Barrow's Goldeneye

A male Barrow's Goldeneye has been present on the 8th & 9th at the Grand Rapids sewage ponds on River Road, 1.1 miles SE of Airport Road. Visitors are asked to check in at the plant office about .5 miles NW of the ponds on River Road.

There is a photo of the bird on the "Recently Seen" page of www.moumn.org

Spruce Grouse

On the morning of April 3rd, Earl Orf and I had great looks at a rufous female Spruce Grouse along CR 552 (well north of Nashwauk...road runs along the east side of Bear Lake).

We found the grouse where the 25-30 year old jack pine begin, maybe 3/4 of a mile or so south of CR 52.

Itasca Migrants and Boreal Chickadees

3/28

Earl Orf and I went to Deer River this morning to see how waterfowl migration might be progressing.

Trumpeter Swans, Canada Geese, Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers, Mallards, and Wood Ducks were all present in varying numbers along the Mississippi River. We also found several Common Mergansers on the Prairie River in Grand Rapids. There were a couple of Northern Shovelers and several Killdeer on the Grand Rapids wastewater ponds.

There was a flock of Snow Buntings with some Lapland Longspurs and what I think was at least 1 Horned Lark flushed at the rice paddies west of Deer River.

Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles, and American Robins were fairly easy to come by. We also had a singing Purple Finch, an Osprey along Hwy 2 west of Cohasset, a Northern Harrier on Cedar Rd west of Deer River, and a Red-tailed Hawk along 169 near Bovey.

Finally, we found 2 Gray Jays, at least 8 Boreal Chickadees, and an unidentified flyover woodpecker that I think was a Three-toed at the bogs along Old Hwy 6 north of Deer River.

3/29

Today, I had a Great Horned Owl on a nest outside of Bovey, a Sharp-shinned Hawk in Veterans' Park, and lots of Hooded and Common Mergansers on the Prairie River off of 61.

Three-toed Woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees, Hoary Redpoll, and other great birds!

Here are some reports from the week:

3/2

I was working in the Chippewa National Forest today and turned up another Three-toed Woodpecker separate from the 2 I reported on Friday. This bird was a male and has probably been in his little tamarack swamp for a while as most of the trees had been worked over.

To get to the spot, take Hwy 38 out of Grand Rapids to Wildernessa Rd, which is 1.5 miles north of CR 19. Take Wildernessa Rd east .5 miles. From there, there is a forest road going south but is gated and serves as a hiking/skiing trail. Walk 1000' feet, 2nd tamarack bog on your right.

This is my 3rd Three-toed Woodpecker in Itasca in 4 days, but oddly, only my 5th here ever. Additionally, 4 of those birds were either along CR 19 or within 1.5 miles of CR 19 and the last was only 4.5 miles from CR 19. So, I guess if you're hoping for a Three-toed Woodpecker in Itasca County, start with CR 19.

2/28

Black-billed Magpie (1) - Priem Rd
Hoary Redpoll (1) - Priem Rd, just submitted documentation
Evening Grosbeak (several) - feeders in Effie
Common Grackle (1) - same feeder setup as the EGs...my second Itasca winter sighting ever of this species
Gray Jay (2) - Alder Rd at the suet feeders
Brown Creeper (1) - Alder Rd hanging near the feeders (but not using them)
Barred Owl (1) - roosting right above the Alder Rd feeders!
White-winged Crossbill (many) - Alder Rd and a lone female actually eating at the same feeder as the Evening Grosbeaks with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls also hanging on it!
Pine Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, and Common Redpolls in good numbers. All finch species mentioned were present at the feeders in Effie. Lots of redpolls in Bigfork. Oddly, after a banner Boreal Chickadee day yesterday, I missed this species despite nearly an hour of watching the Alder Rd feeders.

2/27

I went out this morning to tend to the suet feeders on Alder Road. It turned out to be a pretty good morning to be out! At the feeder north of Middle Creek (3.2 miles after you turn on Alder from CR 48), I had a Boreal Chickadee (within 5' of me while I hung up new suet!), a Gray Jay, the usual woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches, and a large flock of White-winged Crossbills landed directly above me providing excellent looks for several minutes.

Since I was already out, I decided to check a few other bogs. I found a Three-toed Woodpecker on Old Hwy 6. While I was watching it, 3 Boreal Chickadees joined me! To get to this location, head north out of Deer River on Hwy 6. About .3 miles north of CR 19 where Hwy 6 starts to curve, turn onto the north-south gravel road. Head north for a half mile and you reach a point where there is a gate on the right and the plowing stops. Park here and walk north along the power line for about 500 yards and you're in a huge bog at about the point where I found the woodpecker and chickadees. This old road is public and you can walk through up to 8.5 miles of conifer bog, if you're nuts.

Then, I found ANOTHER Three-toed Woodpecker in a tamarack bog on the west side of Baumgarden Road, 1.1 miles north of CR 19. Baumgarden Road is 1 mile east of Hwy 6.

Also, there was a Northern Shrike along CR 19, .1 mile east of Hwy 6. Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, and Pine Grosbeaks were all out in decent numbers.

Eurasian Collared-dove in Grand Rapids

After work today, I checked a street near the original Eurasian Collared-dove sightings and had one fly by at the corner of Willow Lane and 2nd Avenue SE heading toward Ha-Car Place.

Hoary Redpoll at Effie Cafe

I birded Alder Road and the Marcell/Bigfork/Effie corridor today including a few snowshoe treks in various spruce bogs. Birding was slow except for finches along Alder Road and at the Effie Cafe.

A Hoary Redpoll was visiting the feeders at the Effie Cafe along with Common Redpoll, American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Pine Grosbeak, and a few Evening Grosbeaks. I pasted documentation of the Hoary below.

Pine Grosbeaks were abundant on Alder Road and other locations. White-winged Crossbills were numerous at Middle Creek on Alder Road, but this regular Boreal Chickadee spot did not produce today. I also saw several Gray Jays on Alder.

Finally, I birded the entire stretch of open water on the Mississippi River in Cohasset, including walking both directions from the MP&L landing, and found the following:
- 2 adult, 6 immature Trumpeter Swans
- numerous Mallards
- 4 Canada Geese
- maybe a dozen Common Goldeneyes

I haven't seen any waterfowl on the Mississippi downstream of Cohasset. (There is open water below the dam in Grand Rapids.) I have a second-hand report of a Black-backed Woodpecker yesterday at the Deer River DNR station on Hwy 6 but it was not seen today.

A couple of reports from this weekend

I reported the following:

I took a long walk around Coleraine this morning. I found 13 species including 2 robins, 6 Cedar Waxwings, 3 Pileated Woodpeckers, and 3 White-winged Crossbills (2 m, 1 f). The White-winged Crossbills were at Longyear Park. Oddly, I checked here numerous times last year trying to add them to my Bigby list with no luck, then, the calendar rolls over and there they are. I guess I haven't payed enough attention before, but I saw them doing something I didn't realize crossbills did. I saw each of the two males actually snap white spruce cones off of the branches, hop to another perch, put the cone between their feet, and proceed to pick the cone apart. At one point, one of the males dropped a cone and nearly nailed the other, but it didn't seem to bother the bird on the receiving end.

Also, on my way to my parents' house in Grand Rapids today, I saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly into a pine tree in the yard across from McDonald's that used to have the giant Al Franken sign. (We used to call that one "Frankensein"). My parents had many Pine Siskins and 4 White-winged Crossbills.

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In keeping with my usual tradition, I spent the morning on New Year's Day birding to see how 2009 would start out. I got out of town while it was still dark to make sure I didn't--as I sometimes do--start the year by looking out the window at a pigeon. I tried a little owling in the dark--I left home at 4:45 am--around some bogs along Hwy 65 north of Nashwauk with no success. I guess I should just be glad I didn't get the Saturn stuck on one of those backroads since traffic was pretty much nonexistant in the early am.

My first bird of 2009 was actually a Gray Jay...I saw 10 of these yesterday. There were numerous White-winged Crossbill flocks totaling well over 100 birds. I had a flock of 50-60 Snow Buntings in a field along CR 56, about a mile west of 65. I found 4 small Pine Grosbeak flocks, most in crabapples but one group was pished out of a jack pine stand which seemed a little unusual.

Finally, I found a flock of 75-100 Bohemian Waxwings at a township park north of Nashwauk. The county park is a half mile west of 65 on CR 8. On the west edge of the park, there is a row of planted junipers....that's where the birds were at.

Hoary Redpoll - Grand Rapids

I won't claim to have had a long time to study it, but yesterday I stopped at the row of cedars that comes right up to CR B as soon as you turn off of 169. I pished for about 2 seconds and a lone redpoll landed on the branches closest to me. It was really frosty with light gray on the scapulars, only light streaking on the flanks, and the undertails appeared unstreaked. I couldn't see the rump and I didn't notice anything special about the bill. As white as this bird was, I can't imagine it being anything other than a Hoary, but it's possible. Most of the area is very open, which Hoarys are presumed to prefer.

Sunday's storm led to increased activity at the feeders, but nothing out of the ordinary. About 15 Common Redpolls, 4 House Finches, and a Robin huddled in my maple tree were the most notable sightings.

Great Gray on CR 10

Earl Orf reported the following today:

On our way back to the Twin Cities this afternoon my wife and I saw a Great Gray Owl on Itasca CR 10, just south of CR 445.

About a mile south of the owl (still on CR 10) there was a Rough-legged Hawk sitting on top of a telephone pole.

Cedar Waxwings - Bovey

A walk through Bovey this morning was good for only 8 species, but there were lots and lots of redpolls.

More interesting, though, was the flock of a dozen Cedar Waxwings in a mountain ash tree about a block southeast of the post office. They were extremely tame allowing me to walk right under the tree and check the entire flock for a stray Bohemian, which wasn't there.

Grand Rapids Bohemians and Black-backed

Wes Bailey reports 35 Bohemian waxwings foraging on juniper berries on Birch Street close to Pokegama Lake, which is at the end of Isle View Dr off Horseshoe Lake Rd.

Two Black-backed Woodpeckers are hanging around my parents' yard on Old Horseshoe Lake Drive in Grand Rapids.

Scenic State Park

I spent the better part of yesterday hiking (OK, bushwhacking...this wasn't the scenic part of Scenic) on the east side of Coon & Sandwick Lakes in Scenic State Park. Most notably, lots of passerines have gone silent compared to a few weeks ago. I only heard 5 warblers the entire day and they didn't include Yellow, Black-throated Green, Northern Parula, Black-and-white, or American Redstart! No pewees, Least Flycatchers, or Veery. In fact, a full day on the east side (largely inacessible except to the very determined) of Scenic only turned up 33 species, but a few good ones:

- A male White-winged Crossbill greeted me by singing from the top of a spruce on the west side of Hwy 7, just as you reach the park's southern boundary

- I found a Boreal Chickadee, a Gray Jay, and a Blue-headed Vireo in one of the bogs on the east side of the lake (I don't have better directions)

- There were 2 families of Pileated Woodpeckers present...one to the south, one to the north

- A few Pine Warblers were still singing from the old growth pines on the east shore of the lake

MBW pre weekend results

On Thursday evening and most of Friday, I assisted with a Minnesota Birding Weekends field trip in Itasca County. We found a total of 112 species. Shorebirds and ducks were almost absent and we had 17 species of warblers. Thunderstorms chased us off of Alder Road and kept us from trying for a few of the species we had planned for. Here are some of the highlights:

- Sora and Virgiana Rails at tailings ponds near Bovey and Taconite
- Green Herons on Rydberg Rd
- Eurasian Collared-dove on Ha-Car Place in Grand Rapids
- Whippoorwills on the bike trail about 1/2 mile north of my house
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher in the bog just south of Alder Road on 48
- Yellow-throated Vireo on CR 434
- Blue-headed Vireo on 19 and on the fire tower trail at Scenic SP
- Black-billed Magpie, Eastern Meadowlark, LeConte's and probable Vesper Sparrow on Priem Road
- Purple Martin at the Trout Lake access on 10
- Magnolia Warbler on Alder Road at the Bowstring River bridge
- Connecticut and Palm Warbler on the fire tower trail at Scenic SP
- LeConte's Sparrows on CR 446 in multiple locations
- Bobolinks all over
- Yellow-headed Blackbird, Black Tern, and Red-necked Grebe at White Oak Lake

Shorebirds!

The flooded field on CR 10 was good for the following this afternoon:

- 1 Hudsonian Godwit
- 1 Marbled Godwit
- 2 Short-billed Dowitchers
- 2 Semipalmated Plovers
- 1 Solitary Sandpiper
- 2 Least Sandpipers
- several Lesser Yellowlegs
- numerous Palm Warblers

Earl Orf discovered the first 4 shorebirds on the list.

Also, on the Ryberg Road near there, we had a small flock of warblers that included a Wilson's.