Brig 4/16--Short-billed Dowitcher, Common Yellowthroat

It was about 4:30 by the time we made it on the dike at Brig. Our style of birding now was like a 2nd trip around the dikes--we were only really looking for new day birds and didn't intend to linger admiring the beauty of a Blue-winged Teal (though we would cast an appreciative glance.)

At the Visitor's Center there was some swallow activity around the martin houses; then it got very quiet. The reason for the inactivity became apparent when we saw Merlin zoom overhead. One of the braver (or more foolhardy) Tree Swallows actually managed to make sneak attack from behind and bash the Merlin on it tail. After that fun we found an Eastern Bluebird atop the weather vane of the Visitor's Center.

Not much in the Gull Pond so we drove onto the dikes where it was this duck and that duck until just past the observation tower we saw a small group of gulls loafing on a peninsula. They were pretty far out and I didn't look very hard, ignoring Mike's lesson. Mike, though, thought one of them looked very white so we hauled out our scopes and saw a fairly large gull with a big head and no black on its wing tips. Mike identified it as a first-cycle Glaucous Gull. I could see all the field marks he was describing but I would never have the confidence to id it by myself. Had it been an adult, yes. I remember the one I saw flying in the parking lot at Canal Park in Duluth--I had no doubt. If the bird had been standing up, then maybe I would call it. But laying down, head tucked in, from a good distance away? Man, you gotta be good.

A couple from Florida stopped and inquired as to the hubbub (we had run into Greg, Karmela and Rich and a lively field mark discussion was going on over a couple of scopes) and Mike showed them the bird which was a lifer for them.

It was getting colder and cloudier and the afternoon progress so we continued, adding Bufflehead to our duck list for the day.

At the first turn we saw a good-size flock of Dunlins. Scanning them we found some bigger birds mixed in which turned out to be Black-bellied Plovers and one that didn't. This deserved a scoping and after a minute or so we both got on our FOY Short-billed Dowitcher.  Just one. Soon, climate willing, there will be hundreds, if not thousands, probing in the mud like sewing machines, but, as I always say, "I only need one."

The couple from Florida stopped again (they knew a good thing when they saw it) and we got them on the dowitcher, a bird they weren't familiar with being relatively new to the obsession. It was funny describing which bird it was: "The medium-sized bird with the longest bill in the flock is the Short-billed Dowitcher."

Onward, past the Ospreys, the cormorants, the many egrets (I would be remiss without mentioning the American Oystercatchers), even past the small flock of ibis until near the end of the north dike we heard another easy warbler song, the witchety-witchety-witch of the Common Yellowthroat. And common it is. But good to hear it and it was my final year bird of the day.

As we made the turn onto the upland portion of the trail Mike found a female American Kestrel. That gave us, with the Peregrine on its hacking tower, the falcon hat trick.

I think the last day bird we added was Pied-billed Grebe at the exit ponds. By then I was pretty much birded out. On the way home, on Rt 539 just outside Warren Grove, we came upon 4 Wild Turkeys feeding on the side of the road in the gloaming, so I made one Ocean County list for the day.

Our list for one 8 mile trip along the dikes:
52 species
Canada Goose  50
Gadwall  5
American Black Duck  10
Mallard  5
Blue-winged Teal  4
Northern Shoveler  25
Green-winged Teal  50
Bufflehead  25
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Double-crested Cormorant  10
Great Egret  10
Snowy Egret  50
Glossy Ibis  30
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  10
Northern Harrier  1
Bald Eagle  1
American Oystercatcher  4
Black-bellied Plover  5
Greater Yellowlegs  100
Dunlin  300
Short-billed Dowitcher  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  20
Glaucous Gull  1     
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Forster's Tern  5
Mourning Dove  2
American Kestrel  1     
Merlin  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Blue Jay  2     Heard
Fish Crow  5
Purple Martin  1
Tree Swallow  3
Carolina Chickadee  2     Heard
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1
Eastern Bluebird  1     
American Robin  5
Common Yellowthroat  1     Heard, north dike
Pine Warbler  1
Eastern Towhee  1     Heard, upland portion
Chipping Sparrow  2
Field Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  2
Red-winged Blackbird  26
Common Grackle  1
Boat-tailed Grackle  1
Brown-headed Cowbird  1     Heard
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  1

Minnesota in Winter

Great Gray Owl
Photo: Shari Zirlin

Mike Mandracchia organized a group of Jersey and Philly birders to take a trip to what turned out to be only the semi-frozen north of Duluth, Minnesota, led by his friend Kim Risen of Naturescape Tours.

Since I hate traveling, hate winter, hate the cold and hate the wind, I had more than a few qualms about taking this trip, but the prospect of 11 potential life birds, a couple of which I knew I had absolutely no chance of scoring in the east, overrode my trepidation.

Whatever you're worrying about usually doesn't happen, so since I was worried about everything, it all worked out fine. The weather, while cold, wasn't any colder than it can get in NJ and the winds, for the most part were mild. The coldest day we had started out at about 5 degrees and warmed up all the way to 20. The other days started in the 20's and warmed up past the freezing mark.

If my coat is open, it can't be that cold. 

You can't rack up huge numbers of species in Northern Minnesota--St Louis County, for the year, has recorded about 65 species so far. Contrast that to Ocean County where I already have 79 species and the total number of species in the county is well over 100. But, we weren't going for quantity; we wanted birds that you just don't see in the mid-Atlantic region like Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, and the owls. I was hoping for two species of woodpeckers but got shut out on those. Two species of grouse were also no-shows. But of the 11 target birds we got 7 and I think that's a pretty good percentage.

We made a couple of brief forays into Wisconsin, spent some time looking at gulls on the Duluth waterfront, ran up to Superior National Forest for half a day, but spent most of time birding the legendary Sax-Zim Bog.

Individual reports can be found here:
Duluth--Canal Park 1/15--Common Goldeneye, THAYER'S GULL, Glaucous Gull
Jean Duluth Road 1/16--NORTHERN HAWK OWL
Sax-Zim Bog 1/16--GRAY JAY, BOREAL CHICKADEE, PINE...
Sax-Zim Bog 1/17--Purple Finch, Evening Grosbeak
Duluth--Canal Park 1/17--Iceland Gull
W Knife River Rd 1/18--Bohemian Waxwing, HOARY RED...
Sax-Zim Bog 1/18--GREAT GRAY OWL

Our complete list for the trip: Underline=Rare; Bold Italics=FOY; ALL CAPS BOLD=Life Bird

Species                                    First Sighting

American Black Duck     Duluth--Canal Park   

Mallard     Duluth--Canal Park   

Northern Pintail     Duluth--Canal Park   

Common Eider     Duluth--Canal Park   

Common Goldeneye     Duluth--Canal Park   

Ruffed Grouse     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Bald Eagle     Hwy 53, MM14   

Rough-legged Hawk     Sax-Zim Bog   

Herring Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

THAYER'S GULL     Duluth--Canal Park   

Iceland Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

Glaucous Gull     Duluth--Canal Park   

Rock Pigeon     East Duluth   

Snowy Owl    Richard Bong Airport

NORTHERN HAWK OWL     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

GREAT GRAY OWL     Sax-Zim Bog   

Downy Woodpecker     Sax-Zim Bog   

Hairy Woodpecker     Sax-Zim Bog   

Pileated Woodpecker     Old Vermillion Trail   

Northern Shrike     Sax-Zim Bog   

GRAY JAY     Sax-Zim Bog   

Blue Jay     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Black-billed Magpie     Sax-Zim Bog   

American Crow     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

Common Raven     Duluth--Jean Duluth Rd   

Black-capped Chickadee     Old Vermillion Trail   

BOREAL CHICKADEE     Sax-Zim Bog   

Red-breasted Nuthatch     Old Vermillion Trail   

White-breasted Nuthatch     Highway 7, St Louis County   

Bohemian Waxwing     1740 W Knife River Road   

Snow Bunting     Highway 7, St Louis County   

PINE GROSBEAK     Sax-Zim Bog   

Purple Finch     Sax-Zim Bog   

Common Redpoll     Old Vermillion Trail   

HOARY REDPOLL     1740 W Knife River Road   

Pine Siskin     Old Vermillion Trail   

Evening Grosbeak     Sax-Zim Bog    

Duluth--Canal Park 1/15--Common Goldeneye, THAYER'S GULL, Glaucous Gull

Our plane landed in Duluth at just about 3 PM, with no problems along the way. We called Kim and Mike and they said they'd pick us up in about 10 minutes. I expected they'd just ferry us back to the motel since it was pretty late in the day. Instead, the van was almost full with the rest of the group and after some very brief greetings to those we knew and introductions to those we didn't, we were whisked off to the Duluth waterfront, where a canal comes in from Lake Superior, called, appropriately, Canal Park.

I don't recall if the first bird I saw in Duluth was a Mallard or a Herring Gull, but there were plenty of them close in along the canal's wall. The next bird I found was a single drake Common Goldeneye, much farther out but still well-seen. The big duck news in Duluth, however, is a hen Common Eider mingling with the Mallards. The last time an eider was in Duluth was either during the Eisenhower or the Johnson Administration; there was some disagreement as to who was president when but I wasn't there to teach a history lesson. Whenever it was it had been a while. There were also 4 Northern Pintail (2 drakes, 2 hens), always nice to see, and, it turned out, yet another rarity for Duluth.

Kim was sorting through the gulls and picked out a few Glaucous Gulls for us and soon, not even in Duluth for 45 minutes, we got our first lifer of the trip, a gull with pink feet and an amber eye--THAYER'S GULL. Shari shot a video of the bird on her phone.

So,I was pretty impressed. I was also a little underdressed, since I hadn't even had the chance to change shoes from my sneakers and I was only wearing a couple of layers. Still, the temperatures were just above freezing so it seemed very much like winter in NJ.

Common Eider (hen)

After this stop, we still weren't done. There aren't a lot of hours of daylight in Duluth in winter so you after to use all them all. We all piled back into the van and drove over the border to Superior, Wisconsin and drove the perimeter of the Richard I. Bong Airport (not making up the name) to look for Snowy Owls. They weren't hard to find. It seem like every light pole, utility pole, tall pipe or tree had an owl atop it. We counted 6 in a brief run around the area, only stopping a couple of times. And unlike New Jersey, where I've been feeling pretty skeevy about looking for Snowies because they're down on the ground and easily disturbed, these were pretty much out of                                                                                                    range of being bothered.

Common Goldeneye (drake)

Finally, with the sun down we headed back to Minnesota, with 8 birds to kick off the trip, including 1 lifer, + two others as year birds.

Mallard  50
Northern Pintail  4     
Common Eider  1     
Common Goldeneye  2
Herring Gull  70
THAYER'S GULL 2
Glaucous Gull  1 
Snowy Owl   6

Glaucous Gull

Northern Pintail (drake)

Jean Duluth Road 1/16--NORTHERN HAWK OWL

We were up & out well before dawn on Friday, the official start of the tour. We drove along Jean Duluth Road north and east out of town. Kim knew that along the road NORTHERN HAWK OWL could be seen. How well they'd be able to be seen, if we found them, was the question. The answer: Very well. This is the first one we saw. There was a 2nd bird along the way too.

And so, not long after dawn we had our 2nd lifer of the trip. This was seeming just a little too easy. 

Duluth--Canal Park 1/17--Iceland Gull

World's largest lift bridge, Duluth's Canal Park

After lunch we drove back into Duluth to give the couple of birders who came in late a chance to see the Thayer's Gulls. As we were driving into the parking lot a huge completely white gull flew over the cars--a gorgeous adult Glaucous Gull. They are almost as large as Great Black-backed Gull and, to my mind, the most magnificent looking gull that I've seen.

We found the Thayer's Gull(s) pretty easily this time, as well as 4 more Glaucous Gulls in varying stages of immature plumage. A big gull like Glaucous might take 4 years to come to full maturity, so with two molts a year, there are potentially 8 different "looks" the gull can give you. I'm happy just to be able to pick out the common field marks that make it a Glaucous (or whatever the gull in question). I'm not too interested if it is 2nd or 3rd year. (I know all the arguments why this is a bad attitude. I'm also not too interested in those arguments.)

However, there was yet another gull to be found--an Iceland Gull. Coffee-with-cream colored except for white wing-tips which form a white triangle when it is swimming and an all black bill make this one probably a 2nd year bird.

What I enjoyed about seeing all these gulls was the close looks we were able to get. Usually, when you're looking at gulls, the conditions stink--they're far off, moving around, the wind is in your face, the light is bad--the two trips to Canal Park had none of those problems, so for once, I was able to enjoy gulls with a minimum of frustration.

Canal Park Smile

We repeated our trip to Superior Wisconsin, once more driving the roads around the Bong Airport. This time I counted 7 Snowy Owls. The group counted 10. Somewhere, I missed 3 but, as I always say, "I only need one." I'm not that concerned with going for a record number of snowies, but it was a good lesson in distinguishing between males, females, adults and immature birds. Shari took a photo of this pure white male just before the light totally faded on us.

Photo: Shari Zirlin

11 species (+1 other taxa)
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  100
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  2
Northern Pintail  4     
Common Eider  1     
Common Goldeneye  2     
Herring Gull  100
Thayer's Gull  3     
Iceland Gull  1    
Glaucous Gull  5    

Snowy Owl   7
American Crow  2