Stromboli's Rolling Log: Day 50-- Leech Lake Ojibway band of the Minnesota Chippewas

Monday, May 4, 2015

Day 50-- Leech Lake Ojibway band of the Minnesota Chippewas

Traveling through the Leech Lake Reservation was the objective today, and we did just that. This Reservation covers 972 square miles of land and 337 square miles of water . It is truly very large. Heavily forested it is competely surrounded and encompassed by the Chippewa National Forest . The forest covers 666,623 acres (2,697.73 km²). Water is abundant, with over 1,300 lakes (including Leech Lake), 923 miles (1,485 km) of rivers and streams, and 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) of wetlands.
During our drive we stopped at many of the side roads as usual, especially as there are dozens of resorts and marinas along the shore, so we made some of the lakeshore our goal..
Our bird count was about the same (36 species) but we did add the Hairy Woodpecker and the Black Backed Woodpecker if only briefly. The Harris Sparrow came to our feeder as did the American Goldfinch, and the White Throated Sparrow. Now if we can get the Hummingbird and the Balitimore Oriole to come, that would make the days perfect.

One more Wood Duck. We have seen many of these

What would Minnesota be without the Common Loon?

We continued around the lake , stopping for some "prospective" good roads for birding. At one spot we ate lunch from our picnic cooler. At the very last few miles we spotted an Osprey on a dead tree. It was close enough to take a few pictures.

The town of Walker is at the southern end Leech Lake. It is a village of about 1,000 folks.
Ravens were in the air today, as were the Chickadees, and we did see our first Barn Swallow. Spring is here.

This one gave us trouble identifying it. A Harris Sparrow.

Note black cap on head.

A White Throated Sparrow.at our feeder

We hope tomorrow to get to the chiroprater as Ruth is really hurting, So that means some time in town perhaps visiting some of the city parks and thier birdlife. Here are a few more photos for the evening.