Birders visit Lake Superior shore to see rare owls

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 tells Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/W1ykqj) that 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.

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