[mou] northbound Great Grays

[b.pomeroy]

The owls in Carlton County are now harder to find.  The snow and the cold 
may have pushed them farther south.  On Tuesday I counted 48 GGOWs and on 
Thursday, none...then today I had only 10 Great Grays and 1 Hawk Owl.  They 
were a lot farther from the roadside and a lot deeper into the fields and 
meadows, with the ditches having fairly hard packed snow along the 
right-of-ways form the plowing.  Some of the snow crust in ditches supported 
my 165 # weight and I was able to walk quite well on the crust along the 
road side ditches.  The farther south I went the more birds I found, like 
around Holyoke area and Nickerson and points south.
Winter has struck a good blow to the critters.
Saw lots of Common Red Polls and a few hoaries, lots of siskens and many 
pine grosbeaks.
Bruce

"I care to live, only to entice people to
 look at Nature's loveliness."
-- John Muir
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Lind" <jslind@frontiernet.net>
To: <mou-net@cbs.umn.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 9:02 PM
Subject: [mou] northbound Great Grays


> This afternoon I talked to some birders from Colorado at Lighthouse
> Point in Two Harbors, who said they saw 21 Great Gray Owls flying UP
> the shore across Agate Bay yesterday evening.  This was very
> surprising to hear, since just 12 days ago, on January 3, at least 16
> Great Grays were seen flying DOWN the shore (southwest) over
> Lighthouse Point and Agate Bay, with many more birds seen in
> subsequent days flying over the treetops in and near Duluth, all
> headed southwest.  Large numbers of Great Grays have subsequently
> been seen in Carlton, Pine, and Aitkin counties in MN, and Douglas
> Co. in WI.
>
> So this evening Sharon and I went to Lighthouse Point from 4:55 to
> 6:00 pm, and we counted 27 Great Gray Owls flying northeast across
> Agate Bay and up the shore.  Many were seen perched in the treetops
> at the crest of Port City Hill on the western shore of Agate Bay,
> then flying over the bay and over our heads.  This was really an
> amazing thing to see.
>
> With the bitter cold of the last few days, and 10" of additional snow
> on the North Shore Wednesday, it is hard to imagine why birds would
> suddenly be moving north.  I have heard recent reports from people in
> Cook County who continue to see Great Grays along the shore, and I
> assumed these were birds continuing to head south from Canada.  It
> seems too early for birds to be headed back to breeding areas, but
> who knows?
>
> I know where I'll be tomorrow night.
>
> Jim Lind
> Two Harbors
> _______________________________________________
> mou-net mailing list
> mou-net@cbs.umn.edu
> http://cbs.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mou-net
>