Northern Hawk Owl, one of Minnesota’s prized winter birds. Photo: Chris Wood.
Traveling to Minnesota in the depth of winter may seem to defy reason but for the birdwatcher, the season and place combine to produce a mouth-watering array of species. Northern owls always inspire the greatest interest; we’ll look for Snowy, Great Gray, and Northern Hawk Owls. Sharp-tailed and Ruffed Grouse are usually easier to find at this season when energy demands dictate that they feed frequently and often conspicuously during daylight hours, and we have a reasonable chance for Spruce Grouse. Past tours have recorded as many as eight species of woodpeckers, including Black-backed and American Three-toed, and the standard cadre of regular winter finches—Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, Red Crossbill and Common Redpoll—are sometimes augmented by less common species including White-winged Crossbill and Hoary Redpoll. And if regular winter residents such as Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee and Bohemian Waxwing weren’t enough, each year seems to harbor a surprise or two. Recent tours have recorded Gyrfalcon, Slaty-backed Gull, Band-tailed Pigeon, Townsend’s Solitaire, and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch! There are also some great mammals—we’ve seen Moose on more than half our winter trips, in 2006 we watched a Gray Wolf at close range and in 2005 we found a Lynx!
Weather conditions, including temperature and snow depth, vary from year to year. Food resources and by extension bird population levels fluctuate as well, so no two consecutive winters are the same. The weather can be challenging, with wind, snow and sub-zero temperatures possible, but by dressing appropriately we’ll find deep winter surprisingly manageable, the landscape beautiful and the birds worth the effort. Our itinerary will remain flexible allowing us to travel to the places where our target birds are most likely to be found.
Day 1: The trip begins at 4:00 pm at Duluth International Airport. Night in Duluth.
“Just a quick note to tell you how much I enjoyed birding in northern Minnesota with Chris Wood on the recently-concluded “Minnesota in Winter” tour. The tour was efficiently run, had great accommodations and restaurants and covered a large geographic area with many interesting birds. In my view, however, the most important reason for the success of the tour was Chris. Throughout the tour I was impressed and appreciative of Chris’ indefatigable efforts to find our target birds, extensive knowledge of birds and willingness to share it and easygoing manner and overall good spirit. At the end of the tour I felt I had met a friend, and not just a professional bird guide.”
Gerard Hawkins, Arlington, VA
Days 2-4: The number of daylight hours at this season are relatively few this far north so we’ll maximize our time by departing early. Rising before the winter sun we’ll drive toward Canada, turning north from the scenic Lake Superior harbor town of Two Harbors to the secluded boreal woodlands near the hamlet known as Isabella. This region is one of the most reliable haunts for some of Minnesota’s most highly sought-after winter birds. Our efforts here will focus on finding three birds in particular: Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers and Spruce Grouse, the latter two specialties of this area. Due to the vagaries of winter birding none of these birds can be guaranteed but there are a number of other species that will vie for our attention—Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee, and the enigmatic winter finches, including Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, Common and perhaps Hoary Redpolls, and White-winged and perhaps Red Crossbills.
The birding in and around Duluth itself can be surprisingly productive. Ornamental plantings, in particular mountain ash, attract fruit-eaters including Bohemian Waxwings, which are sometimes seen by the thousands (although we’d expect smaller numbers of this charming bird). The fruiting trees have in the past attracted such wanderers as Townsend’s Solitaire and Varied Thrush (both rare but regular winter visitors) and, once, Fieldfare. We’ll scour the barren icescapes of the frozen Duluth-Superior harbor for Snowy Owl and hope, as has happened several times over the past decade, that a Gyrfalcon will have taken up residence. We’ll also visit the Superior landfill, which is tended by hundreds of gulls when conditions are right. If gulls are present we can expect Glaucous and Thayer’s and will hope for such rarities as Iceland or Great Black-backed; in 2008 we even saw a Slaty-backed Gull.
We’ll also spend time in the vast boglands north of Duluth and, farther west, in Aitkin County. The habitat in these regions is ideal for Sharp-tailed and Ruffed Grouse while adjacent open farmlands host Black-billed Magpie, here at the eastern edge of its range, Northern Shrike and, if the snow is not too deep, Snow Bunting. We’ll again have a chance for some of the species we’ll have searched for earlier—woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and finches—but we’ll devote special effort to finding owls. Numbers of this highly sought-after group vary from year to year so predicting success can be difficult. Chances are good that we’ll be able to find Great Gray Owl, which is a permanent resident, and if the winter has been cold and snowy in Canada our chances of finding Northern Hawk Owl increase. When present this bird is a birdwatcher’s delight: diurnal, typically confiding and so attractive!
Although our focus will be on the birds, with luck our travels through northern Minnesota will also result in encounters with Mink, Pine Marten, Fisher, Porcupine, Moose or if we’re very lucky Gray Wolf or Canadian Lynx. Nights in Duluth.
Day 5: Depending on the success we’ve experienced to this point we’ll spend this morning either expanding our search into other parts of northern Minnesota or working our way south toward Minneapolis. A complex of nature centers and wildlife refuges in the greater Twin Cities area creates a surprising amount of wilderness which gives us access to winter residents not normally seen farther north including Red-bellied Woodpecker and Northern Cardinal, and perhaps overwintering Snowy, Northern Saw-whet, Long-eared, Barred, or Eastern Screech-Owls, although we’d need some luck to see any of these species. Night in Minneapolis.
Day 6: The tour concludes this morning at Duluth International Airport.
Updated: 04 March 2009
Prices
- 2010 price not yet available
- (2009 price about $1,820)
Notes
Maximum group size seven with one leader.
A superb collection of Chris Wood’s images from the 2008 tour can be seen here.