Explore Minnesota Birding Report: December 5, 2008
In general, a drive along Highway 61, from Hastings to La Crescent, offers birders a chance to see numerous Bald Eagles, especially at Read’s Landing.
The following is a list of recent, significant sightings:
Upwards of twelve-thousand Tundra Swans have been reported from Pool #8 of the Mississippi River near Brownsville in Houston County. Pool #8 can be seen from the new viewing area on State Highway 26 south of Brownsville.
In St. Louis County, a Great Gray Owl was found on December 4 along County Road 16, three-quarters of a mile east of County Road 5. This location is just southeast of the Hibbing airport. In the Sax-Zim Bog, two Great Grays were along Nichols Lake Road, between two and two and one-half miles east of State Highway 7; one was four miles south of Arkola Road along State Highway 7, and one was 3.7 miles south of Zim Road along McDavitt Road. East of here, another was seen on the 2nd along West Melrude Road, roughly three-quarters of a mile east of U.S. Highway 53. North of here, a Northern Hawk Owl was spotted on November 30 at the intersection of U.S. Highways 169 and 53. Another was about two miles south of Cotton on the east side of U.S. Highway 53. And in Lake County, a Hawk Owl was along Sand Lake Road, forty miles north of State Highway 61 along Lake County Road 2.
A Townsend’s Solitaire is still at the Ann Lake campground of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in Sherburne County. It was most recently reported on December 4. On the 1st, a Black-Backed Woodpecker was on the Blue Hill trail within the refuge in the northeast corner of a stand of spruce trees.
And in Ely, in St. Louis County, a Varied Thrush has been seen since December 1 along the 1200 block of east Main Street, and another was reported on the 1st along the 1200 block of east Washington Street.
Information in this statewide birding report is provided by and financially supported by the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union (MOU), Minnesota’s oldest and largest bird club. The report is composed from reports submitted by MOU members and other birders throughout the state. You can support this weekly birding update by submitting your bird reports to Anthony Hertzel at axhertzel@sihope.com or by calling the hotline directly at 763-780-8890 and leaving a detailed message. MOU members receive the organization’s quarterly journal “The Loon,” and the bi-monthly magazine, “Minnesota Birding.” For membership information, send an e-mail message to our membership secretary at membership@moumn.org
“The information in this report is provided courtesy of the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union and Explore Minnesota Tourism.”
