[mou] Floodwood

[Steve Weston]

On Christmas eve my wife and I (and kid in previous years) head north to spend the holiday with her family in Floodwood
which is centrally located between Duluth and Grand Rapids, and Moose Lake and Hibbing.  Early on Christmas morning while
every one is still sleeping, I get dressed and slip into the car for my Christmas tradition of birding the morning in
Sax-Zim.    This year with people coming in from all over the country to comb the bog for owls, I decided to head in the
opposite direction and bird south and west of Floodwood.

In the five hours I was out I found 22 Great Grays and 5 Northern Hawk Owls.  Most (17 + 3) were found in Halden Township
south of Floodwood, where I also found a Goshawk, redpolls, and Pine Siskins.  From Halden Twshp I headed west on the
Hedboon Road, which is the forestry road that heads through the Savannah State Forest from south of Floodwood to south of
Jacobson.  Usually it is impassible at this time of year, but not this year.  Along the road I found two Great Grays, Gray
Jays, and about seven Ruffed Grouse.  The road was quiet and comparitively unbirdy.  I saw nothing in Aitkin County and
headed back, birding a couple of roads in Van Buren Twshp north of Floodwood and turning up three more Great Grays and two
more Northern Hawk Owls.

Steve Weston on Quigley Lake in Eagan
sweston2@comcast.net