Day 1: Minnesota & Wisconsin Trip
Sunday 28 December 2014
18 °F
Hi everyone, and welcome back!
It has once again been a pretty long time since I have posted, although I am finally onto my next out-of-state birding trip, yay! This time, I am visiting the famous (among birders) Sax-Zim Bog, which is located, of all places, in northern Minnesota! I will be birding this amazing preserve with my uncle and a birding friend named Bruce, and we will be looking for boreal bird specialties such as owls, grouse, finches, shrikes, and much more! Best of all, the Great Gray Owl, a bird I have been chasing with no luck for years, resides in numbers in the Sax-Zim Bog, so I will hopefully conquer my "nemesis bird." The Sax-Zim Bog is one of the best places in the entire continent for winter birding, and I am very excited for getting a chance to finally visit. After visiting the bog, we will drive back to Wisconsin again to bird various winter birding patches such as the Buena Vista Grasslands, which holds such rarities as Greater Prairie-Chickens and Snowy Owls. Then, I will return to Chicago on Friday.
Today I rode the Amtrak "Empire Builder" service up from Chicago to western Wisconsin, where I am staying overnight at my aunt and uncle's house. From the window of the train, there were few interesting birds with the exception of a few HORNED LARKS flying around in corn stubble fields alongside the track and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK that flew over a building at one point. Tomorrow, my uncle, a birding friend name Bruce, and I will take the five-hour drive up to the bog, which is northwest of Duluth, Minnesota (hopefully with a few birding stops along the way to see one or maybe even two lifer Northern Hawk Owls and possibly a vagrant Varied Thrush!).
Stay tuned and good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 702 Species (no life birds today)
I can't wait for the next winter bird post! Sounds like fun. Good luck!
by isoo