I put up and filled my “winter feeders” along Old Vermilion Trail (a dirt road, not a hiking trail) just outside of Duluth this morning. More information including a map of the feeder location may be found via my northern Minnesota birding web page. Sites, including the Old Vermilion Trail are listed in alphabetical order.
Monthly Archives: October 2015
Snow Geese: Blue and White Morphs!
A small flock of snow geese greeted my return from Europe! I knew from reading MOU posts that the Arctic birds were migrating though northern Minnesota, and I went out birding this morning in the hope of finding some feathered friends which were a bit unusual in terms of migrating through our area. I was rewarded with finding a flock of six snow geese on the Two Harbors golf course which included three distinct color variations among the birds (see below): Blue Morphs and White Morphs, and one mixed color bird. Very cool!
My travels this morning also yielded some bald eagles feasting on road kill, but I struck out on my search for an early season snowy owl. It was a good morning.
- View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon images to view at full size)
Snow Geese Morph Phases
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Bald Eagle
Hiking the Ostravice!
It was cold, drizzly and a bit foggy this morning. If I were at home, it would be a perfect day to hang out in front of the fireplace and not go birding. However, given Molly and I are in the Czech Republic, we went birding with an initial stop at a coffee shop for Molly followed by a hike along the banks of the Ostravice River in Ostrava.
Like at home, most birds have flown south to warmer climates, but I spied this Eurasian Jay feeding amonst the crows. While this bird might be rather common for the locals, it was neat find for me … with its perfect pose juxtaposed the fallen leaves.
Eurasian Jay