My wife Kari and I kicked off my Big Half Year for the Bog (Itasca County only) today by looking for some winter specialties. Overall, birding was pretty slow and we missed easy birds like Common Redpoll and Downy Woodpecker, but we did have some highlights among our 26 species: - A Boreal Chickadee and a small flock of White-winged Crossbills on the trail that cuts through the bog on the north end of Scenic State Park. These were the ONLY birds we saw or heard on our entire hike! - Varied Thrush still at my house. Other good finds were Ruffed Grouse, Rough-legged Hawk, Great Horned Owl, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Black-billed Magpie, and Pine Grosbeak. -- Shawn Conrad Sponsor <http://bighalfyear.dojiggy.com/itasca> my Big Half Year for the Bog or My Brrrrdathon <http://saxzim.dojiggy.com/itasca> effort www.saxzim.org ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html