155 birders from 22 states descended into Meadowlands, Minnesota for the 2nd Sax Zim Winter Bird Festival. We had one gentleman from Australia who participated in the festival. The weather was great, the leaders were outstanding, the food was great, the people were great, the vendors were great, the birds were great and most of all the speakers were unbelieveable!
Larry Weber spoke on Friday and showed us that there is life during the winter months and taught us all about winter mammal tracks and bird tracks that can be found on a winter day in the northland and yes Larry even showed us insects that live on the snow surface. Larry not just entertained us with his enthusiam but taught us like the way he taught me thru out high school about nature that can be found with a simple walk in the outdoors. Al Batt presentation was done without slides or notes but held the microphone and gave the audience of 180 people in attendance a show that put everyone in tears with laughter as he described his boyhood living on a dairy farm in Hartland, Minnesota. Even the locals who came either were raised on dairy farms or operated a dairy farm were in stitches as they listen to Al Batt talk about his relationship with father & mother, brothers & sisters, neighbors, school teachers and his dog Rex. If you have never heard Al Batt do his monologue at a festival or at some event you are missing out on something very special. Al Batt is unbelieveable funny! Highlights: Feb 14-15 field trips -Barrow's Goldeneye -Hawk Owls ( 6 ) -Boreal Owl ( 1 ) -Iceland Gull ( 1 ) -Glaucous Gull ( 5-6 ) -Thayer's Gull ( 1 ) -Great Black-backed Gull ( 2 ) -Sharp-tailed Grouse ( 25 + ) -Rough-legged Hawk -Ruffed Grouse -Northern Shrike -Black-backed Woodpeckers ( 2 females ) -Townsend Solitaire ( 1 ) -Boreal Chickadee ( 4 ) -Hoary Redpoll ( 4 ) -Common Redpoll -White-winged Crossbill ( several ) -Red Crossbill ( 1 bird at the Blue Spruce Rd feeder 2/15 ) -Snow Buntings -Black-billed Magpie -Pine Grosbeaks -Evening Grosbeaks Misses: Great Gray Owl, Am. Three-toed Woodpecker and Bohemian Waxwings. Even though everyone missed spotting a Great Gray Owl there were two reports of Great Gray Owls on Friday evening 2/13 in Sax Zim Bog. 1: A GGO was seen 1/2 mile south of CR 28 on CR 7 on the west side of CR & way out perched on top of a small tree. 2: A GGO was spotted at 5:40pm a 8/10 of a mile north of Nichols Lake Rd on CR 7. by a photographer from Carlton, MN. By the way I have 30 Sax Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival sweatshirt with a great gray owl image on them. The sweatshirt is a heavy cotton crew neck sweatshirt. The colors are olive green, green blue and tan. In a halk arc above the owl image it says " Sax Zim Bog" on top and below in a half arc below owl image it says " Winter Bird Festival " and below that in small font " Meadowlands Minnesota ". I have L, XL and XXL sizes left in all colors. If you are interested in purchasing one please email me and I'll give you a price and I'l lsend ya photos of the sweatshirts. Also I met man from Zim, Mn who works with the St. Louis County commissioners. We had a great discussion about putting in a bog boardwalk. We tossed some ideas back and forth and hope to meet with him again soon in the near future. Oh, by now we all heard about the man on the Stickney Rd and the white spray paint warning on his red shed. Well maybe this festival and all the birders changed his heart. Steve Weston told me as his bus drove pass his house along the Stickney Rd he looked at the bus and smiled and waved at the people on the bus!! YES miracles do occur in the bog! Overall a great festival and a lot of happy people left with several lifers. Again the locals from the area community came to the festival and sat and ate with birders. As Jan Green told me " the culture has changed so much in Sax Zim Bog area" . There are now 3 residential feeders just outside of Meadowlands inviting birders to view their feeders, there are feeders along dirt roads that attract Boreal Chickadees and Hoary Redpolls and much more. I can honestly say those days of having trucks drive by spraying dust at birders or people screaming or honking their horns at birders are things of the past! These people now stop and offer places to see owls or ask what you are seeing. The tone has changed a ton up here and seeing the locals and birders share stories and laughs over a meal was very touching to see. This was my goal and perhaps my only goal in creating this festival and it really feels good to see this goal achieved. I thank everyone who came and supported the festival!! YES there will be another festival next year. Stay tune. Mike Hendrickson Duluth, Minnesota Website: http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/ Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/ ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
