Snowy Owl!

I saw my first Snowy Owl in the wild today!  It counts as both a Big Year bird for me as well as a life lister.  It was thrilling to see this great hunter of the tundra grace the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Over the last week, I had heard several reports of this owl around Artist Point, and the Grand Marais Municipal campground.  After eating lunch with some old friends, we searched both locations for the bird.  We did not find it at that time, but did talk to another avid birder, and he told us where some of the recent sightings had been.  Shortly after that, I had to go to the radio station to do my first show.

About two and a half hours later, one of my friends called me, and said he was looking at the Snowy Owl at the D.N.R. boat landing.  When my dinner break came a half hour later, I went down to see if I could find it.  After a little searching, I saw it sitting on the ground next to the harbor.  It was eating a gull, but kept a close eye on me while I took a few pictures.  I have a 60 x optical zoom on my camera, so I was able to photograph it from a distance.

130. Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) - Grand Marais Harbor, Lake Superior, MN

This is an immature Snowy Owl.  They are the most likely ones to come out of the Arctic for the winter. 

The darker bars are also an indicator of immaturity.  Adult male Snowy Owls can be almost pure white, and adult females are not as dark as the immature birds.

December 5th Birding Update

I have added one new species since my last post, number 129 in my Big Year, the Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus) on Thanksgiving.  They were just around for one day, and  all four appeared to all be juveniles.

In the last few days, I have seen a lot of other birds on the Gunflint Trail.  Some of them are pictured below:

Male Pine Grosbeak

Male Pine Grosbeak

Common Redpoll

Female Pine Grosbeak

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue Jay

The Common Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks migrate to their wintering grounds on the Gunflint Trail from their breeding ground in the Arctic.  The Blue Jays and Black-capped Chickadees are here throughout the year.

November 5th Birding Update

At the conclusion of daylight savings time, I have 128 species of birds on my Big Year list.  Many of the winter species have returned, including the Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll, and Hoary Redpoll.  Some more rare birds have also shown up in recent weeks, including: the Black-backed Woodpeckers, and Eastern Meadowlarks.  Here are the new species I observed between October 9th, 2017 to November 3rd, 2017:

118. House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) - Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen, MN

119. Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis) - Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen, MN

120. Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) Grand Marais, MN

121. Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) - Gunflint Lake, MN

122. Redhead (Aythya americana) - Grand Marais Harbor, Lake Superior, MN

123. Common Redpoll (Acanthis flammea) - Gunflint Lake, MN

124. Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni) - Gunflint Lake, MN

125. American Coot (Fulica americana) - Lonely Lake, MN

126. Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enucleator) - Gunflint Lake, MN

Female Pine Grosbeak

Male Pine Grosbeaks, with a Dark-eyed Junco in the Background

127. Great-horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) - Roseville, MN

128. Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) - Gunflint Lake, MN

Eastern Meadowlark with Blue Jays

Eastern Meadowlark

Ten More Species

Since my last post, I have been birding from one side of Minnesota to the other.  I've traveled from the Gunflint Trail, to Duluth, to the Park Rapids area, Moorhead, and the Twin Cities.  I have hiked through the boreal transition forest, the hardwood forest, and the prairie in search of interesting birds.  The list below is of the next 10 species of my Birding Big Year:

108. Green Heron (Butorides virescens) - Roseville, MN

109. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) - North Shore of Lake Superior, MN

110. Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) - Hawk Ridge, Duluth, MN

111. Franklin's Gull (Larus pipizcan) - Crow Wing Lakes Chain, MN

112. Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) - Buffalo River State Park, MN

113. Connecticut Warbler (Oporornis agilis) - Buffalo River State Park, MN

114. Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus) - Moorhead, MN

115. Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) - Grand Marais, MN

116. Lapland Longspur (Calcarius lapponicus) - Kadunce River Wayside, Lake Superior, MN

117. Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris) - Gunflint Lake, MN

Horned Lark

Horned Lark with view of "Horns"

Red-necked Grebe and Least Sandpiper

My birding total for my Big Year is up to 107 species.  Over the summer, my numbers of new species have leveled off a bit, but the autumn migration is only weeks away.  I already have some birding trips lined up for that time, including one where I travel everywhere from the Gunflint Trail to Hawk Ridge in Duluth, to the headwaters of the Mississippi, and to the prairie preserves of far western Minnesota.  At this time, I am learning as much as I can about the species I am hoping to find; reading books, listening to calls, and watching documentaries.

Last week, I watched some documentaries on the Prairie Chicken, and a great documentary on the intelligence of crows called Murder of Crows.  This week, I am watching wonderful BBC mini-series documentary called The Life of Birds hosted by David Attenborough.  I also checked out a documentary on the Snowy Owl from our local library.

These are the two late July additions to my Big Year List
106 - Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena) - Gunflint Lake, MN

107 - Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) - Grand Marais Harbor, MN

I also took a video of the Least Sandpiper.  It is located at https://vimeo.com/228618451.

There are some other birding pictures I have taken in the last few weeks below:

Canada Geese at Sunset with Sawtooth Mountains

Canada Geese in Grand Marais Harbor at Sunset

This Herring Gull is showing how well the fake owls scare away birds and other animals.  If I had my camera with me a few days ago, I could have also had a great picture of a Red Squirrel sitting on the head of the fake owl in my garden.  I learned long ago that the trick doesn't work, and the owl in my garden has become more of a decoration.

Birding on and over the Canadian Border

In the past week I went birding on the Canadian border, and took a trip into Canada.  My species total is now 105 for my Big Year.  This time of year presents the challenge of the thick foliage, and the fact that the birds aren't singing as much because most of them have had their young, and are not establishing a territory at this point.  Below are the new species that I've seen in last week:

101. Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) - Pine River, Minnesota/Ontario Border
102. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) - Thunder Bay, Ontario
103. Philadelphia Vireo (Vireo philadelphicus) - Kakabeka Falls, Ontario
104. Wild Turkey (Meleagris galloping) - Neebing, Ontario
105. American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) - Neebing, Ontario

100 Bird Species

I've reached my next goal in my Birding Big Year.  I seen 100 species since April 30, 2017.  The most recent species are listed below:

95. Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis) - Gunflint Lake, MN
96. Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) - Gunflint Trail, MN
97. Magnolia Warbler (Setophaga magnolia) - Lonely Lake, MN
98. Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) - Twin Cities, MN

99. Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) - Roseville, MN



























100. Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) - Two Harbors, MN on June 12, 2017