The call was, in fact, the property owner who had seen the Boreal Owl all day in her yard!  My heart was beating fast as she was talking.  While visions of a Boreal flooded my mind and I couldn’t believe our luck for the day, my brain started to comprehend what she was actually saying.  Unfortunately, there was no Boreal today, and the all-day sighting occurred on Tuesday, the 12th and not yesterday, the 13th, as I had interpreted the MOU posting.  It turns out this property owner was the mother of a classmate of mine, and in a Minnesota-nice way, she was just calling to give me an update and tell me I was welcome to look for the owl around their yard.  We visited some more about this special bird that showed up to visit her and about a Great Gray Owl that she had seen five times in her neighborhood, the last visit coming a week ago.  It was a slim chance on both birds, but it was only 15 minutes away and worth checking out.  Evan seemed to understand it wasn’t a for-sure thing, so he opted to hang out with Grandma while my dad and I checked it out.  It turns out he made the right choice; we didn’t see anything on this brief outing.

After we got back, we had lunch together and then I quickly packed up our few belongings – our time in the Sax-Zim Bog on the way home was running out.  We were southbound again a little after 1:00.  Before 2:00 we had reached the Bog.  The goal was to check out some places for the Northern Hawk Owl and the location of the Great Gray sighting by my classmate, Brett.

We ended up doing more exploring down side roads and stopping for more false Northern Hawk Owl sightings than I thought – those darn crows can fool you from a distance.  Northern Hawk Owls are so named because they look hawk-like.  Unlike other owls that perch vertically, these owls perch at an angle, looking very much like a hawk in posture. We also spotted some Northern Shrikes which we stopped for because they can look deceptively large when by themselves.  And Evan made me stop and back up for this picture:

The main road through the Bog is Co. Rd. 7, running north/south.  Our search for the Northern Hawk Owl had us stray from this road a couple times.  On one of our little excursions off this main route we discovered that not everyone in the Meadowlands area welcomes birders.

I didn’t think this property owner would appreciate me pointing out his spelling error, let alone getting out of the vehicle to take this picture, so we got out of this dead-end quickly.

We weren’t seeing much for birds, but neither of us were disappointed.  Evan said many times, “Well, at least we hit our target today.”  That was true.  It was classic birding to find the one we were after, the Great Gray Owl.

When we were traveling through the Bog down Co. Rd. 7 we again came by the site of all those Bald Eagles we saw last week.  There was not one eagle there today.  I did see what could have been a lone eagle, so I zoomed in to find out.  It was the Rough-legged Hawk!  This was a new life bird for us! This bird was a very long ways away, so the photo quality isn’t the best.  It was very elusive and moved often.  I couldn’t get any closer than a couple hundred yards away.

As I was tracking this bird while it flew around, Eagle-Eyes Evan hollered out, “Dad, we’ve got another one!”

“Where?!”

“Right in front of us, look!”

It took me a while to find it, but it was really close and flew from its perch just as I caught sight of it.  I am not quick enough with this camera to zoom in and out and get it into sports mode in time, but it was painfully close.  I could have had some amazing shots if I weren’t all thumbs.  Here is a shot of the second Rough-legged Hawk soaring away from us.

This was quite a thrill on top of our monumental morning.  Two Rough-legged Hawks!  We thought we had the Rough-legged Hawk when we went through the Bog less than a week ago, but we were actually just viewing immature Bald Eagles.

The Bog didn’t hold much for us again this trip, but it didn’t fail to deliver something special either.  Melissa’s bird-expert co-worker, Randy, described the Bog to me as “A lot of nothing interspersed with pockets of wonderful.”  So far we have found that to be true.  We spent more time in the Bog than I would have liked, so I was relieved to get back out to the four-lane and start cruising south.

There was a lot to reflect on, and I could tell that Evan had a good day. He had two awesome life birds to dwell on.  Now I kept hearing from the backseat, “Well, we sure hit the jackpot with those Rough-legged Hawks.”  I don’t know where he comes up with some of the things he says, but I often forget he is just six.

By this time were booking it down I-35.  I was in the left lane passing all kinds of cars when I noticed a large bird in the snow just off the left shoulder.  As I got closer, I thought, ‘It’s a hawk.’  Split-seconds later I saw it was an owl!  It looked like the Great-Gray, but it was much smaller.  Then my studying paid off as I saw in the very last moment, while going 75 MPH, that it was the Barred Owl!

“Evan, I just saw the Barred Owl!”

“What?! I didn’t see it!  Can we go back, pleeeaase?!”

I explained to Evan that you can’t stop or turn around on the interstate.  There was nothing I could do.  I should have kept my mouth shut.  Melissa has trained me to not holler out to the kids when I see wildlife at the last second because they can never see it and then get upset.  Apparently I forgot my training. Time was of the essence and we needed to get home.  We couldn’t go back.  My excitement over a new life bird for myself was quickly extinguished by Evan’s inability to add it to his list too.

But I’ve hunted birds enough to be trained to mark locations quickly, and I did for this one too even though I was determined to head straight home.  The bird was just north of mile marker 187.  Then I saw that the Hinckley exit was just three miles away.  Suddenly, at the last minute, I found myself going up the exit ramp, across the freeway, and back on to the entrance ramp headed north again.  Then it occurred to me that I did not consider how far I would have to go north before I could exit again to return south.  Well, it didn’t matter now because there was nothing I could do.  Shortly after getting back on the freeway I saw that my exit was 7 miles away.  Not bad.  But each mile marker seemed hundreds of miles apart, especially once we went past 187.

Finally, we were southbound again. 190.  189.  188 – time to start watching!  Time to go at a slow, safe sped. There was a chance that this owl would be gone.  I figured he was eating something in the snow when I first saw it.  Then I saw that my eyes didn’t fool me before – there it was in the same spot!  I was able to pull over to the right directly across from it.  I pulled way over and put on the hazards.  We opened the windows and started snapping pictures in between bursts of cars and semis screaming through the space that separated us from the owl.

Do you see it?  Look in the snow just off the shoulder in the center of the picture.

Here’s a better view.

And then we got this shot.  Pretty cute.

While it looks like I caught him winking, this eye stayed shut the whole time.  I think there was something wrong with this bird for him to be in the spot it was  during the middle of the afternoon.  Maybe he’d been clipped by a car, or perhaps it was starving like so many owls are.

What a thrilling day.  Three major life birds! Two owls!  We were elated.  Maybe it was the enormity of the day or the exhaustion from this whirl-wind trip, but I made a mental driving error about a half hour after this owl that could have cost Evan and me our lives.  I really don’t want to go into the details, but I thank God nothing happened.  It rattled me bad. Birds didn’t matter any more.  I was both relieved and angry at myself.  There is nothing more important than the safety of my kids, and I’ve always prided myself on being a cautious driver.  Now I had two hours of driving before I made it to the place I just wanted to be – home.  In that time I drove, I resolved to take care of myself – managing stress better, getting sleep, hydrating, etc.  I was determined to be present in whatever situation I found myself in – whether that was helping a student with math, visiting with another person, or driving a car.  This cannot will not happen again.

It would have been easy to say that birding is done.  How could I let a hobby become a disaster?  But as I drove, I reflected on why I do the birding with Evan.  It was his passion that also became mine.  Life needs to be lived to the fullest.  Part of that is pursuing passions and sharing in life with loved ones.  Our birding combines both of those.  No, I couldn’t stop on account of a bad moment on the road.  There will be adventures ahead.  The blog will keep telling our stories.

Since 2011 when we lost three people who were very dear to us, I have seen life differently.  It is extremely short.  I want to spend my time with those I love  doing what makes them tick.  Sometimes you need to go on spur-of-the-moment adventures to have a lasting memory.  As proof of how fast life goes, I received this email from Steve Wilson last night.  Steve had asked me for information on my sightings of the Great Gray, and I had given him a summary along with a reference to this blog for the more detailed account.  Here is what Steve wrote:

Thanks Josh, I enjoyed the blog story. However, now for the bad news. Friday a great gray owl, very possibly the one you observed, was struck and killed by a car along that little stretch of Hwy 135 between Hwy 169 and the road past Powerain, There is still a great gray hanging out at the DNR office a short distance away, but since the other bird was killed none have been reported in the triangle. In addition, the boreal owl outside of Cook was found dead on the 14^th, frozen hard, so it was probably already dead when you were looking for it. Sorry to be the bearer of what I’m sure is terrible news. I suppose the glass-half-full attitude is that you were lucky to see the great gray while still alive.

It was sad.  I’ve killed my fair share of animals and had pets die, but there was something special about that Great Gray that made it sting a little.  You can’t stare into the eyes of a creature like that and not be affected by its passing.  How fortunate we were to be able to see this bird while it was still alive.  Thanks for the memories, Ghost.

We finally made it home from this epic journey.  25.5 hours.  Nearly 600 miles. 3 monumental lifers. We were the Jack Bauers of birding.  Actually, Jack would have done it in exactly 24 hours and got the Boreal and Northern Hawk Owls.  This was a birding and life experience that we won’t forget.  I don’t know what or when our next adventure is, but you can bet we’ll be out there birding it up.

To read Wild Ghost Chase – Part 2, click here.

To read Wild Ghost Chase – Part 1, click here.

I had trouble falling asleep the last night – the mixture of excitement and 21st century birding kept me up until midnight.  I had some work to get done before I hit the pillow.  I needed to put probability on our side, so I emailed Steve Wilson with my phone number asking him to alert me to any sightings of the Great Gray Owl in the Tower/Ely area.  I only had until 2:00 to search because I was under strict orders to get Evan back by bed time, so it was critical that I get real-time information.   I also had to follow up on the Boreal Owl posting that said a Boreal Owl had been in someone’s yard all day in Cook.  After I saw that post, I fired off a quick email the day before asking for the location or the phone number of the property owner.  I monitored my phone periodically along the trip and never saw a response.  I was getting frustrated.  Were they unwilling to share?  Why then would they post on MOU?  When I checked my phone before I went to bed I was relieved to see that an email came in from the author of the post.  She wrote that the property owner would call me the next day if it was still there.  Whew.  Okay, time for bed.

I woke up the next morning at the time I usually wake for work and took care of my dogs.  My dad was busy cooking us breakfast in the kitchen.  It was a relaxing morning.  I didn’t have to struggle with Marin to get just the right outfit on and out the door; I didn’t have to shower or shave – I was in the northwoods, hunting for an owl.  I was letting Evan sleep until the very last minute.  He’s never been a breakfast eater, and he desperately needed all the sleep he could get.  After a quiet breakfast and cup of coffee with my dad, I went to get Evan.  I nudged his shoulder and whispered, “Evan, it’s time to go.”  His eyes opened wide, and he quickly popped out of bed.  That never happens at home when it’s time to get up for school.  It usually takes both Melissa and me going into his room multiple times, turning on lights and literally dragging him out of bed.  This was Game Day for us birders, and Evan knew it.  In a matter of minutes, his clothes, bird vest, and winter gear were on.  It was go time.

We pulled out of the driveway as it was barely getting light.  We wanted to make it to Tower by sun-up.  This time we were driving in my vehicle – the one that has good windshield wipers.  Even though it was a beautiful sunny day, we were taking no chances. Plus the heated seats really helped on this ultra-cold morning.

The plan was to head to Tower on MN Hwy. 1, and we decided that if the Boreal Owl call came in before the halfway point, we’d race back to Cook for that bird and then go back to Tower to hunt the Great Gray.  As we drove in the early light, no call came in.  We looked for birds but did not take the search seriously until we got within a couple miles of Hwy. 169 near the Pikes River Flowage, an area of previous sightings.  Nothing.  We pushed on to where Hwy. 1 and Hwy. 169 meet, the location of the Y-Store, a convenience store out in the country.  The Great Gray had been spotted around this store, so we drove slowly and scanned the woods for this enormous bird.  It was 5 miles from the Y-Store into Tower, and the Phantom of the North had been spotted in numerous locations on this route.  Still nothing as we crept toward Tower.  Every mile that went by increased a sickening feeling that we wouldn’t get the bird.  That thought was tempered by the amount of time and unchecked locations still on our side.

Once we got into Tower, we went down the new Hwy. 135 that shot off 169, looking at the woods the whole time.  Not knowing the geography real well, the locations described in the MOU post did not make sense until we were actually there.  Once on 135, you could take an immediate left on old Hwy. 135 back into Tower.  With 169, these two sections of road formed a small triangular section of woods that had been the site of regular Great Gray sightings.  As we inched along the second side of this triangle and watched the woods, we were getting nothing.  I noticed a driveway into a private business called Powerain.  I had read that an owl had been seen here, so I turned left into the driveway to look at the woods around this business.  For some reason I looked left into eastern sky along the woods we had just come by before turning, and I saw the most enormous silhouette of a bird I’d ever seen pop against the open sky – the Ghost!  It was sitting on large aspen limb extending toward the road.  I couldn’t believe it.  It was too fast, too easy to be true.  Excitedly but in a mellow voice I said, “Guys, we got him!”  It was an incredible feeling.  The agony of defeat from last weekend was erased.  I didn’t know what to do first – take a picture with my phone or with my camera.  How long did I have?  My birding friend, Steve, from Willmar wanted updates.  Melissa was curious. Do I text them first?  I snapped a picture with my phone, got a couple with my camera and then positioned the vehicle back on 135 to shoot photos with the sun at our backs.  Here was our first sight.

 A quick photo was then taken with the real camera in case he flew away.  Note his white mustache.

There was beautiful sunlight streaming in from the east, so I changed positions.  Warning: this is a bit of a photo bomb.  But, it’s kind of a big deal.  This was a lifer of a lifetime.

It was fascinating to watch the owl’s head pivot without moving its body.  It seemed the head was in constant motion.  I wish I had been ready with the camera when two crows dive-bombed the owl.  He was moving his head back and forth rapidly to face each one of them above him.  After enough harassment, he flew from his perch about a hundred yards over to the Powerain driveway.  We were able to drive within 30 ft of it to get these next shots.

I was absolutely captivated by the eyes of this bird as it stared back at me.  The photos really don’t convey just how piercing its look can be.  I felt he was looking deep into my soul and saying, “Just who do you think you are?”  Seeing it live through the viewfinder was a fascinating, unnerving experience.

It was hard to stop taking pictures.  Apparently this owl was fed up with my obsession of him, so he decided to leave.  How I wish I’d been ready on sports mode.  He flushed from his perch and flew right over me coming within just 6 feet!  He was absolutely massive.  I just kind of stood there in awe as he flew into the woods of the triangle.

That was enough bothering this owl.  We now had a surplus of time on our hands to bird it up however we liked.  Since we were in Tower, we thought we’d keep investigating other sites.  How cool would it be to see multiple Great Grays in one day? We didn’t see anything more, but on our way back through Tower, we drove around the triangle one last time.  This time, on the other side, was a Great Gray perched atop a dead birch tree about 10 feet high!  I believe this is the same bird, but it is possible it was a different one.  Again I shot some more photos and caught some fun behavior.  Another car of gawkers stopped to take pictures as well.

Here is a 1-minute video I shot to show just how cool this bird’s movements were.  Disregard the sideways image below – the video will be vertical once you hit play.

This was an obvious life bird for Evan and me.  It was my dad’s second time seeing one.  It was a neat moment to have a three generation viewing of this incredible bird.  The feeling in the car was a mixture of excitement and relief. It was only around 8:00 in the morning, and we had got what we came for.  With the sun at our backs we made a leisurely drive back to Cook, pulling over every now and then to let faster cars full of non-birders go by us.  Once we got to Cook, the first stop was Zup’s grocery store to visit Evan’s Grandma Brenda at work.  We got to hang out with her for a good 15 minutes or so, and Evan left with some treats from his Grandma as he always does when we visit her at the store.  24 hours earlier, none of us could have envisioned this meeting.

We left Grandma’s store to go to the Cook water plant where Grandpa Don was working.  It was now a four-grandparent day!  Even if we hadn’t seen the Ghost, that alone made the trip.  Don gave my dad and me a lesson on the workings of the water tower which was fascinating for us.  Evan wasn’t too interested in this science lesson, though.  While visiting with Don, he mentioned that one of Brenda’s coworkers had an owl in her yard all day just the day before.  Could this be the property owner or near the property owner?  Was it the Boreal?  As we were discussing this, Brenda had been thinking along the same wavelength and had even called this coworker and then called me.  Apparently there was no owl in the yard today, but we had a location to go search.  We went out that way and did not see anything.  Brenda had also suggested going to the U.S. Forest Service office to see if there were any owl sightings.  So we did.  The worker at the visitor’s center said that she had seen some Great Grays that day and a Barred Owl, but nothing else.  The Barred Owl was intriguing, so I asked her where.  She said that it was on Hwy. 169 near Ely – the very area we’d just come from.  Barred Owls can be found throughout the year all over the state, so we weren’t going back.

We did get to check out the cool display of mounted birds at the Forest Service’s visitor center.

Look! The Boreal Owl!  I know, it’s just not the same as the real thing.

No call had come in.  We were okay with it.  Seeing the Ghost was more than enough to make it a good birding trip.  It was time to go back to Grandma’s house for some lunch.  And with so much time left on our hands, Evan and I were going to hit the Sax-Zim Bog on the way home!  How cool would it be to get the Northern Hawk Owl and possibly a Snowy, Boreal, or another Great Gray?  A classmate of mine who lives near the Bog had seen one of my Facebook posts the night before and told me of where he’d seen a Great Gray the other day on his way to work.  It was something worth checking.

We pulled into Grandma’s driveway and started walking to the door.  Just as I was almost to the door, my phone rang.  It was a Cook phone number that I didn’t recognize – were we about to hop back into the vehicle and race back into town for the Boreal?

To read Part 1 of Wild Ghost Chase, click herehere.

To read Part 3 of Wild Ghost Chase – Two Big Lifers, click 

With the mini-vacation over, it was time to get back into the normal routines – at least until June, anyway.  As I started my work-week on Tuesday I found myself impatient for next January and February.  It didn’t make sense because I really do not like winter.  There’s something about those visiting owls that is alluring, though.  We’d have to find other birds to pursue until next winter because the owls were on their way back north. But then on Tuesday night an MOU-Net post from Steve Wilson was waiting in my email.  Steve reported that he drove 130 miles in Lake County doing an owl survey and came up with nothing but then had a Great Gray Owl perching in his own yard when he returned at 1 AM.  I thought it was neat, but it was nothing to get super excited over.  I’m sure there was still an owl here and an owl there.  They weren’t all gone.

On Wednesday when I was eating lunch at work, I checked my email and saw that Steve made another posting.  My eyes bulged as I read the following:

Apparently the great gray owl in my yard was no fluke. The following was posted to the Ely Field Naturalists site today:

“Not sure if this is the case up in Ely, but the Great Grays seem to be everywhere in Tower right now. We are seeing owls every single day for the past week or so. Specifically, there are Great Grays right by the Marjo Motel, and also right outside of Tower on Hwy. 135 (that new triangle area- the loop detour). There is an owl that seems to like perching on road signs right there on Hwy. 135, and on the Powerain building road sign. Also plenty of sightings by the Y Store, Pike River Flowage, Fortune Bay parking lot, among other places. They are really tame, and don’t seem to be bothered by cars stopping and gawking! 

Jodi Summit”

Tower? The town that’s a half hour from my parents’ house?  Seeing them everywhere? Sightings every day?  My mind was swirling.  My lunch companions had no idea that while I sat quietly as they talked sports, there was a major storm brewing in my head.  The probability of seeing the Ghost was high.  Do I dare consider another trip back up north?  Could I possibly yank Evan out of another day of school?  As I mulled this over another MOU-Net post came in: Boreal Owl seen all day in a yard in Cook.  Cook? The town I went to school in?  By now my mind was in overdrive. What do I do with this information?  I forwarded these MOU posts to my wife and contacted my new birding friend Steve, about the possibility of a fast trip up north; I knew he needed the Great Gray for his life list too.  Melissa responded in an email with, “When are you going up north??”  I took it to be her implicit blessing.  Now I knew I was going but when? Steve told me he couldn’t do anything until Saturday. Argh.  The owls could easily be gone three days later.  Plus we had things going on at home on Friday and Saturday.

The questions continued to pound away inside my head.  Now as I taught class I was fighting the students’ distractions as well as my own.  On the outside I was answering questions about linear models and helping students with surface area – topics I could teach in my sleep by now, but on the inside I was asking my own questions and trying to answer them.  If I don’t take advantage of this, how long will it be until we get our Great Gray lifer?  Could I take a personal day on such short notice?  What would my students be doing if I were gone Friday, or even tomorrow? When my last afternoon class was done, I went to Bridgid, our Human Resources person, to ask about the possibility of taking a sudden personal day.  She told me that Friday was out – they didn’t have enough subs that day.  She said it would have to be tomorrow if I did take a day off.  Tomorrow?  That meant leaving for Up North after school!  That was a five-and-a-half hour trip.  It was insanity. This was at 3:00.  The HR person needed to know by 4:00.  I went back to my classroom and mulled this all over.  Do I dare?  It is so crazy, so irresponsible, so…not me.  I’ve learned that like investing, birding is sometimes all about timing, and you have to act.  These things have wings.  There is no promise of tomorrow with them.  People go years without seeing another Great Gray or Boreal Owl.  Many birders have never seen either.  But could I really do the big drive after a full day of work without even planning on it?

The clock said 3:30, and I found my feet walking toward Bridgid’s office.  I was doing it.  It was the craziest decision I had ever made.  I would be driving across the state and  sleeping in my parents’ house this very night.  I did not see that one coming when I woke up in the morning.  I quickly put my sub plans together and was out the door by 4:00, running to my SUV.

Once the decision had been made, a calm set in.  I was now in tactical mode.  Melissa was picking up Evan in Willmar and would be bringing him home.  Meanwhile I changed and threw one set of clothes and some toiletries for both Evan and myself in a bag.  Weird.  I’ve never packed so little going up north.  I packed up our winter gear and got the vehicle outfitted for hauling my two dogs.  Leaving these beasts home with Melissa for her to take care of would have just been cruel.  It was just as easy to bring them along.  I piled about 6 pillows in the back seat to make a comfy environment where Evan could easily fall asleep in the car.

Melissa’s after-school work and errands were taking her longer than she expected, so I ended up going in to Willmar to pick up both kids.  As each minute ticked by that we weren’t pointed north, I felt more and more crazy and frantic.  I picked up Evan first and told him what was going on.  While I expected shouting and screaming, he was fairly quiet, but his excitement grew the more he understood the reality of what was happening.  Once we got everybody home, I put together some food for Evan and me for an on-the-road supper.  Evan put on his pajamas and made a bathroom stop, we said good-bye to our ladies, and at 6:00 we were northbound.  Just a couple hours earlier I had committed to this trip.

Once in the car, I talked to Evan very seriously that at 8:00 there would be no talking, no radio, no books, no nothing.  He needed to go close his eyes and go to sleep.  I told him that if we ever wanted to do something like this again that he needed to do his part to make it work.  A crabby kid on Friday would ruin any fun in the future.  He seemed to understand. In addition, I told him that I would hold onto his water bottle and give it to him for a couple drinks when needed.  Our last trip up north we had bought him a bottle of water and ended up making three emergency bathroom stops.  Time was of the essence tonight.  We needed to fly.

Strangely, with each mile traveled, I felt better and better about doing this.  It was a real adventure that Evan and I would remember for the rest of our lives, whatever the outcome would be.  It was also a treat to be able to have a long ride with my son.  He talked on and on about the things going on his world – how he loved the gymnastics unit they were doing in Phy Ed and how he was the only one to climb a rope to the top.  Our conversation also included bird-related topics as we’d see a bird here or there and as this budding reader read his field guides and listened to bird songs with the Audobon Society Bird App on his iPod.  As the sun set, though, Evan was true to his word and tried to sleep.  By 8:20 I was getting no response from the backseat.

Just before 11:00 I was greeting my parents in the flesh with a sleepy boy in my arms.  Neither of us expected to see each other so soon.  The greeting was quick because the Team would be heading out before dawn on the greatest wild goose ghost chase of our lives.  Sleep was essential, but it was hard to come by with visions of what tomorrow could hold.

To read Wild Ghost Chase – Part 2: The Great Gray Ghost, click here. 

After Evan had gone to bed on Friday night, I went to work on figuring out how to post a message to the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union’s listserve, better known as MOU-Net.  I put out a plea to other birders in the Sax-Zim Bog to text or call us with any owl locations that day.  I was trying to increase our probability of finding one of these elusive birds.

The Team was up early Saturday morning to be able to get out to the Sax-Zim Bog at daylight.  The weather was not ideal as it was snowing quite heavily.  Unlike the prairie where we live, there was no accompanying wind, so visibility was fine for driving and the roads were just a little snow covered.  It didn’t take that long to get down to the Bog, but Evan kept asking, “Are we in the Bog yet?”  Finally, after several more miles and about ten more occurrences of that same question, we arrived at the Bog.  Everyone was alert and looking for birds even though we were fighting reduced visibility and a bum windshield wiper.  I think we were a little too over-anxious because my dad stopped the truck and said we had a hawk or an owl perched atop a dead tree.  I zoomed in with the camera and saw that our “owl” was just a chunk of the tree trunk that was connected to the lower trunk by a thin sliver of wood.  I took the picture and discarded it, but now I wish I would have kept it because a theme of false sightings started to occur…

We drove and drove and were not seeing any bird activity.  We had gone past the Admiral Road feeders and didn’t see a bird.  We drove around where Boreal Owls, Northern Hawk Owls, and Black-billed Magpies had been seen.  Eventually we were back on Co. Rd. 7 where we saw the eagles the previous night, and many of them, along with a bunch of American Crows and Common Ravens, were still there.  I couldn’t resist taking this picture even though it was snowing so hard.  We joked about the pecking pooping order of these birds throughout the day.  At least Evan got to hear these eagles as we had the windows rolled down while they were flying around and chattering the whole time.

After this we had gone down a road that was marked on our map as being a good location for Great Gray Owls.  We were optimistic.  But with every mile under our seats, the optimism started to fade.  We weren’t seeing any bird activity.  Evan was tired from traveling the day before and waking up early on this day.  He tried napping on the bench seat of my dad’s crew cab truck, but he just kept asking when it would be time to go back to Grandma’s house.  Oh boy.  We had come all this way and were only 45 minutes in, and the chief birder was ready to call it quits.  At just the right time, I spotted a Ruffed Grouse eating buds in the top of an aspen tree.  Perfect!  This perked Evan right up, and our little birder was back.  We talked about it and concluded that Evan had never seen a live grouse; he’s seen me come home with several dead ones over the years from hunting outings.  This was the first time my dad and I had ever witnessed one “budding.”  Ruffed Grouse are typically found on the ground.  It was a real treat for me to be able to watch this bird and its behavior.  Most of the times I see grouse, I am trying to squeeze the trigger…

Look at him crane his neck in the last picture to get a bud!

It dawned on me that part of Evan’s misery was being cooped up in the backseat with a limited view, so I invited him to sit in the front middle seat as we went down these lonely backwoods roads.  I think this kid’s day was made just from wearing no seat belt and peeing on the road.  What more do you need when you’re 6?

As we traveled on I caught sight of a Pileated Woodpecker fly across the road.  I have seen a lot of these across the state as I’ve started  to pay attention to birds.  We even had our first Pileated in the yard this year. They are huge – about as long as the Ruffed Grouse.  If you see one, you won’t forget it.  Down south they are sometimes referred to as God birds because many people see one and exclaim, “Great God!” The one pictured here is a male as indicated by his red “mustache.”

I was in the midst of trying to film a video of this woodpecker when my phone rang!  Every “knock-knock” sound of an incoming email or text got hearts racing and me scrambling for the phone with an excited, “What is it?!” from my companions.  Every time we hoped for a sighting in the Bog, but it was usually just spam or other unrelated MOU-Net posts.  This call, however, was from Steve, a fellow Knowledge Bowl coach back home.  It turns out he saw my message on MOU-Net.  Not only did we discover that we were both into birding because of my posting, but also that Steve was in the Bog just a week ago.  He gave me tips on where they found the Boreal and Northern Hawk Owls as well as Snowy Owls in Duluth.  Another one of his tips led us to one of the many bird-feeding stations in the Bog to check for Black-billed Magpies, a western bird that strays to the Bog – a potential lifer for us.

We pulled up to the Kelsey Feeding Station on Kelsey Whiteface Road and happened upon the caretaker of the feeders filling them up for the day.  This caretaker,Loretta, owns the land on which this feeding station is located.  She told us there were some deer at the end of the path who were eating at her feeders.  Evan wanted to check it out.  It felt good to break up all the driving by walking down this path.

This feeding station is one path in the woods about a hundred yards long with all kinds of fun, unique feeders lining the path.  It almost felt like being in a bird-feeding, art gallery. Check out the first “feeder” – did I mention it was unique?

Mark and Loretta began this feeding station just over a year ago.  As locals they were accustomed to all the birds in the area.  They didn’t realize how special these birds were until they started noticing all the people coming through.  Loretta told us how it was not uncommon to be following a car down Co. Rd. 7 at highway speeds only to have the car slam on the brakes and come to a sudden stop on the highway.  All four doors would fly open, the trunk would be popped, and out would come all these cameras as long as a person’s arm.  Occurrences like this got them to take notice of the birds in their own backyard.  Now Loretta is going through hundreds of pounds of bird feed.  There are donation boxes at her station to help keep this a good birding stop.  After watching some Common Redpolls and Pine Grosbeaks high in the trees, we moved on.  No magpies today.

We drove around some more but nothing really significant popped out.  The lack of birds caused me to see the tremendous beauty of the bog.  It is not beautiful as most people know northern Minnesota’s beauty with pristine lakes, rock faces, and towering pines.  Instead, there is a different, quieter beauty here.

We continued our chase for birds and saw this little bunch.  They were just European Starlings, which we see by the thousands at home.  However, their positioning in these branches reminded me of the structure of DNA and how the lives of birds and birders are intertwined in this magical land.

I found the landscape of the bog fascinating.  There were open hayfields throughout.  No wonder the town nearby was called Meadowlands.  As we went by some of these farm landscapes, I think we were getting delirious and desperate for a good bird sighting.  Finally!  A Snowy Owl….oh wait, it’s a rock.

We drove on.  It was time to go.  The rest of my family was going to pick us up in Cotton to bring us down to Duluth for our little family mini-vacation.  There was one last ray of hope of seeing an owl.  We were going to exit the Bog on Arkola Road and go by the spot where the last Boreal Owl had been seen a week ago.  We got closer to the road and realized that there would have to be other Bog trips to get our owls.  Oh well, at least it’s close to our families.  Plus, we got to see this guy on our way out.

Evan and I are relatively new to the sport of birding.  As I’ve started this blog, I have gotten into online birding communities and started following other bird bloggers.  I started to pick up on a certain holy ground of birders nationwide – the Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota.  This unique area attracts certain species of birds that are difficult, if not impossible, to find in other parts of the country.  This area is comprised of state, county, and private land and draws in hoards of birds and birders.  One of the big draws of the Bog are the visiting boreal species in the winter from the far north – the Boreal Owl, the Snowy Owl, the Northern Hawk Owl, the Great Gray Owl, and several other bird species.  Imagine my surprise when I find out that this Bog, mentioned in the movie The Big Year and featured in the New York Times, is only 45 minutes from my parents’ house.

Part of my online birding included monitoring the Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union’s rare bird alerts. It turns out that this winter was an irruption year for the Boreal Owl.  Lots of theses owls were popping up on the North Shore of Lake Superior and in the Bog.  They are rare and hard to find, but this year many got to add it to their life lists.  People flew in to Duluth from California, Florida, and Missouri just to see this owl.  One woman broke her 16 year curse of always just missing this owl and finally saw the bird.  We had to go.  With the musical over, we were finally in the clear for a family trip Up North.  The problem, however, was that the sightings of these owls had dropped off, and the owls were most likely already en route to the north.  People had still found some the previous weekend, so we were going to give it a try.

Friday happened to be Evan’s birthday.  Since I was done with work early that day, we decided to surprise Evan by picking him up early from school and taking him on a grand birding adventure.  He had no idea what we’d been scheming.  While his friends were learning math, he was halfway to Grandma’s house and a birder’s paradise.

When we travel home, we usually just want to get there.  It’s a long trip.  I learned that the Sax-Zim Bog is bordered by U.S. Highway 53, our main travel route north, so instead of 53, why not head north through the Bog?  I pulled off into the Bog at Independence and made my way north on St. Louis Co. Rd. 7.  As we cruised through this landscape of scrubby forests and swampy bogs, we were on full alert for these species.  Even Melissa put down her school work to help watch for any bird movement.

Five hours in a car is a long time for little kids – and big people, too – so as much as I wanted to take my time, we were birding at 65 MPH. We came by a lowland, marshy area and BAM!  There were Bald Eagles everywhere!  Fighting, eating, perching – it was crazy to say the least.  I screeched to halt on the shoulder and flew out of the car with the camera.  Melissa had anticipated such a move, so she had been carrying it uncased, lense cap removed and powered on.  I was snapping away at what I thought was a Rough-legged Hawk because I had heard they were in the Bog, but I later learned it was just an immature Bald Eagle.

While I took pictures of the “hawk,” Melissa and Evan counted eagles.   They figured there were 10-12 different birds.  Most were mature adults, but there were a couple immatures with them.  Beside the amazing sights were the classic sounds of eagle chatter everywhere in the marsh.  My passengers never heard them because their windows were rolled up.

This was quite an introduction to the Bog.  With hearts racing and seat belts buckled, anticipation started to build for the next day of full birding in the Bog as we continued on our journey to Grandma’s.  But before our big day, we had a little birthday celebration for the chief birder.  Note the birding vest – I don’t think he took it off since he got it last weekend from his Aunt Sharon as a birthday gift.

Today was the final performance of Willmar Middle School’s production of The Little Mermaid. That meant we were getting Mom back from her crazy rehearsal and production schedule. This weekend the kids had plenty to keep them occupied while Mom was away.  Melissa’s parents, nieces, aunt, grandma, and a second cousin made the long trip down from up north to see the musical and celebrate Evan and Marin’s birthdays which are both next week.  Our kids got to hang out with their cousins and spend some quality time with them and their grandparents in a hotel all weekend, even spending two nights at the hotel away from home.  Cousins, presents, swimming, bowling, a musical performance and lots of good food.  Needless to say, the kids didn’t miss us  too much.  Today, though, Melissa’s family hit the road, and it was just the three of us again while Melissa did her last show and post-production party.  After the kids each delivered their mom some flowers after the final performance, the three of us hit the road for a birding adventure while Mom did her post-production party and clean up.  This afternoon we were following up on a birding tip I had gotten from a coworker last week.  This coworker, Terry, had told us he had been near Paynesville and seen 300-400 Wild Turkeys on a hillside one morning.  Wow!  So he drew me a map so we could investigate ourselves.

Right away on our outing we started seeing Horned Larks, and we never stopped seeing them.  Every county road we traveled we would flush little flocks of 6-10 birds every mile or so.  A week ago this was a life bird for us, so they are still pretty exciting to see. They are always a surprise to see on the highway because you can’t really see them until they flush.  They like to hang out in the exposed grass just off the shoulder.

We made our way up toward Paynesville.  There wasn’t much for birds, so I started commenting on other things I saw.  I saw a skidloader and told the kids, “There’s a Bobcat.”  Of course this confused Marin who thought I was talking about a lion.  Evan then went on a discourse explaining to his almost 3-year-old sister that “Bobcat” is just a name brand for a skidloader and that real bobcats don’t live in our area.  I didn’t follow all of the conversation, but he was a treasure-trove of information, true or otherwise.  Marin, the budding conversationalist, proves she is listening by asking relevant questions, such as, “And if you  see a bobcat, you run like the dickens?”

I had forgotten my map at home, so I was going on memory.  Not good.  I made one wrong turn and then proceeded to go down another road that seemed to fit somewhat with my memory of the map.  I was frazzled not knowing for sure if I was in the right location.  It was a long trip up to this area, so I didn’t want to miss out.  Then we came up over a hill, and there was our target bird – the Wild Turkey.

These guys quickly split into the woods on both sides of the road.  These last two look like they are debating which way they need to go.

Even if we didn’t make it to the spot we were supposed to go, the trip was already a success.  As we kept driving, though, the scenery started matching Terry’s description perfectly and I knew we were in the right spot.  Taking the next turn, we found another group of seven Wild Turkeys.

Turkeys sure are skittish and can run fast.  I had to photograph them on sports mode.  Before long these seven were out of sight. We went down the road a couple more miles before deciding to turn around.  I had found these turkeys again on the right side of the road and stopped to photograph them again.  Evan then screamed out, “Dad! Turkeys!”  “Yes, Evan I see them.  Those are the ones we saw before.”  “No, Dad, look on the other side!”  Sure enough, he was right.  There on the hillside where Terry had seen the hundreds of birds a week earlier stood many huge birds out in the field.  I don’t know what it was with the number seven, but here is another group.

Here is a shot to the left of the photo above.  The famed hillside that held hundreds of birds is further to the left yet.

After viewing all these turkeys (we estimate that we saw 25-30 in these sightings), we drove a couple of miles into the town of Paynesville to get a treat.  Marin was becoming impatient with us birders, and  so she needed something to break up the trip. With treats in hand, we were ready for more bird action.

We decided to head back to the same turkey spot afterward just in case those throngs of turkeys that Terry saw would come out for an evening meal.  No luck.  There were a few of those turkeys still lingering about.  We didn’t get to see the swarms of monstrous birds we’d heard about, but we had a successful turkey-outing nonetheless.  It also excited me to see so much turkey action within a couple miles of where I’ll be turkey hunting in April.

We made our way home and found a pair of Bald Eagles soaring on the south side of Lake Koronis.  Other than that, we saw hundreds and hundreds of Horned Larks.  I did spy a bird perched on a wire hunting the larks – the Northern Shrike again.   All our other sightings of this bird were pre-camera.  Well, even with a camera in hand, this one gave us the slip before I could get a shot.  It appears this is my nemesis bird.

As we rode home, I was asked over and over to turn up the volume on Radio Disney.  As a Justin Bieber song played, Evan asked me if I liked him.  I replied that I didn’t care for him to which he said, “Ah, why not? Justin Bieber’s so awesome!”  Maybe it was the Bieber music, maybe it was the good birding trip, but we went out to look at turkeys and ended up coming home with a couple.