Sax-Zim Owls (report)

[Tim Avery <tanager at timaverybirding dot com>]

I went to Minnesota yesterday and today to see the owls, a short 6 hours janut
from my apartment in Wisconsin, here is my post to Wisconsin Birdnet.

Pictures can be viewed, by going through my site:

http://www.timaverybirding.com

and clicking on NEW IMAGES

-------------------------------------

WOW...

I think that one word can some up my day in Sax-Zim, it is WOW.

Thursday night I decided I needed to get up to Minnesot to take pictures, and
see birds I won't have
a chnace to, as I leave Wisonsin in May.  I left Beloit Friday at Lunch, and
drove straight through
to Duluth. This morning I got up at 5:15 and heade to Sax-Zim at 6.  I arrived
at County Road 7 and
CR 133 jsut before 7 and waited for first light. At 7:15 I made my way north on
CR-7,  and at 7:27 saw
my first Great Gray Owl just north of 52, 15 feet from the road.  From here it
just got better.  By 8:30
I had seen 19 Great Grays, and 3 Northern Hawk Owls, more owls than bird
watchers.  At around 9:00 am
the birders began arriving.  I talked to folks from California Texas, Arizona,
Illinois, Nebraska, and of
course Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Everyone was shocked by the sheer numbers of
birds, and how close they were,
unfortunately several were showing signs of stress, and were near the road on
the ground.  A DNR rehabilitator
was looking at several birds to make sure they were okay.

Back to the birds, in all I counted at least 38 Great Grays, between the roads
7, 788, and 52.

There definatelyare more birds around than being seen.  As for Northern Hawk
Owls, as the day went on more
started coming out of the woodworks.  I counted at least 13 different birds,
most on 7, but several along 788 in the trees.

With just the owls the trip would have been well worth the drive and cost, but I
also saw a great number of other
birds including the elusive and rare HOARY REDPOLL.  There are literally 100's
of Common Redpolls swarming to
feeders along the backroads, and careful inspection of one along zim road
produces the Hoary.  A Black-backed
and Three-toed were seen along 788 by other birders, later in the day.  Other
birds to note included:

250 Snow Buntings along CR-7
20 Pine Grosbeaks along Zim Road
Black-capped Chickadees
Gray Jay along 788
Blue Jay on Zim Road
Pileated Woodpecker on Zim Road
Red-tailed Hawk flyover
American Crow
Common Raven

Another interesting bird was a Sharp-tailed Grouse in a tree along CR-7.  This
bird wasn't like the ones I have
seen out west, as teh head looked jsut like the head of a Greater Praire Chicken
(a bird I havent seen).  I asked
some locals and they were sure it was a ST Grouse.  I digiscoped several
pictures, none of good quality, I was just
curious if anyone has noted ST Grouse with a head pattern like this before.

I left the Bog at around noon and went back to Duluth.  I stopped at Duluth
International Airport to see if I
could find one of the 2 Snowy Owls that have been hanging around.  I talked to
some locals who said one bird
was seen at 7:00 that morning, but nothing since.  I looked for bit and decided
to head back to the hotel,
satified with the birds I saw, I decided to return to Beloit.  The last great
bird of the trip was a Northern Shrike
near Solon Springs. WI on the way home.  The only downside to thr trip was the
speeding ticket I recieved on 53 on
the way home... slow down.

What a day, and now easily my most memorable birding experience, and one I will
never forget!

Good Birding

Tim

Salt Lake City, UT or Beloit, WI
http://www.timaverybirding.com

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