[mou] Hedbom Forest Road

[Cindy Risen]

Hello All,

I have been asked to post more specific directions for the birds we have 
been seeing along the Hedbom Forest Road. To make things a bit easier I 
have posted pdf's of the draft copy of the Hedbom Forest Road account from 
our upcoming book on the birding and natural areas of Aitkin County. You 
will find 3 pdfs on the upper right-hand navigation bar on our 
website:  www.naturescapenews.com

One pdf is the map, the other two are the text for the Hedbom Forest Road 
account. (This is only a draft, so please ignore the obvious typo on page 2!).

Anyway, the Great Gray Owls and all but two of the woodpeckers are in the 
heaviest section of Tamarack and Black Spruce bog on the far eastern end of 
the Hedbom Forest Road--the last mile before crossing into St. Louis 
County. The owls have been particular to the open roadsides on the north 
side of the road. The woodpeckers are present throughout this area--the 
heaviest worked trees are quite obvious. White-winged Crossbills, Red 
Crossbills, flocks of Common Redpolls (with the three Hoaries mixed in) and 
the other birds we've reported have come from multiple sections of the 
road. There doesn't seem to be any one spot that's better than another as 
the alders and Tamaracks both have loads of crop food. Every single patch 
of alders held redpolls, we just pished to bring them up where we could 
count them. The Boreal Chickadee was on the north side of the road at about 
the mid-point of the heavy Tamarack Bog.

You can access the Hedbom Road from the east side by taking St. Louis 
County Road 837 south and west out of Floodwood turning right/due west onto 
the Hedbom Road about 3.5 miles SW of Floodwood (the 'official' Hedbom 
Forest Road doesn't really begin until you pass through the gate one mile 
west of this intersection). You'll hit good habitat after about 1.5 miles 
and the Aitkin County line in 3 miles.

 From the west, take Highway 65 north from McGregor to County Road 14, go 
right/east on CR 14 just over five miles to County Road 36 (Loon Ave.), 
turn left/north onto CR 36. Go 9.5 miles north and turn right/east onto the 
Hedbom Forest Road . Please note that CR 36 changes direction and turns 
left/due west after about 6.5 miles. You need to continue going north onto 
County Road 65 (don't turn left!) after about 3 miles the Hedbom Forest 
Road (Look for the brown wooden sign) turns off to the right/east. The 
entire road has good birding, but the owls and woodpeckers are in the last 
mile and a half before the St. Louis County line.

Based on the number of comments we received, it looks like there is going 
to be a flood of people coming up to bird this wonderful location. I need 
to let everyone know that this is a forest road. It is NOT maintained in 
the winter--unless there is logging activity and then the logging equipment 
will have the right-of-way. We are getting snow as I write this. Driving 
conditions may be quite slick--there was a good layer of ice on the shaded 
portions of the road this morning. The snow that is going down on top of 
that ice is going to make driving a bit of an adventure.

Also, it usually goes without saying, but...Please use common sense when 
stopping along these narrow, icy roads. Don't stop below hills or on 
curves, find a safe place to pull-off. There are many. There are at least 5 
Black-backed and 2 American Three-toed Woodpeckers in the area. Please 
don't play tape at these birds! Cindy and I have been following the 
activities of these birds and we hope that they'll be nesting here next 
spring. They are easy to find by listening from the road or by slowly 
walking through the heavier worked areas. The owls appear to be a pair. At 
least they spent a great deal of time hunting in close proximity to one 
another and continually return to perch next to one another. Like the 
woodpeckers, the habitat looks good so we are hoping they are a pair that 
will stick around to breed. Please use appropriate cautions. Thank You!

Good luck to all of you who make it up to our neck of the woods. It's a 
great place to bird. Let us know how you did.

Hope to see you in the field.

Until then...Good Birding!

Kim & Cindy Risen
Tamarack, Aitkin County
www.naturescapenews.com