We decided to go up to Cook county today, something I've never done on any of my February MN trips. It was very interesting for me to see what was (and wasn't) around. Alas, no ptarmigan, Fieldfare or any other of mega.
Our biggest highlight in terms of rarity was a 1st-winter male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE off Paradise Beach with over 60 Common Goldeneye and a single female-type Bufflehead. The goldeneye appeared female-like, but showed a very distinctive dark spur on the sides of breast and quite a few dark feathers coming in on the back (much more extensive black upperparts than on Common). It was just starting to get a bit of white on the face, which by itself did not distinguish it from the range of variation in 1st-year Commons. Steep forehead and well-developed "mane" of feathers on back of head -- in addition to extensive dark upperparts and black spur, this was the most noticeable feature as the bird was sleeping. Also smaller-billed than Common (direct comparison). We had great luck with Bohemian Waxwings with a flock of 450 in the Grand Marais campground, two flyover flocks totaling over 100 birds on Crowftville Rd, and another flock of 65 in trees along Hwy 61 between Tofte and Lutsen (which then flew SW). We did NOT see any Townsend's Solitaires and the mountain ash berries on Croftville Rd. are largely gone. Perhaps my personal highlight was the large numbers of redpolls moving sw., with over 500 seen heading SW at various locations during the day. Also over 100 Pine Siskins and another 250 redpoll/siskins moving SW that we saw while we were driving along Hwy 61 and didn't ID. We did not look for the Northern Hawk Owl today, but had incredible views of it yesterday. If you go to Gooseberry and do NOT see it along Hwy 61, I suggest parking in the parking lot and walking the trails past the visitor center that heading up toward Hwy 61. The Hawk Owl spent a lot of time in this area yesterday afternoon, where it would NOT have been visible from the highway. Best of all, when it this area the bird is often at eye-level. We also saw a HOARY REDPOLL at the feeders. Best wishes, Chris Wood eBird & Neotropical Birds Project Leader Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York http://ebird.org http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
