We spent Thursday, 6/17, in Koochiching County. Three-toed Woodpeckers-at least 2 birds and maybe a third. One was a adult female while one was a juvenile female. A third bird was potentially observed as these birds were feeding in the trees but we are not sure.
The juvenile was relatively obvious as it was browner and the white on the back was severely reduced. Both Woodpeckers, An Identification Guide, Winkler, Christie and Nurney, and The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe and the Western Palearctic, Beaman and Madge, give these marks as key ways to identify a juvenile. Previous to these birds we have had no experience with juveniles although we have observed many adults. The juvenile was not being fed by the adult but seemed to be following her around. We tried to take some photos but I doubt that they will show anything as the skies opened up while we were watching these birds feeding in a area of dead Tamarac and Black Spruce. We were 10 miles from a gravel road on a dirt forest road and didn't want to get stuck in the mud from the rain so had to leave them. The area is west of Big Falls. The easiest way is to go west on County Rd 30, north on the Pine Island Road to the Toumey Williams Road, then west about 2 1/2 miles to the Fiero Road. The birds were 1 1/2 miles north from here. While we were walking on the road before we saw the woodpeckers a Great Gray Owl flew onto the road and proceeded to hunt in the area paying absolutely no attention to us. As it moved short distances to hunt from different perches a second owl was giving a strange call that we figured out was a begging call. Maybe similar to what Sparky heard the other day in St Louis County. This was similar to the begging call on the Voices of North American Owls CD. We didn't play that CD at that time but did so as we were driving immediately afterwards and the begging call was still very fresh in our minds. We were unable to observe the second owl as it was across a wide deep ditch that was full of water. The adult owl would occasionally glance over in the direction of the begging call but didn't seem rushed. Interesting was that the adult Great Gray Owl paid absolutely no attention to us and was even hunting right over our vehicle while we were walking 50 feet away. Another bird of interest in Koochiching County was a single male White-winged Crossbill 2/10ths of a mile north of County Road 30 on the Toumey Williams Road, a closer spot to Big Falls than the directions to the woodpeckers. An adult Ruddy Duck at the International Falls sewage ponds was well north of any other sightings by us. In the same place we have never seen so many juvenile Common Goldeneyes. There had to be at least 60 of various sizes. Dennis and Barbara Martin Shorewood, MN dbmar...@skypoint.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
