News

Birders look for rare owls in Minnesota

Photo:

Feb 16, 2013 at 5:29 pm

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) About 150 birders from 30 states are in northeast Minnesota this weekend for a bird festival and to see rare owls.

Duluth birding guide Dave Hendrickson is a founder of the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival, which started Friday and runs through Sunday about 60 miles northwest of Duluth.

He says every four years or so, droves of the 10-inch-tall boreal owls fly to Minnesota from Canada when the rodents they prey on drop in numbers. They usually feed along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

He says a lot of birders are probably causing traffic jams on Scenic 61. He says you know the location of the owls but looking for the crowds.