Sax-Zim Bog Great Gray Owl (video)

Year 6

When is a vole not a vole? When it is a small rock!

This morning I had the pleasure of watching a juvenile Great Gray Owl hunt. I was dumbfounded when the owl repeatedly dove to capture a certain rock. However, this bird is still learning to hunt, and I also noticed its landings are not picture perfect. Quite frankly I am not used to watching a Great Gray Owl land on a road.

The final bit of amusement was when the owl disappeared into the forest. For over ten minutes I watched the area into which the bird had disappeared with extreme concentration. When I finally turned around I discovered the owl was toying with me, the human. It had come back out to the road and landed on a tamarack pine less than 10 yards behind me. Who knows how long it had been watching me! LOL!

There not feet, they’re talons!

I see you!

Watch Out Vole (or rock!)

(link to YouTube)

Next Birding Seminar: Sunday Evening, November 3rd

Background

Snowy Owls and More … Birding the Northland this Winter! (free talk)

Ever wanted to view a Snowy Owl at close quarters in the Port Cities? Or watch a Great Gray Owl hunting on the Northshore?  Or see colorful winter finches and waxwings? If you answered yes to any of these questions, come to French River Lutheran Church on Sunday evening, November 3rd at 6:30 PM. Rich Hoeg, a volunteer naturalist at the Sax-Zim Bog winter birding wilderness 40 miles NW of Duluth will give a free birding talk on finding our feathered friends in the Northland this winter. With Q &A the talk will be 60 minutes in length.

There is no fee or advance registration to attend this event. Just show up! Light refreshments will be served.

Note: French River Lutheran Church is located between the Two Harbors Expressway and Scenic 61 on Ryan Road, which is two miles past McQuade Harbor coming from Duluth.

Minnesota Birding News Service Released!

Background

The updated Minnesota Birding News Service is released. 41 people installed the service during the beta test over the past two weeks without a single hiccup.

Minnesota Birding News Service Overview

A free service without advertisements that automatically provides updates to the user from the top Minnesota and American birding web sites and organizations. Installation is a two part process:

  • Install the RSS Feed Reader (Feedly)
  • Import the Minnesota data (OPML file)

The service runs on Android and iOS devices (app based), and on Windows PC’s or MacIntosh Computers. Only one account is needed, and a user may access the service on as many platforms as desired.

You will find various help aides including video tutorials and annotated screenshots. Here is one example screenshot taken from within Feedly on my Windows PC. This screenshot displays content apart from “birding” because I am personally following / tracking other sources (totally optional).