A Wild Owl chase

And we got a 'goose egg'.

While I rested Sunday, John got a good flyover of a Northern Goshawk, and great pictures of a life bird, the White-Winged Crossbill. The festival was over but we stayed at Alesches' lodgings one more night.

Monday morning we headed for Duluth and stopped at feeders on Superior Street. John got a picture of the one Hoary Redpoll amongst all the Commons that happened to be there.

Then we went up to Gooseberry Falls SP to find the Northern Hawk Owl. We trolled up and down and up and down and up and down ....... highway 61. No luck.

I was driving when we got up to Grand Marais. The first right turn had a sign for a campground so I turned there. Down a little hill and we were surrounded by trees filled with Bohemian Waxwings! Another life bird. Sometimes, I have a good nose for birds. By the time we had taken pictures and talked with a local, all the birds had flown off! So we turned around and headed back down toward  Duluth. Of course we trolled for the Hawk Owl again several times.

The feeder on Superior was deserted! Birding is so serendipitous.

Then we headed for Superior, Wisconsin. We wandered all over the railroad yards, industrial areas, lumber yards and the airport looking at each clump of snow. No Snowy Owls. John will have to spend some time in Alaska trying to get those owls.

By the time we got to Minneapolis that night, there was at least an inch of new snow on the ground. As soon as you got off the beaten track, traction was minimal. By morning, for our flight, the snow had stopped, so we got off on time. We spend most of the time in the air with our noses stuck to the window watching the geology spool by.