Big Owl Year Part 2: Game On!
- Jen Toews
- Feb 1, 2019
- 7 min read
Day 1: Minnesota Arrival
"Do you have a valid form of ID?" asked the customer service representative at the Delta ticket counter at the DIA Airport. I looked blankly at her. It was 4 a.m. and I was still waking up. She explained: "Your driver's license expired two weeks ago." My stomach suddenly felt heavy and sick and my mouth went dry as I explained that I was unaware that my license had expired and that my passport was sitting on my desk at home. I had never traveled without my ID and my mind went to the worst case scenario: I wouldn't get on the flight, Christi would travel to Minnesota without me and would probably see 5 species of owls, and I would forfeit my chance of a Big Owl Year. In the end, after joking that I wouldn't be able to get on the flight followed by a mild scolding for not having a valid ID, the customer service rep handed me my ticket. I was officially bound for the coldest place in the contiguous United States.
I had mentioned this trip to several friends and coworkers and each time Minnesota in January came up they had laughed at me. When I told them that the purpose of the trip was to see owls they laughed harder. It will be worth it when I am staring into the face of a Great-gray Owl, I thought. The truth was there were no guarantees that I would see a Great-gray owl, or any owl for that matter.
Our plan was to meet our group, led by the Colorado-based company, Reefs to Rockies, at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. We would kick off the trip with a drive around the airport to look for snowy owls and snow buntings. We struck out on both accounts, but I did take a photo in front of the Hooters Owl at the Mall of America.
After birding the airport, we drove to Fort Snelling State Park. At the lake, we watched as 15 snow-white swans faded in and out of the steam rising from the lake. The air temperature hovered around 0F and the breeze on my cheeks made me appreciate the expression "biting cold." With the help of the scope we identified approximately 15 trumpeter swans, 1 mute swan with its orange bill, and a common golden-eye. All the while, a bald eagle watched from a tree, high above the lake. After 5 minutes of this, I was ready to return to the van.
Several hours later we found ourselves in Duluth, driving up and down the shores of Lake Superior, looking for waterfowl. Unfortunately the King Eider that had been seen consistently for several days had moved on, hopefully to warmer waters. If so, I didn't blame him/her. Sunset over Lake Superior was consolation for missing this rare bird.
Floating ice on Lake Superior.
A colorful sunset.
Day 2: My 4-Owl Day
Owl #5: Great-gray Owl
January 24, 2019, 7:00 a.m.
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota
The next morning we were up before dawn so we could increase our chances of seeing a Great-gray Owl at Sax-Zim Bog. But to back up, what is Sax-Zim Bog? I had only heard of this place recently (actually a month prior when I booked this trip). According to Friends of Sax-Zim Bog website:
"Sax-Zim Bog is actually about 300 square miles of not only bog, but aspen uplands, rivers, lakes, meadows, farms and even a couple towns! It is not just a giant bog, but rather a “magic mix” of habitats that boreal birds love. The Sax-Zim Bog is prime habitat for bog specialists such as Great Gray Owl, Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and Connecticut Warbler. Bobcat, Lynx, Pine Marten, Fisher also use this habitat. Mature bogs are also important wintering habitat for Great Gray Owl, N Hawk Owl, White-winged Crossbill, Pine Grosbeak, Common Redpoll and Hoary Redpoll."
A "magic mix" of habitats sounds like my ideal vacation spot.
After reaching the bog we headed up Highway 7, which was surrounded by prime GGOW habitat -- black spruce (Picea mariana) and tamarack (Larix laricina) trees that were adjacent to an open boggy area. I let out a sigh when our guides spotted a GGOW almost immediately. Having seen what I came to see early on, I began to relax. As I looked into the disk-shaped face of the owl, I saw a pair of deep-set yellow eyes and a rather dignified-looking white "mustache." The expression "wise, old owl" was certainly evoked. I also understood why people, including myself, spent money and traveled for miles to see this creature.
Above photo by Sheridan Samano (S.S.)
The photo below was taken with an i-Phone through a spotting scope, also by S.S.
Current temperature reading after seeing the GGOW, where F stands for both fahrenheit and fucking freezing. And yes, it was effing worth it.
Owl #6: Northern Hawk Owl
January 24, 2019, 1 p.m.
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota
We had to work a bit harder to see the Northern Hawk Owl. This involved a 1/3 mile hike from the van, which normally would have been easy, but the temperature had only risen to -20F. By the time we reached the point where the owl had been spotted, my glasses had iced over and I could hardly see. My toes were numb and my eyeballs hurt. Many of the group members started back for the car as it was too cold to linger. I remained with Christi and Judd (the local guide) to search for the owl. Judd knew it was around. Christi spotted it first (good job Christi!). My role was to jog back to the van to alert the others. By the time I returned with the others to the owl, my lungs hurt from the cold and my mouth tasted like blood. Thankfully the owl was still there.
The Northern Hawk Owl is definitely a hawkish-looking owl. (Photos by Christi)
Eyespots on the back of the owl's head are misleading.
Lunch time rolled around so we drove to the only restaurant in the area: Wilbert's Cafe. It was both birder-friendly and vegetarian-friendly and I ordered a veggie burger. The burger was not your run-of-the-mill garden burger, which quite frankly, as a vegetarian, I am tired of. This burger was made with Minnesota wild rice (Zizania aquatica or Z. palustris), a native plant of North America that is commonly found in the Great Lakes region. Nutritious with a high amount of protein and carbohydrates, wild rice has been a staple for Native Americans and continues to be celebrated in the region (it happens to be the state grain of Minnesota). Despite the name "wild rice," this grain is not closely related to common rice (Oryza spp.).
Owl #7: Snowy Owl
January 24, 2019, 1 p.m.
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota
After lunch we drove to where a snowy owl had been reported -- a field with hay bales that was just off Owl Avenue.
In the distance we spied the snow-white owl, sitting on a drift of white snow. Unfortunately it was too far away for even a decent digi-scope photo. We did see it move around a bunch to preen, which immediately ruled out snow bank.
Owl #8: Barred Owl
January 24, 2019, 1 p.m.
Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota
Just before sunset and as we were leaving the Bog our guide spotted our 4th and final species for the day: the Barred Owl. It was deep within a paper birch forest (Betula papyrifera). I leaped out of the van, had a two-second look through the scope, stepped aside so the next person in line could look, but it was already gone. Needless to say, I had no time for a photo. Incidentally, I struck up a conversation with another person on scene. He was a photographer named Mark, who told me he had taken the photo of the Barred Owl in the Audubon 2018 calendar. Weirdly, I had saved this page from the calendar and it was hanging near my desk.
Other birds seen on Day 1 (because we weren't just looking for owls)
Pine Grosbeak (Photo by S.S.)
Evening Grosbeak (Photo by Christi)
Black-capped chickadee (S.S.), red-breasted nuthatch (Christi), and fox sparrow (S.S.)
Many of the above songbird photos were taken at Mary Lou's feeders. Mary Lou owns a private residence in the bog and at her private residence maintains bird feeders and a heated porta-potty, which was a welcomed site.
Not all of the Sax-Zim Bog locals are as enthusiastic about bird watchers as Mary Lou is. Case in point: the property across the street.
Day 3: A Black-backed Woodpecker and Two Bobcats
The entrance sign to the Bog Boardwalk reminded me of an entrance sign to a theme park -- a theme park replete with boreal bog species such as Larix, Picea, ericaceous plants, and colorful wild orchids shrinking in the shadows, how delightful!
Our objective here was to see the black-backed woodpecker. We saw it 10 minutes in and had a very good look at it. Thanks S.S. for the photo.
The other highlight of day 3 was seeing the family of bobcats that was denning underneath an abandoned trailer (photo by S.S.). This was a life mammal for me. The crazy cat lady in me wanted to throw open the doors of the van and run towards the cats so I could start petting them ASAP. But that would have been both crazy and irresponsible, so I enjoyed them from the van. They slow-blinked in my direction.
Bobcat track (photo by Christi)
Day 4: Drive up the North Shore
Having seen many of our target bird species (we missed the Ruffed and Sharp-tailed Grouse and the Crossbills), we opted for a sunrise drive along Lake Superior instead of returning to the Bog.
The icy shores of Lake Superior
My hands were numb when I took this photo
A cold place to view the sunrise
Our destination was Two Harbors where we were hoping to see various waterfowl. It was frozen over, however.
The temperature never did exceed 1F the entire 4 days we were in Minnesota. But having seen 4 species of owls I quickly forgot the cold. This brings my total owl species count to 8 and it is still January.
A Big Owl Year? Game on...
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