[mou-net] present, E. Screech Owl, Minnetonka, Hennepin Co.

[George B Skinner]

Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009 at 9 am, I noted the owl is
sleeping in the wood duck box visible from the
street. So much for my guess that it takes
shelter only in cold weather, it is 23 F. I
have not seen it since Jan. 21.

Look through the pines at the southwest
corner of the house to see the larger pole
mounted box at the northwest corner of the house.

If you are lucky you might see it sitting in the hole.
Late afternoon seems to be the time this owl
sits in the hole of the box.



George Skinner
15330 Lynn Terrace
Minnetonka, MN 55345-5734
952-936-0811


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[mou-net] Stearns and Morrison Black Backed Woodpeckers.

[Frank Gosiak]

Milt Blomberg checked two more Larch stands and in both places have found
stript trees. One is North east of Holdingford in Stearns and the other is a
few miles West of Upsala  in Morrison. I went back to a previous spot on the
Stearns and Morrison line and found strips on the ground, after a snow fall,
and I heard vocalization coming from the South of this area. Also, on the
far South end of this stand I saw a fly over and the bird was heading
towards another area that is West. Must be allot of food in this area for
them to show up in these numbers. We are collecting data to compare with
next year. Hoping to get an American Three Toed but that may be stretching a
little. If anyone is interested in getting involved with our project please
respond.


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[mou-net] crossbills, plymouth

[Jim Williams]

The White-winged Crossbills reported yesterday on the west side of  
the Twin West Chamber of Commerce office in Plymouth are there again  
today. Photo opportunities were very good: eye level, 20 feet away,  
full sun. It was fun.


Jim Williams
www.startribune.com/blogs/wingnut

A million seconds is about 12 days.
A billion seconds is about 32 years.
A trillion seconds is about 32 million years.


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[mou-net] visible now, E. Screech Owl, Minnetonka, Hennepin Co.

[George B Skinner]

 Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009 at 11:30 am, the owl is
at the hole in the wood duck box visible from the
street.

Look through the pines at the southwest
corner of the house to see the larger pole
mounted box at the northwest corner of the house.

George Skinner
15330 Lynn Terrace
Minnetonka, MN 55345-5734
952-936-0811


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[mou-net] WW Crossbills, Fillmore, Houston Counties

[Dedrick Benz]

Well, White-winged Crossbills have now been seen in all the extreme southeast 
MN counties this year.  I had heard about a flock near Pilot Mound in Fillmore 
County, but before I could even get there, I found some just south of the 
Winona/Fillmore County line along Hwy 43, at it's intersection with CR 27.
 
Finding them in Houston County was a little harder, but eventually, I found a 
flock of about 20 in the town of Caledonia, at 1st and Lincoln Streets.
 
I thought about trying to add them to my Iowa list, but that would involve 
going to Iowa.
 
Dedrick Benz
Winona, MN

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[mou-net] Hawkowl

[Karen Sussman]

New Hawkowl today at 12:20PM at exactly mile marker #111 along State  
Hwy #73 north of Chisholm (St Louis County) on the west side of the  
road in a spruce bog.


Karen


Karen Sussman  ksuss...@lcp2.net



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[mou-net] Snowy Owl in Duluth on an ice flow

[Jbaines317]

Rebecca Schubert just called in a  Snowy Owl on an ice floe floating away 
from Minnesota  Point.
 
Jen  Vieth


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[mou-net] WW Crossbills; LeSueur & Rice Counties

[Dave Bartkey]

Hi everyone!
  Kathy Thom, Troy Flicek and I spotted two different flocks of White-winged 
Crossbills today. The first was in Troy's yard, near Lonsdale. We were standing 
around watching the redpolls, siskins and Purple Finches at the feeders when a 
"flock" of 3 crossbills flew in. They didn't linger long in any tree and were 
gone before we knew it. They consisted of 2 females and 1 male. 
 
  Later, in the town of Waterville (LeSueur Co.), we checked Holy Trinity 
Catholic Church after talking to Vern Krienke, who told us that he and Cindy 
had seen some crossbills there one other year. We decided to check it out and 
lo and behold, there was a conifer across the street, to the east of the 
church, very busy with crossbills! I would estimate that there were between 12 
and 18 birds. They were spread out and feeding low. This tree was loaded with 
small, dark cones. It was great! The house hosting the birds is located at the 
intersection of Common St. E & 6th St. S.
 
  Also, while at the Krienke's checking out all of the siskins and redpolls, 
their feeders suddenly became silent. We wondered why, when I spotted a small 
raptor. Thinking it was an accipiter, I was delighted to discover that it was a 
female Merlin! It flew across the road and perched for several minutes. 
 
  Other good birds today were Northern Shrike & Rough-legged Hawk.
 
Another fun one!
 
Good birding!
 
Dave Bartkey
Faribault, MN
screech...@q.com 

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[mou-net] White-winged Crossbills, Sibley County

[Bob Dunlap]

Their southern MN invasion continues: this morning I had a flock of  
about 25 White-winged Crossbills in the town of Henderson. The birds  
were feeding in two White Spruce (next to two Norway Spruce which the  
birds didn't touch) between Fifth St. and Fourth St. about a block  
south of Main St. (Hwy. 19).


Bob Dunlap, Nicollet County
bobthebirdman.blogspot.com


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[mou-net] No crossbills in SW MN?

[Randy Frederickson]

In spite of weekly searches, twice this week.  I have seen NO ww crossbills
in Kandiyohi county this winter.  There was ONE confirmed report, from early
Dec.  Reading this week's crossbill reports from SE MN makes it appear they
are dripping from every black spruce grove.  So I'm curious, is anyone in SW
Minnesota seeing crossbills? We certainly have plenty of black spruce full
of cones.

As I have seen with other winter boreal invasions (great gray owls, esp),
the farther south you go in the state, the further east the birds are found.

However, siskin numbers are very high for this region, and the huge redpoll
invasion that began about 3 weeks ago seems to be impacting us here to the
same degree as everyone else at our latitude. So I am trying to enjoy them
twice as much, to get my finch fix.  I have never seen a redpoll invasion
occur so late in the winter (we had none on our CBC).

Randy Frederickson
Willmar

PS In case anyone is interested, I did get a report of a hoary redpoll from
a reliable source in NE Kandiyohi county, earlier this week.


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[mou-net] Snowy Owl and Crossbills in Dodge Co.

[Williams, David A]

Went looking for the Dodge County SNOWY OWL Saturday and found the bird in the 
most recently described location: in the field east of 150th, north of 700th. 
As mentioned before, the owl is hanging out along an old fence line which runs 
east from the road. Today, it was about 150 or so yards out on a white post.

Just north of this location, also on 150th, WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS are still 
hanging out in the spruce trees along the road, and in good numbers. A few 
COMMON REDPOLLS were in the area as well, along with small flocks of HORNED 
LARKS. Watch out for the dog from a neighboring house which likes to chase 
cars! He doesn't seem to be a threat other than getting in the way and running 
the risk of being hit by a vehicle.

In Olmsted County...there was a NORTHERN SHRIKE at the intersection of highways 
63 and 30, just west of the intersection; and a light-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 
along highway 30 near the intersection with 110th St. The hawk was on the north 
side of the road perched in small tree about 50 yards out in a field.

Good birding!

Dave Williams
Winona


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[mou-net] Crossbills in your neighborhood?

[Larry Sirvio]

One thing I noticed in our area where crossbills have been feeding you will 
find spruce trees with lots of cones on the ground under the tree were they 
were feeding. At least if you see this you will know they are or have been in 
the area.
If not - keep looking :)


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[mou-net] Jan 31: Sax Zim Bog

[Debbie Waters]

Hi folks,
Erik Bruhnke, Julie O’Connor and I took some of the Hawk Ridge staff and
volunteers birding at The Bog today.  What a GORGEOUS day!  
 
Our bird list:
Northern Hawk Owl (1 just west of the Sax Rd/7 intersection, 1 on McDavitt
just south of the logging activity + 1 driving home on 53 near Stebner Rd in
Duluth)
Great Gray Owl (1 just north of the logging activity on McDavitt, seen by
one vehicle but flushed by a passing vehicle before the others got a chance
to view it.)
Boreal Chickadee at the Admiral Rd rib cages/feeding station
Hoary Redpoll, Admiral Rd feeding station
Northern Shrikes, 4 at various locations
Gray Jays, Admiral Rd feeding station
White-winged Crossbills, several flocks flying over, no great looks
Pine Grosbeaks, great looks at Admiral feeding station
Common Redpolls, various locations
Usual suspects: Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Downy &
Hairy Woodpeckers
 
We were not able to relocate any of the McDavitt woodpeckers, either across
from the logging activity or just north of there on the walking trails.  One
group had found a Black-backed at the Admiral Rd feeding station and another
had an American Three-toed at one of the McDavitt locations.
 
Other notes:
There are also a LOT of Pine Grosbeaks, quite a few Gray Jays and redpolls
going to a feeding station (hanging rib cage & seed on the ground) on Arkola
Rd.  It’s located approximately ½ mile east of Owl Ave on the south side of
the road.  Some folks we ran into while birding had seen a venison-eating
weasel there earlier in the day!
 
Another Northern Hawk Owl was seen eating off the rib cage at the Owl Avenue
feeding station (not by us)!  Interestingly, all of the owls were seen
during the middle of the day.  It was quite foggy until late morning.
 
We missed Black-billed Magpies, but they were seen by another group in the
late morning between McDavitt and Admiral Roads on the Sax Rd.
 
I brought a “necklace” of venison suet to the Admiral Rd feeding station to
augment the rib cages, which are getting pretty picked over.
 
GREAT owling!
Debbie

Debbie Waters
Education Director
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory
P.O. Box 3006
Duluth, MN 55803-3006
218.428.3539
  dwat...@hawkridge.org
  www.hawkridge.org
 
"I'm an early bird and I'm a night owl, so I'm wise and I have worms."
   - Michael
Scott, The Office 
 
 


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[mou-net] Bethany College Hoary Redpoll still Present

[Joel Claus]

I stopped by the Bethany College campus this afternoon and found the female 
Hoary Redpoll posted by Chad Heins and Bob Dunlap still present.  It showed up 
about 3:40 PM with several Common Redpolls.
 
Joel Claus
Eden Prairie

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