[mou] Hoary Redpoll in Duluth, Sax-Zim Saturday

[Laura Erickson]

Late Saturday afternoon and then for a short time Sunday morning I had a 
Hoary Redpoll with the 200+ Common Redpolls and 50+ Pine Siskins in my 
backyard.  The birds seem to come and go--for a while my yard will be 
hopping with birds, and then every one of the lights out, and then they 
return.  Driving or walking through this part of Lakeside in Duluth, it's 
easy to hear redpolls, siskins, and White-winged Crossbills.  The group in 
my yard seems fluid, with many individuals just coming and going, so 
re-finding the Hoary has been a challenge.

My husband Russ and I drove out to the Sax-Zim Bog yesterday afternoon for 
a while--Russ was mainly scrutinizing the mileage of our new Toyota Prius, 
and we had to be back in time for our son to drive to work, so we just did 
a circle from 133 to 7 to 52 to Owl Drive to 29 and back to 133.  We didn't 
manage to find any owls, but did find a few small groups of Pine Grosbeaks, 
on the road and at feeders.  One Black-billed Magpie sat in a tree by 
itself about 1/8 mile south of the two houses with feeders on 29 south of 
Correction Line Road.  We found only one Gray Jay, on 133 1/4 mile west of 
53, and a Northern Shrike on the sw corner of 7 and 133.  We had lots of 
ravens and crows, two adult Bald Eagles, and a few groups of chickadees and 
redpolls.  We were just there from about 1:30 through 3:15, so didn't 
expect to find much more.

Oh--from our house to the bog and back again, our car got 49 mpg.  It's the 
perfect birding vehicle:  when you stop, the engine just shuts down, and so 
is VERY quiet and doesn't vibrate when you stop to look at birds.

Laura Erickson
Duluth, MN

Producer, "For the Birds" radio program
<http://www.lauraerickson.com/>

There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of 
birds.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of 
nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.

                                 --Rachel Carson