[mou] Quick update from Aitkin County

[Cindy Butler]

Hello All,

I was guiding birders/photographers in Aitkin County yesterday and,
contrary to Chris's experience on his windy Sunday, the number of Great
Gray Owls in Aitkin County continues to rise. 

Daily counts of Great Gray Owls between our house and Tamarack are now in
the middle teens. Yesterday I saw 14 about 8:00 AM and Cindy saw 10 when
she went into town about 9:00 AM. 

Daily counts on some of the side roads north and east of McGregor are
numbering in the low 20's. Cindy saw 25 yesterday on her run to town and my
count (covering much less territory than Cindy) was 18.

Yesterday, while guiding Stan & Don from Iowa, we covered northcentral
Aitkin County. Our route was McGregor to Palisade, County Road 3 to the
Dump Road, west to County 1, north to County 29, east on County 68 to
Highway 169, south to County 3 and east to Palisade for lunch. Our
afternoon route was County 10 south to Dump Road, West to County 1, north
to County 29, east on County 68 to its end, north on 169 to County 18 east
to County 10, back to County 5 then SW back to the intersection of County 1
and the dump road. We finished back in McGregor near 5:00 PM. (With a quick
stop to pick up a mortally injured Great Gray Owl on highway 65).

Our total count of Great Gray Owls for the day was 118 EXCLUDING any
potential duplicates. We also found nine Northern Hawk Owls, Sharp-tailed
Grouse, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, Bald Eagle, Northern Shrike, and Snow
Bunting.

The Great Grays seem to be much more difficult to find during the mid-day
hours. We saw only a few in the hours between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM. The
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM time frame can be almost magical with the number of owls
found seemingly endless. The areas east and north of McGregor and north of
Palisade continue to hold huge numbers of Great Gray Owls. I just hope that
they can continue to find sufficient food with our increased snow depth.

At our bird feeders we continue to host a huge number of Common Redpolls,
Evening Grosbeaks on a near daily basis, and an intermittent group of Pine
Grosbeaks. 

from snow covered & Great Gray Owl-filled Aitkin County,

Kim & Cindy Risen
Tamarack, MN



At 08:08 AM 1/24/2005 -0600, Chris Fagyal wrote:
>    On Sunday I was in Aitkin from 9am to 12:30pm, leaving early because
of the steady wind and also because of the complete lack of Owls I was
seeing.  I figured with the wind it wouldn't get much better and I suppose
I was right.
  
I travelled the following route:  169 to Cty 18 to Hwy 10 to Hwy 200 back
to Hwy 169, down to Cty 18, over the Cty5, down to Palisade, back over to
169, back up to Cty 18, and up and down Cty 18 a few more times.  I also
travelled on that forest road (whose name I can't recall.  Starts with a
P... P<something> Creek Forest Road) that is off of 18 just west of Hwy 10.
 Went all the way to the end and back.  Looked like a pretty nice road to
bird, but I didn't see anything.  Could be quite interesting in the spring
for migrants i'd bet.
  
I found a grand total of 1 Great Grey Owl and 0 Northern Hawk Owls.
Pileated Woodpeckers on the way up in Millacs and Aitkin counties (both
flyovers across 169).  Rough-legged Hawk in Sherburne County just south of
Cty Rd 9 I believe it is (The one that goes west to Sherburne NWR).  A Gray
Jay along Hwy 10, and an enormous flock of 150+ Common Redpolls along Cty 18.
  
Chris Fagyal