Minnesota with Georgia Audubon & Red Hill Birding 2022

Narrative

This trip marked Georgia Audubon's first group tour to Northern Minnesota, where we were expertly led by guides Josh Engel and Nathan Goldberg from Red Hill Birding. We couldn't have gotten off to a better start than pulling away from the airport arrivals area when Mark spotted a Snowy Owl sitting atop a light post. We quickly unloaded the vans as the snow began to fall and enjoyed a bit of roadside airport parking lot birding of what was a life bird for many in the group.

The snow kept falling throughout the first afternoon and evening, though we were able to find a good-sized flock of White-winged Crossbills in the neighborhoods of Duluth, and a smaller group headed over to Superior Wisconsin in the early evening to search for more Snowy Owls...with success!

Temperatures during the trip plunged to -37 and didn't get much above 10 degrees. Ice continued to form across Lake Superior, providing amazing winter wonderland vistas, and we all put our cold-weather gear to the test!

That super cold weather also sent all the birds scrambling to find food, and our visits to the many feeder stations in and around Sax-Zim Bog were fruitful, turning up Boreal Chickadee, Evening Grosbeak, lots of Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpolls, and the ever-present Black-capped Chickadee. The group also had great success with some early-morning viewing of a Great Gray Owl at the Bog, aided by a beautiful frosty sunrise.

Though we missed out on a grouse "hat-trick," we did find one Sharp-tailed Grouse at the Bog and one Ruffed Grouse in a Duluth neighborhood...we'll hope for better luck with the elusive Spruce Grouse on our next trip. And though we missed Spruce Grouse in our trip to Superior National Forest, the group enjoyed the drumming and great scope-views of a male Black-backed Woodpecker.

Perhaps the bird that elicited the most excitement was one that was also a life bird for our guide, Nathan -- a Boreal Owl found by another birding group from Atlanta! After many parking lot U-turns and phone calls to our friends who found the owl, we finally located the bird sitting in a birch tree and enjoyed great looks for nearly 2 hours before we packed it in for the evening.

With additions of other great birds like Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, beaucoup Bohemian Waxwings, and even a Townsend's Solitaire, we departed Minnesota on Valentine's Day with our hearts full of great birding memories. We look forward to returning!

www.georgiaaudubon.org/travel