Doing Duluth: Canal Park

Year 8

Should folks who read this blog decide a birding trip to the Northland is in order, also on the agenda should be some ship watching. From late March to late January (10 months), Duluth is one of America’s busiest ports. This afternoon, I watched my favorite ship arrive in the Twin Ports. The Alpena, the oldest ship sailing our waters, was built in 1942 and carries cement around the Great Lakes.

There is a great tool for figuring out when you should visit Canal Park and watch a ship sail under the Aerial Lift Bridge. It is named Harbor Lookout. Use the map and also investigate all the live web cams located from Superior to Silver Bay.

I took these photographs from atop the hill at Enger Park.

Ross’s Goose

Year 8

You should remember previous posts which mention the Cornell School of Ornithology’s app, Merlin. This app was very useful this afternoon when I needed to ID a white goose. The bird had to be a Ross’s or Snow Goose … both rare for this part of North America, but which one?? Merlin allows one to request an ID using a photograph of the bird which you upload.

Thanks to Merlin I know that the white goose was a Ross’s Goose, not a Snow Goose. These birds look very similar. Some other birding notes from today:

  • Snow buntings are starting to appear in decent numbers along the roadsides north of Duluth
  • Strong winds out of the north the past few days have spurred on the migration of truly “northern birds”. An amazing number of purple finches are hanging out at my feeders, and the first Snowy Owl in the Lower 48 was seen in northern Wisconsin.

Owling Failure

Year 8

I drove up to Sax-Zim Bog this morning arriving a bit before sunrise. I thought it might be a good morning for owling due to these reasons:

  • Two nights ago it rained (owls do not hunt in the rain … thus might still be hungry)
  • The forecast for the hours at sunrise was light winds and clouds (ideal for owls)

I failed BIG time in terms of finding any Great Gray Owls. There were some factors I could not have predicted, but meant my local owl population made themselves well hidden in the deep for rest:

  • Four Bald Eagles were hunting at my primary owling grounds
  • Two Rough-Legged Hawks were hunting at my primary owling grounds

These six raptors spell trouble for Great Grays. Thus, I failed, but did see some cool hawks and eagles. My birding also yielded a few magpies and snow buntings. Finally, this Ruffed Grouse was strutting its stuff on the connector road between Admiral and McDavitt Roads. Thus, it was a fun morning, just not what I expected.