Winter Birding in Minnesota: Superior Snowies

My winter birding trip to Minnesota was proving successful, with great looks at Northern Hawk Owl and Great Gray Owl, as well as Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee at some of the numerous feeders in the Sax-Zim bog region.

Zub-zero temperatures reigned, as we continued on to explore the Duluth/Superior area, in search of additional species to augment our small but impressive list. We were fortunate to find 3 different immature Snowy Owls (above). Two of them were located predictably in snow-covered fields. The third was perched at the top of a tall evergreen tree, at the edge of a residential neighborhood. All 3 Snowys were wing-tagged with blue markers, the subjects of a long-running, local research project.

At Canal Park, we saw only a few gulls, but they were good ones – Glaucous and Thayer’s flying in circles over the frozen jetties. At the Superior Landfill (above) Bald Eagles flushed huge groups of larids, enabling us to pick out several Iceland Gulls of different ages.

Further up the Lake Superior scenic shoreline (above), bodies of open water yielded some hardy waterfowl, including numerous Common Goldeneye, a few female Common Mergansers and a flock of Long-tailed Ducks.

We were thrilled when Ann spotted a Sharp-tailed Grouse near the top of a maple tree. Looking around, we realized there were 3 of them feeding on maple buds. During our travels, we noticed scattered groups of Ruffed Grouse along the side of the road. One evening at dusk, we watched one drop from onto the ground from 10 feet up in a shrub, then wiggle itself down into the snow and out of sight (above). It popped back up briefly with snow on its head, to our great amusement and delight. It was obviously settling in for the night, perfectly warm and protected inside it’s wintery roost.

We spent our last day sweeping the area for any missed species. We found a half-dozen Evening Grosbeaks (above) at a backyard feeder, and added Wild Turkeys, Ring-necked Pheasant, Dark-eyed Junco and a flock of Snow Buntings to our list. We searched unsuccessfully for Grey Partridge, though we did see tracks and evidence in the snow.

Our woodpecker tally already included Hairy, Downy and Pileated, and we were hoping to add the two three-toed species to our list.  We were rewarded with excellent views of a male Black-backed Woodpecker (above) energetically flaking large pieces of bark from a dead evergreen.

Our Minnesota winter birding trip ended with an impressive number of 45 bird species and 3 mammals – White-tailed Deer, Coyote and Red Squirrel (above).