Last Sunday was the annual Peshekee Grade Christmas Bird Count. I went with a few birders from around Marquette. At our first spot we were treated to a Barred Owl.

We then headed up to the town of Champion. On the edge of town we stumbled upon a street corner loaded with birds! There were Evening Grosbeaks everywhere! We counted about 80 all together! There were also some Pine Siskins and a few Purple Finches.  

After that we headed to the Peshekee Grade. A quick walk through a boreal marsh yielded us 3 Red Breasted Nuthach, 12 Black Capped Chickadees and 2 Boreal Chickadees! Unfortunately, I wasnt able to get a picture of either of the Boreal Chickadees.

Farther down the road we ran into the other group of birders. They found two Gray Jays!

These two Gray Jays are very tame and are trained to eat of the hand! I was able handfeed them a few times.

We added a few more grosbeaks (including 6 Pine), Siskins and redpolls. 

We ended with 23 Species.

Today (12/6/14), me, my dad, my brother and my grandpa went to look for Snowy Owls in the eastern U.P. Someone reported 28 Snowy's in a few square miles! When you hear a report like that you have to go see what you you can see. When we got to the area where they had been seen, I told my dad to stop so I could look in one of the fields. I saw this way out in the field. (#1)

After that one we drove farther up the road and saw some photographers. I scoped over toward them and saw another snowy! (#2)

The photographers unfortunately flushed that owl.
We drove more and I noticed a weird looking clump of snow. That clump of snow was Snowy #3. While watching that one a snowy flew over us!(#4) After one more snowy (#5) and 10 lifer Sharp tailed grouse we headed into Sault Ste Marie. Of course my dad spotted a beautiful male snowy (#6) in one of the fields on the way. 

On the way back from the soo my dad spotted a snowy (#7) on top of a light pole. It was in the same field we saw the male.

Less than two minutes later my dad said this
"Snowy owls are white and brown but the sun, theres one!"
It was the male we saw earlier!
After a few minutes with that one, we pulled into a storage garage and my brother yelled theres another one!#8

We saw 18 more snowy's before the night was over! Here are some various pictures of some of the ones we saw.

I've been having some computer troubles lately. I will hopefully be getting a post about an amazing weekend I had for snowy owls and a few christmas bird counts soon.

Sorry for the delay