Nope. Still no pictures from an RV park in Florida or Arizona. These are more images from recent trips to northern Minnesota in search of avian winter residents – the Great Gray Owl, Northern Hawk Owl, and Rough-legged Hawk. Click on any image for a larger version.
Sorry to disappoint you if you were thinking this was a collection of flashy photos of Minnesotans seeking relief from winter weather in Arizona or Florida. Quite to the contrary, these snow birds – Great Grey Owl, Hawk Owl, and Rough-legged Hawk – are from farther north in Minnesota around the Eveleth area. Here are a few images from a recent trip with more to follow…click on any image for a larger version.
I recently made an overnight trip to Sax-Zim Bog and encountered several birds that are not common visitors to our St. Paul area. I had hoped to see the Great Grey Owl that was frequenting an area close to the Admiral Road bird feeders but came up short. I also saw Boreal Chickadees and Northern Shrikes but given the distance at which I took the pictures, they didn’t turn out great. The Snowy owl would ordinarily be an exceptional sighting but this winter has witnessed an irruption of well over 250 sightings so far in Minnesota. Here is a link if you would like to view a map showing all the Snowy owl sightings since November, 2013 – https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=215779442560997336854.0004ee2b1fd714d205220&msa=0 . In order are the Northern Hawk Owl, Grey Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Raven and Snowy Owl. As always, you can click on any image to see it in a larger version.
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