[mou] Aitkin County Birding (a 'little' long, per Cindy!)

[Cindy Risen]

Hello All,

Every once in a while you have one of those birding days where everything=20
seems to perfect. You know the kind I mean. When you don=92t have to get up=
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at 3:00 AM, you don=92t have to drive half-way across the state and the=
 birds=20
seem to go out of their way to show themselves. Cindy and I had such a day=
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Saturday.

Too tired after returning from leading a birding tour to Chiapas, Mexico to=
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participate in the Crosby CBC, Cindy and I decided to revisit what is=20
becoming one of my favorite birding locations in Minnesota. As we put the=20
finishing touches on our upcoming birding guide to Aitkin County, we=20
thought we would return to the Hedbom Forest Road to check out the=20
woodpecker activity we had found prior to my departure for Mexico. It=20
turned out to be the perfect day. Cindy even got great photos of=20
Black-backed Woodpecker that will appear in the guide!

The Hedbom Forest Road is located in extreme NE Aitkin County. It passes=20
through a great variety of habitats and the eastern end has a wonderful,=20
dense Tamarack and Black Spruce Bog. I think that it will become known as=20
one of the best birding locations in Minnesota. During the year or so that=
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Cindy and I have been visiting it regularly, we=92ve found an incredible=
 list=20
of desirable bird species, two first county butterfly records and the=20
always incredibly beautiful drive.

For the day, we had (in no particular order):

Great Gray Owl =96 2 birds who were hunting along the Hedbom Road stayed=20
active the hour and a half we were in the area. Extremely cooperative, they=
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even perched directly on the road a couple of times.

Black-backed Woodpecker =96 5 birds (2 males, 3 females) on the Hedbom Road,=
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4 birds (2 males, 2 females) on the County Road 3 location previously=20
described by Warren Nelson and 1 female in another bog on the south side of=
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CR 3 just under a mile farther west.

American Three-toed Woodpecker =96 2 males were found along the Hedbom FR=20
(where we had a male Black-backed and male Am. Three-toed on the same tree=
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only a foot apart at one point), the Am. Three-toed found by Warren Nelson=
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was also relocated giving us three individuals for the day. This in a=20
county that had only two records prior to this winter!

Common Redpoll =96 537 birds, many in large flocks, along the Hedbom Road.=
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Feeding on the road at times. Pishing at every stop brought in more birds=20
from the alders.

Hoary Redpoll =96 2 individuals, one in our first big redpoll flock at the=
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west end of the Hedbom Road, the second was in an even larger flock (> 100=
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birds) on the east end of the Hedbom Road.

Pine Siskin =96 50 birds seen along the Hedbom Road, most mixed in with the=
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large flocks of redpolls.

Gray Jay =96 5 total, four of them along the Hedbom Forest Road.

Other interesting species seen:

Barred Owl =96 2
American Goldfinch =96 40
Red-breasted Nuthatch =96 11
Ruffed Grouse =96 2
Red Crossbill =96 6
White-winged Crossbill =96 13
Rough-legged Hawk =96 1
Bald Eagle =96 2
Brown Creeper =96 1
Pileated Woodpecker =96 2
Hairy Woodpecker =96 4
Downy Woodpecker =96 1

Good Birding!

Kim Risen
Tamarack, Aitkin County
www.naturescapenews.com