Hello

So far its been an interesting winter up here in northeast Minnesota.  50 Northern Hawk Owls have been reported in our area and numerous Great Gray Owls as well.   There is a Snowy Owl in the Duluth Harbor along with Iceland Gulls, Thayer's Gulls and Glaucous Gulls.  Sharp-tailed Grouse are dancing for some reason on the snow covered lek in Aitkin County!  Other birds like Black-backed Woodpeckers, Northern Shrikes, Gray Jays, Boreal Chickadees, Bohemian Waxwings, Pine Grosbeaks, and redpolls can all be found in Sax-Zim Bog, Aitkin County or in the Duluth area. Some oddities likeBarrow's Goldeneye and Gr. Black-backed Gulls are still being seen in the Duluth harbor area and WI landfill.  Plus all our winter residents !

If these birds sound wonderful to ya then check out the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival :  http://moumn.org/sax-zim/  The festival will be held Feb 12-14th 2010 and for those who are government workers .. Feb 15th is Presidents Day so a extra day for you to explore our area and try Lake Co. for Spruce Grouse or head over to Ashland, WI and look for the Gyrfalcon to cap your weekend off of some truly great northern bird species!!

Our speakers will be Kim Risen on Feb 12th and Al Batt on Feb 13th. There will also be a photo workshop led by Mark 'sparky' Stensaas and Shawn Zierman. This photo workshop will start with a little slide presentation and then spend the rest of the day in the field at a private feeder photographing winter bird species!

There will be field trips to Sax-Zim Bog,Aitkin County and the Duluth Area including the Superior, WI landfill for gull viewing. On Friday & Saturday evenings there will be field trips to look for Great Gray Owls in the Sax-Zim Bog area.  As with all field trips including the photography workshop, lunches will be included.

There will also be local craftsman from the Toivola-Meadowlands area selling their art work and also local bird organizations will be having some information tables to visit as well.

So far we have birders from all over the United States signed up and I want to make one more announcement for those that might of missed the last announcement back in November.  This is a one of a kind festival where you can see some remarkable winter bird species and be led by some of the best birders in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Also all registrants will receive "Kim Eckert's "Birder's Guide To Minnesota" , MOU's Minnesota checklist, a mouse pad with a Great Gray Owl image and so much more!

If you have not attended this festival you are missing out on a home town flavor festival that is small in some ways but huge on the birds we offer!


Mike Hendrickson
Duluth, Minnesota
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/mmhendrickson/
Blog: http://colderbythelakebirding.blogspot.com/




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