All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Give the Gift of Owls! (Children’s Picture Books Black Friday Special)

Year 10

Starting now through midnight on Black Friday, November 24 (special price extended) … Give the Gift of Owls this Holiday Season at a special price! My children’s owl picture books are on sale. For $41, a 23% discount, which INCLUDES sales tax and shipping, you will receive all three of my owl children’s picture books:

  • Do You Hoot?
  • Smokey Finds a Rainbow!
  • Snowy’s Search for Color!

Purchase via PayPal (use any major credit card, no account required). Remember, you may download at no charge a PDF of each story. Use this link to purchase.

One may ONLY order one set of the three books. The price of $41 is a 23% discount from the normal price of $53.10. If you live in the Duluth area, and would like to pick the books up in person at my home, I will refund the $5 shipping fee. All orders will be shipped on Monday, December 4th.

More information about each book (online extras about each species of owl). Remember, you may download at no charge a PDF of each story. Use this link to purchase.

Do You Hoot? – The “true life experiences about a young Great Horned Owlet as it grows up in the forest across from the author’s home.

Smokey Finds a Rainbow! – A story about a young Great Gray Owl, and its explorations through the northern forest in search of a rainbow.

Snowy’s Search for Color! – A story about a young Snowy Owl’s and its search for color.

Willowsippi WMA Birding

Year 10

Before there was Sax-Zim Bog, there was the Willowsippi Wildlife Management Area (WMA)! Sax-Zim has gotten all the publicity over the past decade, but this WMA which is not too far from “The Bog” as the crow flies (or the Great Gray Owl) has a great combination of flatlands, wetlands and Boreal Forest. This used to be where birders in the know looked for Great Gray Owls. 320th Place Road off Aitkin County #18 was the “Admiral and McDavitt Roads” of Willowsippi (Google Maps link). In addition this WMA is only a few miles distant from the Mississippi River (think bird migration highways).

Three mornings ago I drove the 90 minutes over to this region for some birding. It was a fun and very birdy time. How else may one describe seeing 39 Sharp-Tailed Grouse? I need to find their LEK to watch some serious dancing this winter.

In addition, this Northern Shrike and its much bigger Bald Eagle friend were searching for a kill.

Give this area near Hill City a try! Coming from the Duluth area or Sax-Zim Bog you will even get to visit the “Catfish Capital of the World“!

Feathers Down to the Talons! Rough-Legged Hawk

Year 10

This Rough-Legged Hawk (Cornell link) is one of the only three American raptors with feathers all the way down their legs to their talons (not including owls). The other two are the Golden Eagle and the Ferruginous Hawk. All three of these birds live in areas with extreme cold, and over hundreds and hundreds of years their bodies have adapted.

Rough-Legged Hawk Legs Close-Up

I had a great time just a few minutes before sunset yesterday up in Sax-Zim Bog. The large raptors are arriving from the Arctic. Rough-Legged Hawks will hang around in Northeastern Minnesota till the snow piles up on the ground (hawks don’t like to hunt through snow). Given the sun which was extremely low to the horizon and was in the hawk’s eyes, even though I was close it could not see me as it hunted.

Rough-Legged Hawk Take-Off Sequence (it only moved 30 yards to a new hunting perch)