Happy New Year Tweets!

First of all, I freely admit to experiencing birder's
remorse over missing the Grant County Hawk Owl and
Black-headed Gull. As I read the details of these fine
rarities from the distance from over a half continent
away, I vainly hoped that they would be remain for me
to chase them.

Despite missing a couple of great birds in my home
state, I did see some interesting winter specialties
in northern Minnesota and central Iowa. Even though it
was not an irruption year, we enjoyed birding the
area.

At the tail end of December, Dennis Murphy of
Delaware, Patricia Lott, and I birded a couple of days
around Duluth with a local guide (Mike Hendrickson).
The weather was storm free, and temps ranged from the
low teens to low twenties.

On December, 30th, 2007, we began our day in the
famous Sax-Zim Bog. One of our first birds of the day,
was an impressive GREAT GRAY OWL. Later, GRAY JAYs,
SNOW BUNTINGs, and BOREAL CHICKADEEs provided us with
some outstanding views. Ravens were the most
ubiquitous birds of the area.

At a productive feeder in the Sax-Zim Bog area, we
observed good numbers of COMMON REDPOLLs, EVENING
GROSBEAKs, PINE GROSBEAKs, HAIRY WOODPECKER, a BLUE
JAY, and a male HOARY REDPOLL.

Our best mammal of the trip was undoubtedly the TIMBER
WOLF that we saw patrolling the road ahead of us.
White-tailed Deer, Red Squirrel, and Eastern Gray
Squirrels were the other mammals that we saw in
Minnesota.

In Aitkin County, we enjoyed views of PILEATED
WOODPECKER, BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, PINE GROSBEAKS,
BLUE JAY, BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE, COMMON CROW, and a
NORTHERN GOSHAWK.

On New Year's Eve (12/31/07), we visited Two Harbors,
MN. Our hike around a lakeside woodlot was rewarded
with a circling flock of twenty-five WHITE-WINGED
CROSSBILLs. This was a much sought-after lifer for
both Patricia and Dennis.

Other birds of Two Harbors included PILEATED
WOODPECKER, DOWNY WOODPECKER, HAIRY WOODPECKER,
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, and
COMMON GOLDENEYE.

Back in the Sax-Zim Bog, we dipped on the Hawk Owl
that had been seen a couple of days earlier. However,
the Hoary Redpoll was still coming to the bird feeder.
A WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH came in as well.

Ending the day at the landfill in Superior, Wisconsin,
we saw a NORTHERN SHRIKE and a BLUE JAY. Since
entrance to the landfill proper is prohibited, I was
wondering how anyone ever saw any of the rare gulls
that had been reported. While we stood outside the
gate and gazed up the steep slope of the landfill, we
noticed a couple of BALD EAGLEs that began quartering
the hidden side of the landfill. It wasn't long until
large numbers of gulls were stirred up and wheeling
through the air. Out of the numerous HERRING GULLS and
few RING-BILLED GULLS, we picked out an adult ICELAND
GULL that flew directly over us. Quite a few GLAUCOUS
GULLS were present, and we saw one adult THAYER'S GULL
too.

New Year's Day dawned in Duluth with a minus 3 degree
temperature. As it happened, the Greyhound Bus that
were taking to Des Moines had a malfunctioning heater
and the temperature on board was a brisk 24 degrees.
Through the window of the waiting bus, I saw a MERLIN
pursue some Starlings.

Upon our arrival in Minneapolis, I was quite chilled
and I quickly threw on my warmest winter garments
before we boarded the connecting bus to Iowa. In St.
Paul, we saw MALLARDs and CANADA GEESE, and we drove
through the University of Minnesota campus. En route
to Iowa, we saw a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK in the clover
leaf of Owatonna, MN and a RED-TAILED HAWK near
Geneva. Our final bird of the day (and the first one
in Iowa) was a pair of RING-NECKED PHEASANTs near the
exit to Northwood, Iowa.

The next two reports were posts that I made on Iowa
Birds list serve:


AWPelicans at Lake Red Rock:

On Friday (1/04/08), Patricia Lott and I (Gina
Sheridan) did some birding in Neal Smith NWR and Lake
Red Rock. Since we are from Washington state, we were
pleased to see eastern species as well as winter
visitors.

On the cold, windswept, snow covered prairies of Neal
Smith NWR, we encountered small flocks of AMERICAN
TREE SPARROWs, RED-TAILED HAWK, and a ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK. On the mammal side of things, we enjoyed views
of White-tailed Deer, and re-introduced Elk and Bison.
AMERICAN KESTRELs were present near Prairie City. A
couple of miles west of Monroe, we spotted an immature
KRIDER'S RED-TAILED HAWK.

Without a scope, we had a difficult time viewing
distant birds on the remaining open pool on Lake Red
Rock. Although BALD EAGLEs were present and I think
that the Greater Scaup were lingering, we didn't have
the right glass to see the reported scoter. No gulls
of any hue were found today.

Around the Lake Red Rock Visitor Center, we had the
expected Iowa residents such as NO. CARDINAL, BLUE
JAY, DARK-EYED JUNCO, HOUSE FINCH, BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE, RED-BREASTED WOODPECKER, WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCH, DOWNY WOODPECKER, AME. GOLDFINCH, and HOUSE
SPARROW. At the South Shore Observation platform, we
found a couple of WHITE-THROATED SPARROWs. On the
South Tailwater area (below the spillway), there were
two AMERICAN WHITE PELICANs, and loads of MALLARDs,
and CANADA GEESE.

On our return leg, we saw an adult COOPER'S chasing
ROCK PIGEONs in a desultory fashion (some ten miles
east of Des Moines on Hwy 163). Yesterday, we watched
a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK cruising a West Des Moines
subdivision.


Birding the Bridges of Madison County:

Although our journey to see the famous covered bridges
in Madison County wasn't primarily a birding trip, we
did see some interesting species. On Saturday
(1/05/08), Patricia Lott, Diana Anderson, and I
visited the snow covered landscape around Winterset.

Along Hwy 92 near Patterson, we saw a HORNED LARK on
the road shoulder, a NORTHERN SHRIKE (1/2 mile east of
the landfill), WESTERN MEADOWLARK, AMERICAN KESTREL,
and RED-TAILED HAWK. Nearly a half a mile north of the
Holliwell Bridge, we found a female EASTERN BLUEBIRD.

In the Winterset City Park, we found a small
concentration of birds centered around the
Cutler-Donahoe Bridge. In this locations, there were
the expected DOWNY & RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERs, BC
CHICKADEE, BLUE JAY, and a patrolling SHARP-SHINNED
HAWK. Afterwards, we took in the sights such as
the birthplace of John Wayne, the historical park, and
lunched at the Northside Cafe on the town square.

Just before dusk, we had arrived at the Roseman Bridge
west of Winterset. In the waning light, we heard at
least three BARRED OWLs, and a couple of GREAT HORNED
OWLs. Despite our imitative hooting to coax the owls
in to view, we had to settle for "heard only".

As a quick addendum to my earlier post on the Lake Red
Rock trip, I omitted mentioning our sighting of eight
WILD TURKEYs south of Pella. The turkeys were on a
slope west of T15 that is located south of the
junction T15 and G28.

In addition to our thoroughly enjoyable Madison County
sight seeing experience, we had the added bonus of
seeing some nice winter Iowa birds.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA


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