Are you experienced? Part 3

Dear AviFans,

It is SO nice to be home, where the mercury doesn't even know how to get lower than 20F. We even enjoyed a cocktail last night on our deck, without need of polar fleece or down jackets!

After my last report, many of you have undoubtedly already purchased tickets to Duluth, and some are likely considering attending next year's Festival. Who could blame you?

Common Redpoll says, "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

To help you be more informed travelers, I offer this description of the events of Saturday, February 14, as exemplary of the winter birding experience. And, yes, this is how those-who-have-been-married-too long spend Valentines Day.

Winter Birding Experienced
3:30am (CENTRAL time): Alarm goes off. Swearing occurs.

4:15am: Walk outside of hotel bundled in polar gear to scrape windows and warm car. Hmm...not too bad, -10F doesn't feel as bad as I thought. Wind blows. Get punched in the gut. HOLY CRAP where did that come from??? Props to the Wind Chill; it really knows how to beat you up!

4:30am: Start the 45 min drive to the festival. Arrive, park, and run into building.

5:30am: Bus opens doors. Run to bus. Did I mention it was 5:30 CENTRAL time? Oh, and that we were using school buses?

6:00am: Driving starts. Try not to fall asleep.

7:00am: Getting light outside. Can't see anything -- windows iced up on the inside! Remove handy, official Sax Zim Box Ice Scraper from official Festival Welcome Packet and start scraping. By the time one pass on the window has been completed, it's starting to ice up again. Resume scraping. Rinse, lather, repeat.

8:15am: Bird seen. Bus goes crazy. Get off bus to see bird better. Yep, it's a bird! Run back to bus.

There really was a school bus. True dat.

9:00am: Stop at some bird feeders. Because birds are normally very dispersed in these conditions, and to make the festival a little more festive, the local community stocks feeders for a few weeks prior to the festival. Get off bus to appreciate all the activity.

No idea who the dude on the left is, and when I took the picture I literally had no idea I had captured this! I assume he's checking whether expectoration will freeze prior to hitting the ground. Or, he's rabid.

 10:00am: Stop by another set of bird feeders. These, however, are unusual...

Downy Woodpecker likes to think he took down this beast.

To provide birds (and other denizens of the bog) some rich fat, Minnesotans hang roadkill and other carcasses on trees. The temps never get above freezing, so the meat doesn't spoil, but the critters can pick off tasty morsels for weeks. Now THAT was something I'd never seen before.

10:15am - 4pm: Repeat all of the above.

We logged over 200 miles that day. In a school bus. But, one thing that kept it interesting was sitting near one of our guides, Greg Miller. Greg did his own Big Year in 1998, and ended up in a tight race with two other birders to set the then-record number of birds seen in a year. A book, "The Big Year" was written about the adventure, and the 2011 movie of the same name was based on it (Greg was played by Jack Black). He was the speaker that night, and getting to know him on the bus beforehand was a fun experience!

Doesn't birding sound fun? Are you experienced? Do you want to be experienced?

Gray Jay dares you to try it

Eskimo kisses,
Me