A trip outdoors in February offers a chance to see many owls not normally seen when trees are filled with leaves. Look for snowy, boreal, great gray and northern hawk-owls. And don't miss the upcoming Festival of Owls held March 2-4 at the Houston Elementary School in the city of Houston in southeast Minnesota's bluff country region. This is the only full weekend, all-owl event in North America, and includes owling field trips, live owl programs, an Owl Face pancake breakfast, Owl Nest Box Building, owl photography contests, children's activities & face painting, a Kids' Owl Calling contest, Alice's Hatch-Day Party, live auction, World Owl Hall of Fame Award presentations, owl merchandise vendors, educational booths & displays, Owl Systematics by Professor Michael Wink, and a banquet & social hour! This very popular event draws people from throughout the world!
The following information has been provided courtesy of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union and their affiliates. This report is brought to you by ExploreMinnesota.com.
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The following is a list of recent, significant sightings:
The Northern Hawk Owl is still being seen near Gooseberry Falls State Park in Lake County. To view this bird, check along State Highway 61 roughly one mile northeast of the Gooseberry River.
Both American Three-Toed Woodpecker and Black-Backed Woodpecker are being seen in Lake County on the east side of Sawbill Landing Road, one-quarter of a mile north of Forest Road 172.
There was a second-hand report of a Mountain Bluebird from February 16th near Tofte in Cook County. It was across the highway from the grocery store--no further information was provided.
On the 12th, Milton Blomberg found a Townsend's Solitaire at Warner Lake County Park near Clearwater in Stearns County. Directions to view this bird are to park at the Nature Center building, walk the trail over the bridge and then around the west side of the lake for roughly one-quarter of a mile to the stand of cedars on the left.
The Varied Thrush which has been seen in Duluth since last December was still visiting the feeders at a home along the 6200 block of East Superior Street. Birders are welcome to stop by, but are asked to stay between the driveway and the back door, not walking into the backyard. And the Varied Thrush, first seen January 17th along Blackbird Trail in Hastings in Dakota County was still present as of February 16th.
There was a very early report of calling Sandhill Cranes at Lake Rebecca Park Reserve in Hennepin County on February 12th. This is more than a month earlier than the species' typical spring arrival date. Other spring migrants that have begun to show up include American Kestrel, Horned Lark, Eastern Bluebird, and American Robin.
Information in this statewide birding report is provided by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU), Minnesota's oldest and largest bird club. To submit a bird sighting, email the MOU birding report compiler at rba@moumn.org.
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