Day 49-- MIssissippi River headwaters and Five new birds

We probably covered more ground today than we should have, but it seemed possible so we did. There are two State Parks near Bemidji that are potential good birding areas. Bemidji State Park and Itasca S.P. both are within an  hours driving didstance from each other. Both have a portion of the upper Mississippi River running through them and the latter is the source of the River itself as best can be determined.

Coming out of Itasca State park it is a stream

 Both of these parks have many trails and the long and heavily used "Paul Bunyan Trail" is officiallyThe Paul Bunyan State Trail and is 115 miles long, not including a couple of short on-road connections through the cities of Baxter and Bemidji. Extending all the the way from Crow Wing State Park to Lake Bemidji State Park, north of Bemidji, it is the longest of Minnesota's state trails and the longest continuously paved rail-trail in the country.
Fascinating stuff!

Although the birding was not as heavy as most days we did manage to see 4 new 

Doesn't look much like the "Mighty Mississippi" here.

birds on the lst moving our total up to 208 for the trip. Of the two parks Itasca has more auty roads  and for us made it easier to get around and stop frm time to time to look fo birds.  The four new birds we saw (Along with two Bald Eagles  and an Osprey sitting on a nest), were the Pine Warbler, PIne Siskin, Ruffed Grouse, and the White Throated Sparrow right here in the RV Park.
The day also include some grocery shopping, lunch at a Subway, and some birding in the RV park as there are a few non resident birds going through.
Tomorrow we will reach out to Leech Lake area and some of the smaer lakes of the area.

A look at one of the three pine species in the Parks 

This is Red Pine, and there are White and Jack Pine.

At sunset I caught these two huge trees with the clouds tinted by the setting sun

In the RV campground this White Throated Sparrow had been singing all day

A controversy is raging about these 51 miles of pipe for a pipeline that are
 stacked in a hayfireld nearby. Enbridge placed them there
but their contract to build a pipeline was delayed a year.

Only a Pileated Woodpecker can do this to a tree.

This guy  (Black Backed Woodpecker) strips the bark off the Red PIne and eventually kills the tree. 

The Unversity of Minnesota's Biology Experimental Station near Lake Itasca.