Wintery birds at Park Point

Common Redpolls


Snow Buntings




White-winged Crossbill taking a drink at a puddle, which I imagine to be quite difficult for these guys.

PIGR

I finally got some good looks at Pine Grosbeaks today at Park Point in Duluth.

Election Day

Gray Jay in the bog that was pulling apart some deer guts
Sharp-tailed Grouse berry eating

NHOW

Though these pictures are pretty terrible, this was my lifer Northern Hawk Owl, which flew from a half mile away to come check us out.

Also, friends of Oakland, here is your much desired 'hoot out,' if you will,  thanks for the entertainment on a nearly owlless night earlier in the week!

Lifer GGOW

Today I went up to Sax Zim Bog with Ben, Dave, Annemarie, and Christina and had some really great luck with finding birds.  Right off the bat we found a Great Gray Owl, my first ever, perched along the side of the highway before even reaching the bog.  Once in the bog we found two more GGOWs, and one distant Northern Hawk Owl, which eventually flew right over us, giving us great looks of it in flight.  Owls aside we also saw flocks of Snow Buntings, some Gray Jays, Ruffed and Sharp-tailed Grouse, Northern Shrike and Black-billed Magpie.

Better LEOWs

Always surprised, always mad.

November?

As we get into November, hopes for large numbers of birds are minimal, but the possibility of catching something like a Great Horned Owl has gone up, which is why I've found myself at the hawk trapping blind as the sun is setting with hopes of luring in one of these massive birds before opening up the nets for the night.  Though there have been no signs of GHOWs yet, I did catch a late Goshawk last night, just as it was getting dark.  Though the hawk trappers have caught a number of adults already, I'm usually asleep for them, so this was my first adult of the year!

This is a second year female


The brown feathers are retained juvenile feathers from last year


As with other Accipiters, their eye color changes from yellow to orange to red as they get older.  The low lighting did not help any of these pictures, but the blur seen here is due to some excessive screaming by this bird.