[TN-Bird] Bristol Birders get GYRFALCON in Minnesota

BIRDING WINTER OWLS IN
MINNESOTA'S NORTH COUNTRY
Dave Worley and I birded northern Minnesota last Saturday throurh Monday (Feb. 
19-21) to observe the historic invasion of boreal owls and other species.  
We didn't find as much as the Nashville group reported earlier.  

We got most biggie species we went for except Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, 
Gray Jay and American Three-toed Woodpecker.  We didn't try for the Snowy Owl 
since no one needed it.  Andy Jones, a Kingsport, TN graduate student at the 
University of Minnesota, hosted us and provided transportation.  

The climatic end came Monday afternoon near Rosemont in Dakota County where a 
young birder, running across the road, pointed to a gorgeous GYRFALCON in a 
distant tree. Matt Wetrich of Ames, Iowa was taking digital photos.  This soon 
created a gathering of other birders from North Carolina, Georgia and 
Louisiana. We enjoyed high fives and a scrapbook photo on the roadside. 

A resident let us park in his front yard and joined in the excitement. Laura 
Coble, of Cannon Falls, MN, stood in the road to take a group photo. She later 
reported that, after we left, a Tennessee birder showed up who knew me but 
Laura failed to get his name.

The Gyrfalcon find brought to a close Andy's perfect trip which included 710 
miles of birding in less than three full days. We went to Caroleton, Atikin, 
Itasca, Saint Louis, Lake and Dakota counties.  The route included the Superior 
National Forest of the North Country.

Our group helped the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union and the Minnesota 
Department of Natural Resources' efforts to document the locations of as many 
owls as possible. We mapped out 24 of 25 GREAT GRAY OWLS with a Global 
Positioning System (GPS). The Great Gray Owls perched on trees, fences, power 
polls and traffic signs.  We recorded notes and GPS data for 50 locations where 
owls and other significant species were found.

The weekend produced 12 NORTHERN HAWK OWLS and 2 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS.  

The BOREAL OWL, similar to a Saw-whet Owl but much larger, is one of the 
difficult birds to find.  It was a long shot for us until John Mann, with other 
Nashville birders, called our cell about 4:30 p.m. to give neat directions to 
one they had seen along the 61 Expressway at Schmidt Creek.  Amazingly we were 
just 20 minutes or so away and managed to join several carloads of birders 
there at 4:50 p.m.   We stayed to watch it leave its roost, begin hunting and 
fly across the road.  Andy and Dave had observed it egest a pellet just before 
hunting.  Andy scrambled up the bank and managed to find the pellet it in the 
snow. It was collected and we took it to the mammal collection manager at the 
Bell Museum of Natural History at the University of Minnesota. Hopefully they 
will determine some of its prey species from the bones and skulls in the pellet 
.

It was particularly nice to see Tommie Rogers, of Mound City, MO and formerly 
of Chattanooga, who was birding with a group from Missouri. We met in the isle 
of a convenience store before daylight our first morning at Duluth. 

Here is a species list. The ones for which we kept good individual numbers are 
indicated.

Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Sharp-tailed Grouse 1
Bald Eagle 7
Cooper's Hawk 1 (rare this winter)
Northern Goshawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk
Gyrfalcon 1
Herring Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Hawk Owl 12
Great Gray Owl 25
Boreal Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker
Northern Shirke 6
Blue Jay
American Crow (many)
Common Raven (many)
Horned Lark (many)
Black-capped Chickadee (many at most feeders)
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 (uncommon this winter)
European Starling
Bohemian Waxwing ~30
Cedar Waxwing
Snow Bunting 8 (a flock picking up grit in the road)
Northern Cardinal (male - very rare in winter that far north at Palisades)
Pine Grosbeak 34
Common Redpoll (abundant)
Horay Redpoll (1 male)
Pine Siskin

The following URL is a link to the Bristol Bird Club's Photo Album where you 
may see a few photos of the Minnesota owls and trip:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jwcoffeyy/album?.dir=/efd5

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN




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