This will be the last week of registrations for the 3rd Annual Sax-Zim Bog Winter Bird Festival being held on Feb 12-14th in Meadowlands, MN. Since my last posting Great Gray Owls look like they headed back in the woods but in the last week or so Great Gray Owls seem to make a rebound and have been seen a few times in the Sax-Zim Bog! Thank goodness.
The feeders in the Sax-Zim Bog are still attracting Boreal Chickadees, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls and other winter residents. Black-backed Woodpeckers are being seen on most days along with Northern Hawk Owls! In Duluth there are still good places to view Bohemian Waxwings and the big news is the number of gull species being seen. Good numbers of Iceland Gulls in various ages, Thayer's Gulls, Glaucous Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls. Also are Barrow's Goldeneye is still being seen among a large raft of Common Goldeneyes. In Aitkin County good numbers of Northern Hawk Owls and the big draw will be the Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying on their lek!
There is a lot to be found and seen during the festival.
To read more about the festival go here: http://moumn.org/sax-zim/
There will be bird field trips going to Sax-Zim Bog, Aitkin County and Duluth. There will also be a winter photo workshop led by Mark "Sparky" Stensaas and Shawn Zierman. Here birders will learn about winter photography and visit a private feeder to photograph winter finches. Along with the workshop and birding field trips there will also be speakers, vendors and much more!
Thanks for your time!
Mike
Sparky is a good friend of mine--the workshop he and Shawn are doing should be absolutely splendid. And the field trip leaders are superb. This is a really worthwhile birding festival, and this would be a good year to participate! Check it out!