Guide Series: Slummin’ and Chummin’ for Snowies, Gyrs, and Gulls in the Twin Ports

No birding trip to northern Minnesota in the winter is complete without spending a significant amount of time in Duluth, MN and Superior, WI.  Not only is it the most reliable place in this part of the state to find the Snowy Owls that Gordon Karre and Tommy DeBardelben craved, but it is also a place where one can rack up a sweet suite of winter Gulls and see some oddball vagrants such as the Golden-crowned Sparrow, Townsend’s Solitaire, and the impressive Gyrfalcon–or two or three this year.  In short, Tommy, Gordon, and I had a lot of work to do in this urban birding environment, and we scheduled no less than a full day from dawn to dusk on our second day of the Tour de Nord.

Our day started with a search for the most reliable Snowy Owl in Superior, Wisconsin, the one that had been hanging out around the Richard Bong Airport and nearby parking lots of Menards and Aldi.  The truth is, I wanted to secure this main target early in the day rather than waiting until the day was almost over.  Alleviating the stress early and getting home earlier for a hot shower and a hot meal sounded dreamy.  But I really wasn’t stressed about the Snowy Owl since we had success with the Great Gray the previous day and since I knew this species of Owl would be the easiest to get for Tommy and Gordon.  Anyhow, we gave up our morning Snowy search after a couple hours to pursue some other targets.  We would just have to get that SNOW in the evening.  No biggie.

The thing about finding the really good birds in Duluth/Superior is that they are in some of the most sketchy places–industrial complexes, oil refineries, rail yards, landfills, etc.  But we birders go where the birds go.  Then a funny thing happens–we grow to like those places and even dream about them. A pristine, quiet stand of Red Pine next to an untouched, snow-covered northern lake? Forget about it. Bring on the garbage trucks, train cars, and smoke stacks!

Peavey

Tommy, Gordon, and I made a stop at the Peavey grain elevators to look for its most impressive avian residents.  After a short time, we finally spied Tommy and Gordon’s lifer Gyrfalcon fly in.  Then it perched the closest to the road I’ve ever seen this bird perch.  Normally it hangs out on the huge superstructure furthest from the road, but this time it split that distance in half and even flew across the road on which we stood.

Gyrfalcon

GyrfalconAfter this, we made a stop at Canal Park in Duluth to see what was going on Gull-wise.  The guys picked up a handsome Thayer’s Gull lifer, but that was about it.  I couldn’t even muster up a Black Duck for the guys. I did, however, do my Minnesota duty and made Tommy and Gordon skip rocks in Lake Superior.

Thayer's Gull

Now, there are still blog posts to be written, but Tommy and Gordon truly hit the jackpot with all their birds on this trip.  They also hit the jackpot with the weather as it was unseasonably warm their entire trip–it was nearly 40 degrees ABOVE zero and SUNNY in Duluth this day.  I don’t know if they can fully appreciate that. This dude gets it.

Kayak Lake Superior

After Canal Park we went up the North Shore of Lake Superior 20 miles to the town of Two Harbors to look for some nomadic Bohemian Waxwings and see what was happening seaduck-wise on the lakefront.  We struck out on those Bohemians, but once we got to Agate Bay we met Jim Lind, compiler of the Duluth RBA, who had his scope zeroed in on a handsome male Long-tailed Duck.  It was way too far for photos, but the scope views were incredible. This was definitely my bird highlight of our Duluth Day.

By this time in the afternoon it was time to head back to Superior to begin our Snowy search in earnest.  We had a little time to check out Canal Park for Gulls and Black Ducks.  On the way, I got a text from Randy Frederickson that they had an Iceland Gull; Randy is a birding friend from where I live, but I had found out he was in town to study Thayer’s Gulls intently in the hopes of finally seeing one in our Kandiyohi County.  I got a second text from Randy as we literally just parked the car at Canal Park: the Great Black-backed Gull had just come in! Score!

Great Black-backed GullTommy and Gordon quickly tallied this lifer as well as the Iceland Gull lifer.  They also got to witness the spontaneous birder parties that happen at Canal Park as the who’s who of Duluth birders show up to enjoy the Gulls, look for the really wacko stuff (Ivory Gull, Black-legged Kittiwake), toss bread out to bring the Gulls closer, take orders for what Gulls everybody is still looking for, and generally be friendly tutors to those of us still illiterate in Gull identification.  Peder Svingen, Clinton Nienhaus, and John Richardson were all on hand this particular afternoon to confirm species ID and point out the cool Gulls from the Herring herd.  Even when some of us were distracted with trying to get a THGU/Lighthouse combo pic…

Thayer's Gull lighthouse

…Clinton was still keeping an eye to the horizon. All of the sudden, Clinton made a cheerful announcement to the three of us, “Gu-uys! Glaucous coming in!” It was a lifer for Gordon and gave the AZ guys the Winter Gull Grand Slam.

Glaucous Gull

Finally, though, it was time to get back to priority one for this day: Snowy Owl searching.  Peder Svingen gave me some great last-minute tips on a couple of birds in Superior.  He was spot-on.  Tommy quickly found one of those Snowies perched up giving them one of their most-wanted lifers and giving me another huge wave of relief.  While viewing it, birding guide Kim Risen stopped to talk, and he pointed us in the direction of a second bird in the area and asked what else we were still looking for.  The generosity of MN birders continues to impress me even though I’ve seen it over and over.  Here’s the bird Kim had for us.

Snowy OwlCan you spy Tommy, Gordon, and the Snowy Owl in this photo?

Snowy Owl Superior

The good thing about Snowy Owls in the Twin Ports is that they are fairly easy to come by.  The bad thing is that most all of them have been caught, tagged with a number, and marked with shoe polish on their heads by bird bander Dave Evans who has been studying them for 40 years.

IMG_7239The wing tags help Dave monitor and identify the Owls from afar without having to stress them with recapture.  Here is the first Snowy Owl we saw just before #28 above.

Snowy Owl SuperiorI wish Tommy and Gordon could have seen unmarked Snowy Owls, but a marked Snowy seen is better than an unmarked Snowy not seen!  Ironically, these were the first marked Snowy Owls I had ever seen in real life.  Tommy and Gordon did get to gain an appreciation for the types of urban habitats these birds often winter in.

Snowy Owl SuperiorIt was another rocking day of birding in the north that met or even exceeded expectations.  Notable misses included American Black Duck and Bohemian Waxwing.  On a sad, personal note, my Kittiwake lifer did not make an appearance.  Here is a run-down of the second day’s lifers:

Gyrfalcon – Tommy, Gordon

Thayer’s Gull – Tommy, Gordon

Iceland Gull – Tommy, Gordon

Great Black-backed Gull – Tommy, Gordon

Glaucous Gull – Gordon

Snowy Owl – Tommy, Gordon

Once again, a great team of Minnesota birders helped Tommy and Gordon have a memorable day.  I’d like to thank Jim Lind for pointing out the Long-tailed Duck, Peder Svingen for his Snowy Owl tips and his Gull identification tutorials, Randy Frederickson for his heads-up texts on the Iceland and Great Black-backed Gulls, Clinton Nienhaus for alerting us to the Glaucous Gull, John Richardson for being another set of eyes at Canal Park, and Kim Risen for the bonus Snowy Owl. This birding community is the best!

Coming up is a post about the day of northern birding I was looking forward to the most.  I myself was going into new birding territory as we would have to venture way up into Northwest Minnesota in our pursuit of the guys’ Northern Hawk Owl lifer.

Gyr!

Just as with beer, cheese, and processed meats, occasionally one must step foot in next-door Wisconsin for the finer things in life, and birds are no exception.  Last spring their state-record Garganey just over the border drove Minnesota and Wisconsin birders wild. This winter a slightly less cool bird-which by no means diminishes its status!-showed up in the twin-port city of Superior, Wisconsin.  This large bird, figuratively and literally speaking, that chose to take up winter residence on the Wisconsin side of the Blatnik Bridge also had Minnesota birders worked up into a frenzy.  Yes, we are talking about the Gyrfalcon, a falcon so superior in size and awesomeness to its lesser brethren that seasoned northern birders drop the “falcon” altogether when uttering its name.  Gyr (pronounced “jeer”-trust me, I heard it spoken by the state’s top birder) was first caught by raptor bander, Dave Evans, in Superior and word slowly got out that this arctic predator was in town. Better yet is that it had taken up residence at the Peavey grain elevators on Connors Point where it spends much time loafing and enjoying spectacular views of Lake Superior when not feeding on pigeons in the harbor.

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I, too, had Gyr fever.  I had many false-starts and set-backs for getting up north the past month, but I finally made it happen.  It took much planning, namely sending the kids home with Grandma and Grandpa after a double birthday celebration, sending Melissa home to a quiet house, and sending myself solo to Duluth/Superior and beyond.  It was win-win-win. Though with some atrocious dog diarhhea episodes at home while 3/4 of us were away, that conclusion may have to be settled far from now by the bird-blogging historians.

But, anyhow, I felt free as a bird as I drove north, much like this Rough-legged Hawk I saw along the way.

Rough-legged Hawk

Duluth birder, JG Bennett, knew I was coming and graciously agreed to help me locate Gyr – not necessarily an easy task as many birders have dipped on seeing it.  In exchange I’ll be helping him find his Blue Grosbeak lifer this summer–I think I’m getting the better end of this deal.  JG called me when I was about an hour from Duluth to tell me that the Gyr was present.  Nice guy that he is, he babysat the thing for over an hour until I showed up. Considering the distance from the viewing area and the massive gridiron structure, I was glad he did.

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Even in this next photo you can get a sense of the size of the Gyr (look for the bump near the top right).

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At times like this I’m thankful for the zoom capabilities of my camera.  Quality leaves a lot to be desired, but, hey, no one’s getting killer shots or even great views of this raptor.

Gyrfalcon

GyrfalconSome fun history on Gyr is that this same individual was caught and banded in 2003 in the Duluth/Superior area.  At the time it was a third-year bird.  It ended up returning every winter for four years and then did not return until this year!  Given when it was banded, the age of this male Gyrfalcon is estimated to be 14 years 8 months–the oldest Gyrfalcon on record!

I spent about a half hour or so with the bird who never, ever moved off his perch, even when pigeons flew right by his head.  By seeing the main target right away, my time was then free to fritter away as I pleased.  I had northern gulls to pick up (Glaucous, Iceland, Great Black-backed), but the Duluth shipping canal was froze over, so there went any hopes for gulls or sea ducks.  Instead I decided to try to track down one of three Northern Hawk Owls in the Duluth area as it had been over a year since I had seen this cool bird. The strong winds were keeping the owls hidden though.  I couldn’t find a single one.  Duluth birds in general were giving me the snub, including this Pine Grosbeak.

Pine Grosbeak

I had one last hope for the Hawk Owl (“Northern” is a bit superfluous and is often dropped by northern birders).  One had been hanging out just south of the Sax-Zim Bog near Canyon.  Specifically this bird could be reliably found right at mile marker 29 at Hellwig Creek.  I decided that the Duluth Hawk Owls were a lost cause, so I might as well try for Hellwig and then use up my remaining daylight hours in the Bog.  Hellwig was also a no-show, so it was on to the Bog for me.

I have several unfinished birding projects of sorts for the Sax-Zim Bog–a lifer or two, better photo ops of some, officially getting another on my state eBird list, and so on. Anyhow, one of my top goals was to get a good photo of a Boreal Chickadee, so I made a bee-line to the Admiral Road feeding station.  There were the usual suspects around. Gregarious Gray Jays are always up for a photo-shoot.

Gray Jay

Common Redpolls were everywhere.  A couple looked whiter and plumper than the rest.  I’m thinking this one looks good for Hoary based on the small, conical bill and faint streaking on the flanks.  It had the overall frosty appearance of a Hoary.

Hoary Redpoll

The Boreal Chickadees can be quite finicky.  Often birders will have to wait up to a half hour or more for just a flash appearance.  That was my experience last year.  This year was a different story as two of them were coming out from the Spruce bog constantly in the last hour of daylight to feed on their favorite winter food–peanut butter smeared on branches.  Visitors to Sax-Zim are encouraged to slather up some branches with the creamy stuff (and donate their fair share of PB) at the Admiral Road feeders when they visit.  It’s crazy, but it works.

This Boreal Chickadee momentarily, and perhaps regretfully, chose suet over PB.

Boreal Chickadee

Admittedly I’m a bit smitten with this bird.  I’ve never really been able to answer the question of “What’s your favorite bird?”, but this one has to be right up there.  I may be a bit biased, but this, in my opinion, is the best Chickadee.  Perhaps that’s because it leads a secretive life in the deep, mysterious Spruce bogs alongside Great Gray Owls and Spruce Grouse and is rarely seen or perhaps because it is so visually stunning.

Boreal Chickadee

I’m finally at peace with the Boreal Chickadee as I got the photo I wanted–even if it does have a little peanut butter in it.

Boreal Chickadee

After hanging out with the Boreal Chickadees, who, by the way, are just as tame as their Black-capped cousins, I headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s to spend the night with the kids and prepare for the next day of birding which is arguably the best day I’ve ever had in the Sax-Zim Bog.  Stay tuned…there will be videos!