Trumpeter Swan and after taking a closer look at them, we were able to confirm that was what they were.  Thanks to Evan, I got garnered my last life of this amazing trip!  

Trumpter Swans

We then began an earnest hunt for the Barred Owl, and sure enough we found it, or, I should say Josh spied it first.  With no leaves on the deciduous trees, one would think it would be an easy spot, but when they sit perfectly still, they can be easily overlooked, which is why they probably go undetected by most people visiting the park. Even though we had this owl on the road back from the northwestern part of Minnesota on Sunday night as a lifer, this one at least allowed closer looks and better photo opportunities.  These owls are nocturnal hunters and most generally rest and sleep during daylight hours.

 Barred Owl

Finally we departed for the airport and Josh wanted to make one more round near the airport to see if we could locate the Snowy Owl that has been a regular there for sometime.  Finally on the second pass by the UPS terminal, Josh spied it on the edge of the roof.  Being on a busy street, we did not have much time to view it and was not able to approach the building very close, but from a great distance, it stood bright white.  This was our third Snowy Owl on this trip, a species that we thought would be the easiest to find and this one was the whitest of the three we saw and this one was not wing tagged.  A fitting ending to birding in Minnesota.

Snowy Owl on the roof of the UPS building

What an incredible journey to the far white north.  I came away with 18 new life birds and I believe Tommy came away with 15.  I hope he corrects me if I am wrong on that number for him.  We had the most excellent guide; both Josh and his son Evan, made a great team for helping us find some great northern birds of the snow country.  I have to thank them for all they did and we cannot forget that Josh's wife Melissa, had a very big role in allowing us to spend so much time with Josh.  Her support meant a lot to us as well.  Really enjoyed dining out with Josh and Melissa one night as well. Also want to extend a very THANK YOU to Sandi and Rick Wallestad for allowing us to stay at their beautiful home in Minnesota and the use of their van for our birding excursions while we were there.  The hospitality and friendliness of everyone we met in Minnesota was top notch!  Tommy and I, are extremely pleased to know them as friends and we can only hope to assist Josh and Evan in the future on trips to Arizona in obtaining more new life birds.

FAREWELL TO MINNESOTA FOR NOW AND HOPING TO RETURN AGAIN SOMEDAY!  

(I still would love to see Bohemian Waxwings and get better views of the Pileated Woodpecker!  And there is still so much more!) 

   

The Call of the Wild: A Far North Birding Adventure - Duluth & Superior

MINNESOTA & WISCONSIN

For our second day, Josh had decided to take us to the Duluth area, which included nearby Superior, Wisconsin.  This was located about 75 miles from our base near Virginia, Minnesota, but encompasses a vastly different array of habitat and birds as these twin cities are located on the western point of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area.  So this day meant looking for gulls instead of owls, and gulls are probably one of my weakest strengths when it comes to bird identification.  There are a couple of reasons for the tough identification of these birds.  First they are notoriously known for hybridizing which adds to the confusion of field marks.  Secondly, gulls do not mature until they are anywhere from 2 years in age to 4 years in age and each year they appear a bit different.  And on top of this, residing in Arizona, adds to the difficulty in learning ID gulls.  After all, Arizona is not considered a gull mecca by any stretch of the imagination.  Yes, we do see gulls, but not in large numbers and in large variety of species.  Earlier in January, a couple of Ivory Gulls paid a visit to this area, which is a mega rarity and it drew birders from far and wide.  Unfortunately, at least one of them perished and most likely the second did as well and we were to miss out on this specialty do to some unfortunate timing.

Gulls were not the only birds on the slate for this day.  Some other keys birds were being reported in Superior; Snowy Owl and Gyrfalcon.  And both of these birds were targets for us as well.  We started out early in the morning attempting to find Snowy Owls.  They had been reported at several different spots in Superior.  After spending an hour or more and not being able to locate any, we decided to look for the Gyrfalcon that seemed to call the Peavey grain elevators his home.  Excellent choice by this bird as the number of Rock Pigeons in this area is extremely high and a great food source from day to day.  Josh had seen a report that it had been seen a short ½ hour before we arrived and as we scrutinized and scoped the top of the grain elevator we were not having any luck, but suddenly we spied it flying in and landing on the corner of the highest point and a long distance away.  It did not stay long and it took us while to relocate it and then it actually flew towards us and landed on a roof  where we could observe it well, but still far away for great photos.  But in this case one has to take what one can get as this bird is not an easy bird to find in the lower 48.  Not only did I take photos with my camera, I also attempted to take my first digiscope photo by holding my iPhone up to Tommy's spotting scope.   The first life bird of the day for Tommy and I.

 Gyrfalcon - Digiscoped photo

 Gyrfalcon

As we were observing this bird a couple other vehicles pulled up and started watching as well and it was not long until the Gyrfalcon took flight and flew over the road behind us.  It happened so fast, but I attempted one in-flight shot as it torpedoed across the road.

Gyrfalcon

After this we headed to Canal Park in Duluth where we spent some time on the shores of Lake Superior and had to skip a few rocks across the water. 

After a short trip to Two Harbors and seeing a male Long-tailed Duck and also having lunch, we headed back to Canal Park to start observing the gulls.  Just was we pulled in, Josh received a text from one of his birding friends, Randy, and he mentioned that the Great Black-backed Gull had just showed up at Canal Park.  We rushed over as quickly as possible to see the world's largest gull and it stood out from all the others due to its size and its very dark black back and wings.  Although it stayed far out on the ice flows, we got great looks and some distant photos.  Our second life bird for the day.

 Great Black-backed Gull

 Great Black-backed Gull - Note size difference with the gull on the right.

By this time, a fairly large crowd of gull watchers had accumulated on the pier and we were treated to all of their expertise and experience, probably more for me than Tommy and Josh.  Seeing the Great Black-backed gull and then within a 30 minute time span I added 3 more new life birds, (all gulls), to my list very quickly;  Iceland Gull, Thayer's Gull, and Glaucous Gull.  Four lifers in 30 minutes is rather incredible.  Although my experience with gulls is limited, it is times like these with the experts on these birds that add to my knowledge.  Obtaining photos of them will only help me with the identification process and hopefully in the future I will learn to understand this group of birds a bit better.

 Iceland Gull

 Thayer's Gull

 Glaucous Gull

Since our search for the Snowy Owl did not do so well in the early morning, we once again headed back to the airport area in Superior and as we were driving around, Tommy spied another Northern Shrike.  This was a bird that I had seen the day before, but disappeared far too soon to get any photos.  Even though it was approaching darkness, this time I was able to at least get a photo or two for identification purposes.  

 Northern Shrike

Now we could really focus on the Snowy Owl hunt as daylight was waning.  The search for the one that had been frequenting the airport area did not make it easy, so we headed to a different area where one or two had been reported and it was not long before Josh spied one on a light pole near a Fedex building.

  Snowy Owl - Number 1

While we were attempting to get a little closer to this owl, we met another vehicle of birders and they advised us of a second Snowy Owl not too far away and about the same time, this one flew to the ground so we decided to chase the second bird and found it about ¼ mile away on a power pole.  This second bird had more white in its plumage.

 Snowy Owl - Number 2

Finally, we had seen not 1, but 2 Snowy Owls in a fairly short time span.  This is probably one of the most iconic and sought after owls in the United States by birders and non-birders.  After enjoying this second bird for some time, we did one more drive back to the vicinity of the first owl that we spied and found it on a business sign about 100 yards from its first perch on a light pole.  This time we were able to drive into the lot and get much closer to it with better looks and a bit better photos.

 Snowy Owl - Number 1 again

What another awesome day by adding 6 more new life birds, 4 of them were gulls.  Josh once again exceeded all expectations for us and day 2 was in the books as we headed back to home base.  The next day was going to be a big adventure to a part of the state that even Josh had not yet been to for birding and all of us were very excited to explore with him, but it was going to be an early start.

 Kayak on Lake Superior

 Lake Superior

Lighthouse on Lake Superior