Spent the day by myself to do some scouting for the festival and get a good feel 
of any recent changes in the "bog".  Admiral Rd. feeders are still attracting 
fair amounts of Pine Grosbeaks and up to 4 Boreal Chickadees.  I did see 3 male 
White-winged Crossbills feeding over the area in a spruce tree.  This species 
has been not reported as much this winter so it was good to see these birds 
today.  


* McDavitt Rd Black-backed Woodpecker area on the east side where there was a 
firm foot path that led you out to the open area where the woodpeckers were seen 
quite regularly has now a newly bull dozed road instead. So there is no spruce 
tree to crawl under and a uneven foot path to balance on.  I suspect the road 
was created this week so the cold air that is predicted to come into our area 
will freeze the water and ground to allow logging trucks to enter the bog and 
get those last winter log piles removed.  


Arkola Rd feeders are attracting a decent flock of Common Redpolls and I saw one 
Hoary Redpoll today about 300 yards east of the feeders in anther redpoll flock 
feeding on the road.  Also this is the best location to find Gray Jays and 
possibly feed them from your hand. I heard reports today that a college group 
led by Chad Hiens was feeding Pine Grosbeaks from the hand at this location.  
How fun!  There are also some Boreal Chickadees moving through the spruce trees 
near the feeders.  I also saw some more Boreal Chickadees on the Overton Rd on 
the western side of S. Overton Rd.

I been hearing Evening Grosbeaks are being seen at the Morse's feeders on the 
Blue Spruce Rd and am hours seem to be the best time to look for them.

Owls..

I did not see any owls today and I did not meet any people who saw any owls 
today.  I did though hear that a Great Gray Owl was seen last night and the 
Northern Hawk Owl is still being seen in the bog as well.  There has been no 
updates on that reported Snowy Owl on CR 133 near the Blue Spruce Rd.  Which 
seems to be a odd spot for a Snowy Owl but there are some open areas on the 
north end of Blue Spruce Rd ( CR 232 ).  I am also hearing there are some new 
spots for some Great Gray Owls and our Feb 18 Great Gray Owl field trip buses 
will hopefully hit all those areas on Friday night to hopefully record a Great 
Gray Owl for the festival.

By the way, today is the LAST DAY to REGISTER for the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding 
Festival Feb 18-20 2011.  To learn more click here: sax-zimbog.co

 It was fun to spend some time in the bog on this dark cloudy snowy sleeting day 
and get caught up on the latest happenings in the bog.

 
Mike Hendrickson
Duluth, Minnesota
Website: http://www.mikehendricksonbirding.com

Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/




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