Its an Owl Irruption Year in Northern Minnesota

Traveling up North? Watch the ditches and tree tops for Great Gray Owls.

There’s something to be said for driving the back roads of northern Minnesota in the winter. I recently took a 15 hour vacation to northen Minnesota in search of owls and peace. I found both of these experiences and I must say if you are after either of these now is the time to go. Ok maybe not now, it’s 20 below but soon. Right now it’s a birding mecca up in the boreal forest. Chances are you won’t even have to look hard to find a great gray owl or a rare boreal owl. These raptors attract small crowds and I found a couple of these crowds that lead me to boreal owls. The boreals are tough to find. Rare and small finding them is a process of driving slow enough to scan the roadside ditches for these smallish birds perched on twigs or tucked into a pine. Boreals are rare but I wanted to find the bigger badder boys of the boreal forest, the great gray owl. Reason being they are more entertaining to watch and easier to find. They’re big and they will perch in the open. Great grays will hunt consistently thru the day and they often hunt roadside ditches offering excellent viewing and photography opportunities.

Leaving my house at 6am on a cold winter morning I began the drive up 35W towards Duluth. With the radio on mindless entertainment it was easy to envision spotting my first great gray in quite a few years. I had an idea of where to start looking for them and it would start just outside of Duluth. Driving the back roads towards Two Harbors there is no traffic  I was able to go slow without being an annoyance to fellow drivers. It wasn’t long when I found a group of folks looking at something. I stopped for a moment to see what they saw. I know, I know but this isn’t gawking. Hopping out of my truck I quickly learned of a boreal owl sighting and yep there it was buried in a group of snaggy pines. How these folks found this bird I’ll never know but it was cool to see. Back in the truck I continued driving and sipping my now cold coffee. I got a tip from my friend Po and I went to quickly visit another boreal. Folks are enamored with boreals. Continuing on I made my way to some roads known to harbor great gray owls during winter. It was afternoon now and I was getting a bit anxious to find a great gray.

Driving slowly and scanning the tree tops in front of me I spotted a shape low in a ditch. A great gray was perched in a snag about 3 feet off the ground. This wasn’t exactly where I thought I’d find an owl but I’ve been scanning the roadside for decades every time I drive and I’m not surprised. I snapped a couple images of this owl and moved a bit farther down the road. Maybe a mile later another great gray owl, this time perched about 12 feet up in a pine tree. I once again snapped his photo then retreated to my truck to warm up and wait. I watched this great gray hunt a nearby field for nearly an hour and darn near got an opportunity to snap images of it as it flew down to  snag a meal. But I had grown bored and was answering a text instead of pointing my lens at the great gray. Damn! The phone now neatly tucked away I went about finding another great gray owl. Hopefully in an area more conducive to photography. While driving my patience wore out and I returned to the area holding the great grays I’d seen earlier. This time I sat until the light was gone. I watched great gray number 2 hunt a field then the ditch. I watched it perch feet from my truck on a sign. Cool to see but not exactly what I was hoping for. I always hope for the best! With dark nearing I started to head back to hwy 61 signalling then end to the actual vacation part of the day. Along the way I saw two other great gray owls.

My day long vacation had produced 8 owls in total as well as some needed peace in the dead of winter. Stopping at Toby’s on the way back I couldn’t believe you could get warm carmel rolls at 6pm! Not a bad vacation day!

Great Gray Owl

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