YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Birding in the Upper Midwest

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Birding in the Upper Midwest https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 21 Apr 2026 02:44:08 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php JAileen on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362174 Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:53:44 +0000 JAileen 2362174@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Carla, wow! A whole pack of wolves!  I would have loved to see that.  Re my gear:  I’ve learned through trial and error.  I try not to take anything extraneous.  We went to a nice restaurant one evening, and I told the guide I hope my outfit was okay because that’s all I had.  BTW, I learned about Tilley hats from my husband! Carla on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362173 Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:46:10 +0000 Carla 2362173@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I know Minnesota well.  Two seasons - winter and the 4th of July!  When I was a kid, we were driving at night and had to stop the car as a pack of wolves crossed the road.  All these years, and I still remember seeing their shadowy forms in the headlights and the glow of eyes when they looked our way. Thanks for your detailed account of the kit you use.  You are my source when it comes to functional outdoor kit.  Your reach is long!  Both DH and I own (and wear) 2 Tilley hats each, and several of DH’s golfing buddies are sporting them based on his recommendation.  He learned from me - and I learned from you! JAileen on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362172 Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:46:08 +0000 JAileen 2362172@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Avicennia, yes, it was exciting to see a wolf in the wild!  But also the porcupine!  My picture of it was from so far away that my son said it reminded him of the fuzzy Bigfoot pictures. kkards, thanks!  The owl was amazing.  He’s the longest in N America, but not the heaviest, so its size is just its fluffy feathers.  We don’t have anything planned right now.  These trips can be grueling - out the door at 5:30am and evening outings at times.  I’m still exhausted.  In a couple months we’ll be having a big blowout birthday party for my mother.  <div> </div><div>Suz, thanks!  Oh that’s so sweet to think of Mr Skunky (not his real name).  Radley London is very nice quality, and very cute designs.  They had a wallet that I almost bought this spring, but I just don’t need one, and on birding trips I take a teeny tiny wallet.</div> Suz on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362168 Thu, 06 Jun 2024 15:16:29 +0000 Suz 2362168@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ You got some amazing bird photos! And it looks like you had an excellent and efficient kit to help you get those shots. Especially all the anti-bug nets.  On a completely different note, on my recent urban adventure, I found two bags with your name all over them. :)  kkards on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362119 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 23:12:20 +0000 kkards 2362119@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ This birds! What great pictures. And how fun that you got the owl to pose for you for an hour! Where are you headed next? avicennia on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362113 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 20:38:55 +0000 avicennia 2362113@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I’m thrilled for you that you saw a wolf in the wild! JAileen on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362097 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 16:07:16 +0000 JAileen 2362097@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Jaime, thanks!  I’m not brave - I didn’t know in advance how bad the ticks would be! Angie, thanks!  I had never seen that many mosquitos before.  At one point, I was walking behind someone, counting the number of mosquitos on the back of their sweatshirt.   <div> </div><div>LaPed, thanks!  It was lovely up there, and Minnesota and North Dakota were so different.  Minnesota had so many lakes and trees, whereas North Dakota had rolling hills with “waves of grain.”  We have headnets that we used up on Hudson’s Bay.  We thought they might be too hard to use binoculars with them.  We should have brought them anyway.  Live and learn, I guess. Bonnie, thanks!  Compared to the average population, I am very serious, but real birders can see right through me.  :) Robin, yes!  Ticks are gross. Jen, thanks!  The Great Grey Owl was everyone’s favorite.  It’s the longest owl in N America, but it’s mostly fluff!  :)     I read Sinclair Lewis in high school in my American Literature class.  Our birding group had people both older and younger than us, so maybe I just had a teacher who liked him.  I enjoyed reading about a (possibly) typical small Midwestern town.   </div><div> </div> Jen on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362083 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 12:33:59 +0000 Jen 2362083@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ How splendid to get pictures of that incredible grey owl and a ruffled grouse! In my home sometimes we call one another a ruffled grouse if that person has been grousing. I do think folks hardly ever read Lewis anymore, though I enjoyed Main Street and also The Job, an early “career-girl” novel. I think he’s a bit like Howells that way, a writer of his time and place. RobinF on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362081 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 12:27:47 +0000 RobinF 2362081@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Sounds like a great trip! Except for the ticks - yuck! Bonnie on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362056 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:51:39 +0000 Bonnie 2362056@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ That sounds like a great trip. We're not serious birders like you are but we do look for birds when we hike. I have the same Patagonia belt bag in black.  LaPed on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362055 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:42:12 +0000 LaPed 2362055@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Look like a great trip! People give me funny looks when I say the upper Midwest is one of my favorite places in the US. Spent a month-plus hiking the North Shore and Isle Royale last year and fell in love with it — Lake Superior is magical. The difference in climate between shoreline and inland really is wild. Good call on the cozy fleece and puffy jackets. I am totally jealous that you saw a wolf! We heard them howling in the wee hours, but never caught a glimpse (except at the International Wolf Center in Ely ). I can only imagine what the bugs were like in the spring — fully covered plus bug stuff is the right choice! No headnet? I appreciate mine this time of year. We have birders stop near our house every so often to get pics of Blackburnian warblers! Our quiet backroad is apparently excellent warbler habitat. You are welcome anytime if you’re ever in NH. Angie on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362052 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:32:51 +0000 Angie 2362052@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ You are QUEEN GEAR! You look adorable, on point for the sport, and VERY protected. Thank goodness not toooooo many mosquitos despite ample repellant and coverage! It’s wonderful that you and hubs are passionate about the sport together! Very patient too. Beautiful pics and a satisfying trip Jaime on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362050 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:30:10 +0000 Jaime 2362050@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ You are a brave woman to face ticks and mosquitos willingly. But your photos are amazing.  JAileen on "Birding in the Upper Midwest" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/birding-in-the-upper-midwest#post-2362049 Wed, 05 Jun 2024 00:22:51 +0000 JAileen 2362049@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ We just got back from a ten day birding trip in the Upper Midwest.  On purpose, you say?  Why, yes, as a matter of fact, and we had a great trip, despite the sometimes bad weather and the terrible, horrible mosquitos and ticks.   My packing was similar to our February South Texas trip.  I took most of the same clothes, except I only wore warm things every day.   We spent time in Minneapolis, Duluth,  including the Sax-Zim Bog, and several places out on the prairie, in North Dakota. If you saw my February post, what I took was almost the same: REI wheelie bag, Patagonia knapsack and waist pack, Marmot Goretex rain jacket, Arcteryx rain pants, Patagonia Nanopuff hoodie, Columbia everyday pants, North Face Canyonlands hoodie, Columbia Cades Cove hoodie, Eddie Bauer crew neck cotton tees in SS and LS, Salomon Goretex hiking boots, and Buff neck gaiter.  I also took a pair of knee high neoprene Muck boots.  They took up about 1/3 of my bag, but I stuffed them with my rain gear going, and dirty clothes coming home.  I took my Tilley hat but only wore it one day.  I wore an ancient Royal Robbins ball cap nearly every day because I could put up my hood, for rain or bug protection, and gloves much of the time.  I regretted leaving them in the van on one of the last days.  I have at least a half dozen bites.  Re ticks:  I hate and fear them.  I found one on my hand and one on the back of the seat in front of me.  Our guide found fourteen on his own person.  We all did tick checks every night. If I were to nominate the VIPs of my wardrobe, it would be the Columbia hoodie and the Marmot rain jacket.  The hoodie worked with my neck gaiter to protect against mosquitos.  They still got a few bites in, even using Deep Woods Off! towelettes, but the hoodie probably saved me from much worse.  It’s very thin with a full zip, so great for layering.  I wore the Marmot rain jacket every single day, for rain or wind protection. The whole time we were in the Duluth area, we joked about “the ocean.”  Lake Superior’s water temperature makes Duluth so much colder than anywhere else we went at that same latitude (Jamestown and Fargo, ND, for example). We saw lots and lots of birds, of course.  I added 27 new birds.  However, many were warblers which are very hard to photograph.  We spent seven hours looking for one rare bird, and another rare one, the Great Grey Owl, posed for us for nearly an hour.  I was so grateful that we don’t have to go back to Minnesota in the winter!  We also saw a wolf and a porcupine.   On our last day, on our way back to Minneapolis, we stopped for lunch in Sauk Centre, MN, boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis.  He wrote Main Street and Babbitt, among others, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  My husband and I were the only ones in our group of eight who had read any of his books, which surprised me.   1-3 wheelie bag, knapsack, waistpack 4 Marmot Goretex jacket 5 Patagonia Nanopuff hoodie 6 Columbia everyday pants 7 North Face Canyonlands hoodie 8 Columbia Cades Cove hoodie 9 Eddie Bauer crewneck tees 10 Salomon Goretex boots 11 Neoprene Muck boots 12 Deep Woods Off! Towelettes 13 Marbled Godwits 14 Merlin 15 Ruffed Grouse 16 Great Grey Owl 17 Blackburnian Warbler 18 Out on the prairie