Only twenty-nine species! It is a pretty short list for almost three full days of birding, but considering what species were seen, Michigan Audubon’s first tour to the Sax Zim Bog in Minnesota was an obvious success! The Sax Zim Bog has gained a lot of notoriety in the last few years for being an excellent spot to see wintering boreal species, including some of North America’s most haunting species- the northern owls. Species that normally take up space on birder’s “Top ten most wanted” lists are seen near annually here at the Sax Zim.

We first pulled into the Sax Zim Bog a little after sunrise Friday morning to an impressive temperature of negative 27 Fahrenheit! But the game was afoot, and we were immediately greeted by a flock of Gray Jays. These cheery birds were all a twitter-pated, with their very early breeding season set to begin late this month, they were quite vocal and animated and spent more time chasing each other rather than eating the peanut butter at the roadside feeding station they were clustered around. These feeders are also a great spot for Boreal Chickadee, though we would not get good looks at this enigmatic bird till the second day of the tour. We were pleased to find a Snowy Owl by mid-morning, and a couple hours later had some fantastic looks at a Northern Hawk Owl that had taken up a winter-time residence on a road appropriately titled Owl Avenue. Our afternoon efforts also yielded a few small flocks of Pine Grosbeaks, this beautiful, but unpredictable irruptive species was in short supply compared to recent winters. It was a good first day, cold yes, but the clear skies and lack of wind made for an enjoyable time and the sunset over the peatlands was glorious.

If our first day out was good, our second day could only be described as fantastic! For a great day in birding, location is only half the mix; timing is just as crucial. And on this snowy morning in the Sax Zim, we were lucky to be there on a day when Great Gray Owls were literally falling out of the trees (on to unsuspecting voles…). It was pretty special. There were a few birding groups working the bog that morning and we all stayed in touch with one another. With so many eyes looking, every so often, someone would call in another sighting of a Great Gray Owl! It was a little hard to sort out how many Great Grays we saw that day (I know problems right?!), but at the end of the day, we felt that we had seen six different birds over seven sightings.  But the fun wasn’t just restricted to the Great Grays, we saw again both Snowy and Northern Hawk Owls, and added a few new trip birds like Snow Bunting, Evening Grosbeak and a calling Black-billed Magpie from within a tamarack swamp. Though as amazing as the Great Grays were, there was one sighting that I deemed the “bird of the day”. While it might not of had feathers, our extended look at a Gray Wolf slowly trotting down some train tracks in a fluffy-flaked snow shower was the crown jewel of the trip.

For our final morning out, we felt pretty satiated by the bog and decided to do something different and head up the North Shore along Lake Superior. It being Super Owl Sunday, we of course needed to start the day out right and made stops on the outer edge of Duluth where staked-out Snowy and Northern Hawk Owls were waiting for us on arrival. It never does get old looking at birds that cool! We meandered up the shore, it was quiet bird-wise, but the Minnesota coastline is some of the prettiest in the whole country. Tall granitic rock plunges down into Lake Superior, amidst a snowy forest of birch, pine and volumpicious Mountain Ash- it really is stunning country! Most of the lake was iced over, but in some of the open patches of water we had Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Ducks. And yes, we did have one more superb owl sighting; along Highway 61 (yes, Bob Dylan’s Highway 61), we had our 7^th and final Great Gray Owl of the trip hunting in  grove of Paper Birch, a stunning visual against a blue sky. I do love a good encore!

 

 

 

The trip list:

Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruffed Grouse, Bald Eagle, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, Great Gray Owl, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Blue Jay, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Boreal Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, European Starling, Snow Bunting, Pine Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Evening Grosbeak.