Birding in Minnesota #3

Grand Marais, Minnesota

I have taken you through the birds in the Bog and the forest.

A winter wonderland of birds and scenery

Now, let's go to town.

Grand Marais

We didn’t spend all our time in the Bog and the Superior National Forest. We also ventured into the town of Grand Marais and into downtown Duluth, seeing birds in both locations.

Grand Marais sits right on Lake Superior and offers some beautiful view of the Grand Marais Lighthouse …

It's a relatively unassuming lighthouse, but pretty

We took a snowy walk on Artist’s Point, a spit of land that helps form the harbor. 

Views from the Point

The Point was formed by lava that was connected to the mainland by gravel deposited by lake currents, forming what is called a “tombolo.”  

Artist's Point across the bay

All along the water there were numerous ice formations ...

Ice does interesting things

All were pretty, but some were quite interesting, like these fringed ice-drapes over some rocks ...

They look like little table cloths

Grand Marais, which has a population of less than 2,000 people, was first inhabited by the Anishinaabe indigenous people, also known as the Ojibwe. The Ojibwe name for the area is Gichi-biitoobiig, which means "great duplicate water," "parallel body of water" or "double body of water" (like a bayou), a reference to the two bays that form the large harbor of Lake Superior.

Lake Superior

Grand Marais became a French-Canadian fur trading station in the 1700s, and it was the French Canadian “Voyageurs” who gave the town its name, which means  "Great Marsh.”

The marsh is no longer there, just the harbor

Grand Marais is a gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, with the Gunflint Trail, historically a footpath for travelers and fur traders from inland lakes to Lake Superior. We saw many of our Crossbills and our Common Redpolls on the Gunflint.

We saw some distant gulls and some Common Goldeneyes in the frigid waters, but not the Bohemian Waxwings we were looking for. 

Common Goldeneyes

It’s a shame because food was waiting for them.

High-bush cranberry, a favorite food of Bohemian Waxwings

One day, we had lunch at a pizza place in Grand Marais. When Alex mentioned it, I thought he said “Spignolli’s.” Makes sense. Nope, it was “Sven and Ole’s.” Welcome to the great north. The pizza was good (I should have tried the wild rice pizza!).

The hot pizza was great on a cold, gray day

Duluth

I guess every town has its lighthouse

Although I stayed near Duluth in Hermantown, I didn’t see that much of it except when we went in a few times for dinner (yep, we did have cheese curds one night!). But, we did go to the harbor on a blustery day where we got some great views of American Black Ducks dabbling around in the cold, cold water of Lake Superior.

It's always nice to have your ducks in a row; American Black Ducks 

While not completely frozen over, there were many parts of the lake covered with ice and there were even sheets floating from the shallower harbor to the deeper lake. The Black Ducks didn't mind the cold.

Two American Black Ducks feeding in front of an ice floe

I had only seen one Black Duck before – a female at Isle Royale National Park – so it was nice to see a bunch of males ...

A female and a male

There were also Mallards …

Mallards are everywhere!

Common Goldeneyes …

Fluffing feathers as protection from the cold

And (rare for Minnesota), female Northern Pintail …

Female Northern Pintail

And, a female Long-tailed Duck, which was very, very far away (scope view only).

With a population of 85,884, Duluth is the fourth largest city in Minnesota and the second largest city on Lake Superior, after Thunder Bay, Ontario. Situated on the north shore of Lake Superior at the westernmost point of the Great Lakes, Duluth is accessible to oceangoing vessels from the Atlantic Ocean 2,300 miles away via the Great Lakes Waterway and the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

This statue looks even better buried in snow

The city is named for Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, the first known European explorer of the area.

A Great Trip

Did I see everything the promotion materials promised? 

Not by a longshot. But, I did see some great birds, including some we didn't even expect.

Varied Thrush

Northern Hawk Owl

Was the planning and execution smooth? 

Not really. I would have like to have a lot more information upfront and to have not needed to chase it down. But, it all worked out in the end.

Was the weather cooperative? 

I actually think so. Even with negative double digits and a small blizzard, it was the perfect way to experience real winter without the weather getting too much in the way.

Were the birds I did see great?

Yes, indeed. It's always a great time when you get to photograph Owls. And, we did see a lot of Owls. Not all were in great photography environments, but some were. And, I finally saw some Crossbills that I could photograph. Only eight lifers, but they were good ones.

Alex in the bog

Was my guide good?

Oh, yes. Very! 

I truly enjoyed watching Alex work. I don’t know if I could ever really call myself a birder after watching him identify backlit birds by flight, pick out distant birds by song, spot perching birds out of the corner of his eye while driving and keep up a constant online chatter with other birders looking for good sightings. 

Tree-top birds

Very impressive. If I had been by myself, I wonder how many birds I would have found.

The bottom line: Great trip. Great guide. Eight lifers. So-so photography. And, a thirst to go back during a better bird year and in some other seasons. That’s the funny thing about birding: when you don’t hit all your goals, you just want to go back and do it again.

Here's hoping for more Owls next time!

Trip date: January13-22, 2020