Hello: This is few days late and I apologize. Monica had major surgery on Monday and it was a very successful surgery. A ton of stress and fears were lifted on Monday afternoon and as a family we are smiling and very grateful that all is well.
The festival attracted 120 birders from all over which is down about 25 birders from our average. Of the 120 participants 102 were new registrants! We had 16 states represented and Minnesota was the top state with the most participants followed by Florida, YES Florida not WI or Iowa but Florida! Kim Risen did a excellent presentation on birds of Mexico!! Al Batt did a outstanding job as he always does with another great story of life on a farm and birds. Birds sighted on Friday - Sunday Common Goldeneye Common Merganser Ruffed Grouse Sharp-tailed Grouse ( Aitkin Co. ) Bald Eagle Golden Eagle ( nice description flying over the "bog" ) Northern Goshawk Herring Gull Iceland Gull Thayer's Gull Glaucous Gull Great Black-backed Gull Rock Pigeon Northern Hawk Owl(s) Two new sightings in the bog! 1. on CR 47 south of 133 2. Toivola on CR 5 All together 6-8 Northern Hawk Owls were seen in the Sax-Zim Bog area and another 3-4 Hawk Owls in Aitkin Co. Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker ( McDavitt Rd 2.5 mi N of CR 28 and Admiral Rd feeder area or 3.5 mi north of Kolu Rd on Admiral RD.) Pileated Woodpecker Northern Shrike Gray Jay Blue Jay Crow Raven Black-capped Chickadee Boreal Chickadee (Admiral Rd feeder) Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch Robin Starling Snow Bunting Pine Grosbeak Purple Finch White-winged Crossbill Common Redpoll Hoary Redpoll Seen on the McDavitt Rd 2.5 - 3.0 miles north of Sax Rd or in the Spruce/Tamarack bog mixed in with Common Redpolls Pine Siskin Am. Goldfinch Evening Grosbeak coming to a private feeder with Sparky's photo workshop and Blue Spruce Rd feeder House Sparrow 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
