Minnesota in Winter III 2020

Minnesota in winter offers unrivaled opportunities for northern owls, forest grouse, winter finches and adventure amidst the region’s meadows, bogs and forests during its winter splendor.

Northern Hawk Owl by tour participant Josh Galicki ©

For many people the first image that comes to mind when thinking of Minnesota in winter is of frozen lakes, cold, snow and ice. To birders in the know, that image exists only as a glittering backdrop for Great Gray and Northern Hawk Owls hunting from spruce-top perches, Sharp-tailed and Ruffed Grouse stripping Birch buds by morning’s glowing light, legions of Snow Buntings wheeling in tight formation, flocks of colorful Pine and Evening Grosbeaks refueling at bird feeders, frenzied Common and Hoary Redpolls darting among Alder thickets and Tamarack bogs occupied by industrious Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers. Add in boreal forest residents like Spruce Grouse, Northern Goshawk, Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee; nomadic winter visitors such as Glaucous, Iceland and Thayer’s Gulls; notable species like Snowy Owl, Northern Shrike, Bohemian Waxwing, Red and White-winged Crossbill, Varied Thrush and Townsend’s Solitaire and you begin to see the attractiveness of a midwinter visit to these northern climes.Still not convinced?

Pine Grosbeak by tour participant Josh Galicki ©

Recent winter tours have also recorded surprises like Boreal Owl, Gyrfalcon, King Eider, Common Eider, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Slaty-backed Gull, Mountain Bluebird and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. As we travel through many remote areas of northeastern Minnesota, our chances of turning up a few interesting mammals are quite good. Past winter tours have recorded Snowshoe Hare, Beaver, Porcupine, Long-tailed Weasel, Mink, Fisher, Moose and Gray Wolf. Spectacular species like Pine Marten and Lynx are possible.

As you begin to look for flights into/out of Duluth, please keep in mind that it’s best if you arrive no later than 2:00 PM on Day 1. This will allow us to do an evening search for Great Gray Owls or to chase any rarity present in the Duluth/Superior area. Likewise, you should plan your departure on Day 5 for anytime after 1:00 PM as we want to be able to use the morning of your last day to search for anything that might still be missing from our birdlist.

Great Gray Owl. Taken on 2018 Minnesota Owls and More Photo Tour by Rick Bowers ©.

HOWEVER…if anyone wishes to arrive a day (or two if you like) early, we can get you into the same room at our hotel (so there would be no need for you to change hotels or rooms during your visit). As on our previous Minnesota in Winter trips, we are happy to take anyone arriving in advance of the tour’s start birding in the area, charging each person only their share of the extra van rental and gas. Your leader is planning on arriving on Tuesday before the tour’s start, so anyone electing to arrive early wouldn’t be alone.

PLEASE NOTE: Winter travel to Northern Minnesota does present winter weather concerns. Arriving a day early allows you to be a bit more relaxed in case you encounter a winter storm, and you’ll gain at least a full morning of additional birding at very little cost—remember no guiding fees are charged, those participating will simply divide the extra cost of vehicle and gas equally.

ITINERARY

Day One – Tour participants arrive in Duluth. We’ll enjoy some local birding for owls, gulls or staked out rarities as time allows. Night Duluth

Days Two – Four, Duluth, Superior and Northeastern Minnesota’s Aitkin, Cook, Lake and St. Louis Counties. Our schedule is purposefully kept flexible for one reason—it allows us to travel at times and to locations that give us the best opportunities to find your target birds.

We’ll visit secluded boreal forests bordering the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness searching for Spruce Grouse, Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers, Red and White-winged Crossbills, Boreal Chickadee and the always entertaining Gray Jay.

Boreal Chickadee Photo by Rick Bowers ©

You’ll travel Lake Superior’s north shore and marvel at the simple beauty of ice kaleidoscopes along the rocky shoreline while we scan for ducks and gulls. Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted and Common Mergansers are the more expected waterfowl species but rarities such as Harlequin Duck and Barrow’s Goldeneye have been found in recent years.

Superior, Wisconsin offers several vantage points to scan for raptors wintering in the harbor area and its landfill usually hosts a good variety of gulls. Raptor possibilities include Snowy Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon and, if luck is with us, Gyrfalcon. A typical collection of winter gulls would include Herring, Glaucous, Thayer’s, Iceland and perhaps a rarity or two. A highlight in 2012 was a lonely ice floe with three gulls lined up one in front of one another offering unparalleled comparisons of Thayer’s, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls!

The bogs, meadows and forests of St. Louis and neighboring Aitkin Counties are reliable places to find Great Gray and Northern Hawk Owls. If snow levels are low enough, an assortment of Rough-legged Hawks and Snow Buntings are likely and these are the best areas for Ruffed and Sharp-tailed Grouse (sometimes displaying early on sunny days even in February!), Northern Shrike and Black-billed Magpie.

Boreal Owl by Kim & Cindy Risen ©

Duluth and other cities of the Arrowhead region are wonderful birding areas unto themselves. Large numbers of Mountain Ash and Flowering Crab Apple trees are a magnet for Bohemian Waxwings and rarities like Varied Thrush and Townsend’s Solitaire. Highlights from 2013 include finding more than 600 Bohemian Waxwings feeding voraciously on Mountain Ash trees and 2012 provided a cooperative Mountain Bluebird along Superior’s North Shore. Well established feeding stations buzz with activity, and Common and Hoary Redpoll, Pine and Evening Grosbeak and the more common winter finches are all likely to be found.

Pine Grosbeak male. Taken on the 2018 Minnesota Owls and More Photo Tour by Rick Bowers.

But it’s those owls that remain so highly prized by visiting birders. While numbers fluctuate from year to year, Great Gray Owl is a permanent resident of this area, Northern Hawk Owl is an annual visitor and, during an owl irruption winter, anything goes. When such an irruption takes place, Minnesota’s bogs, meadows and forests provide birding thrills that are one-of-a-kind. In 2005 we tallied more than 200 Great Gray Owls and more than 35 Northern Hawk Owls in a single county! That year proved to be the single greatest irruption ever to visit Minnesota, but even in recent years, daily totals of 10 or more owls were not unusual. Like the Great Gray, Boreal Owl is a permanent resident of Northern Minnesota, unfortunately, unlike the Great Gray Owl, they are NOT to be expected during a single visit. Our best chances are to hope for an irruption year or that one is found on a day roost during our tour. (Our leader is well connected with the region’s active birders and the local network is always in contact.)

Great Gray Owl by tour participant Josh Galicki ©

TOUR PRICING AND INFORMATION

EXTRA LOGISTICAL SERVICES: Should you wish NatureScape Tours to put arrangements in place for your early arrival prior to the tour’s start or extend your stay after the tour’s conclusion, please contact our office prior to your tour’s scheduled departure date as far in advance as possible. Such arrangements could range from nights at our first hotel of the tour to an extended stay in the hotel or area of a week or more. Our staff can easily make seamless arrangements for you that could include transfers, hotel rooms, transportation and excursions. We can often provide these services at our contracted group rates — as long as we receive your request far enough in advance. All amounts are quoted in United States dollars and are based upon double occupancy.

Minnesota in Winter – $1095. Single Supplement – $245

COST: The fee for this tour, based on a minimum group size of four, is $1095.00 from Duluth, Minnesota. Maximum of seven with one leader, fourteen with two leaders. If the final group is smaller than four participants, a small group supplement may be charged.

REGISTRATION: A non-refundable deposit of $395.00 and completed registration form are required to confirm space. Without these, no one is considered registered. Registrations are taken on a first-come first-served basis with priority based on the postmark date.

COST INCLUDES: Accommodations based on two persons sharing a two bedded room. We’ll enjoy a superior hotel for the duration of our Minnesota in Winter tour. You’ll appreciate the 24-hour complimentary airport shuttle, many hotel amenities, a wonderful room and a fabulous breakfast. For those wishing single rooms, a single room supplement is available for $245. We try to supply roommates for you when possible, but we can’t always find one. If we can not find you a roommate, you will be charged the added cost of single accommodations. Breakfast at the hotel each morning of the tour. Expert guide service. All transportation from Duluth. Transportation may be by private or chartered plane, private or chartered car, station wagon, van, bus or ATV. Taxes, Local Fees & Land Access Fees. All group admissions and park entry fees are included in the tour price.

COST DOES NOT INCLUDE: Not included are transportation to or from Duluth, meals away from breakfast, laundry, personal tips, alcoholic drinks, soft drinks, juices, mineral waters and other beverages, room service charges, souvenirs, insurance of any kind, telephone calls and use of TV not included in the room rate and overweight baggage fees.

MEAL COSTS: Only breakfasts at the hotel are included in the cost of this tour. As a person can eat very well for as little as $20 per day or they can choose to spend three or four times that amount for a single day, depending upon your choices. We do not include meals where we cannot control the costs—NatureScape Tours has a policy of NOT overcharging one person to cover another’s POTENTIAL meal choices—which we would have to do if meals at restaurants were budgeted into the cost of this tour.

TIPS: All expected gratuities encountered during your tour (restaurant wait staff, luggage porters, bus drivers and local guides) is included in the cost of your tour. However, if you feel your NatureScape leader, local guide or lodge personnel have given you exceptional service, it is perfectly suitable for you to bestow any gratuity you elect. We strongly stress that such tips are completely optional and solely at your discretion.

DATE OF COST QUOTATION: May 20, 2019. We can only quote current costs. Tour planning often begins more than a year before the tour runs. While we try to arrive at our best estimates, we can’t predict fluctuation of currency exchange rates, increases in hotel or vehicle rates outside of our negotiated contracts, etc. Therefore, we reserve the right to increase the tour cost when there are justifiable reasons. However, we make a sincere effort to arrive at the closest possible estimate and have even absorbed small increases at times to avoid raising tour costs to participants. Many of our suppliers have gone to surcharges in their contracts with NatureScape Tours as a means to offset the uncertainties inherent in long distance planning. The two most prevalent are:

FUEL: In today’s volatile oil market, it’s difficult, nay, impossible, to accurately project fuel costs into the distant future. Prices for our tours are based upon fuel rates reasonably expected at the time of your tour’s start. While NatureScape Tours does everything possible to maintain the quoted price of your tour, with a dramatic shift in fuel prices, it may be necessary to charge a fuel surcharge. If such a surcharge is levied, every effort will be made to minimize the cost passed along to you. In almost all cases, these are additional charges being assessed NatureScape Tours by our service suppliers and vendors who have exercised their right, under their contracts with NatureScape Tours, to increase prices caused by substantial changes in the cost of fuel.

EXCHANGE RATES: As with oil, it’s impossible, to accurately project foreign currency exchange rates into the distant future. Prices for our tours are based upon the rate of exchange reasonably expected at the time of your tour’s start. While NatureScape Tours does everything possible to maintain the quoted price of your tour, with a dramatic shift in exchange rates, it may be necessary to charge a surcharge. If such a surcharge is levied, every effort will be made to minimize the cost passed along to you. In almost all cases, these are additional charges being assessed NatureScape Tours by our service suppliers and vendors who have exercised their right, under their contracts with NatureScape Tours, to increase prices caused by substantial changes in foreign currency exchange rates.

PLEASE NOTE: In more than 25 years of running tours, we’ve NEVER had to assess an additional charge or surcharge to a client. We feel strongly that our staff’s careful planning and negotiation will continue our unblemished record.

TOUR CANCELLATION: Our cancellation policy is generous. We negotiate with each of our service providers and have contracted payment dates directly with them. Accordingly, all payments received by us, less your non-refundable deposit of $395.00, will be returned to you in full if we are notified in writing at least 121 days prior to tour departure date.

Due to contractual obligations with our hotels, trains, bus and van rentals, boat charters and other costs where we have contracted payment dates there are no refunds for cancellations within 120 days prior to tour departure.

Payments made on your behalf to purchase nonrefundable but changeable tickets may result in the loss of that cost should you decide to cancel. In some cases, if you can find a replacement to take your spot on your tour, we can change the name on such tickets at a lower cost than purchasing a new ticket. In these cases, the difference could be refunded to you provided enough notice has been given.

Some participants have lost substantial sums when illness or other circumstances prevented them from taking a tour or forced them to depart a tour early. We can’t offer refunds for unused portions of a tour unless agreed to before the tour. Trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you for your losses if you must leave a tour early for illness or other valid reason.

Therefore, we strongly advise you to buy trip cancellation insurance which may reimburse you the entire unrecovered amount if it becomes necessary for you to cancel, shorten or change your participation on your tour.

UNANTICIPATED COSTS: Rarely we have had unexpected costs during a tour. Cancellation of air flights or trains have required staying in hotels for extra nights, hiring vehicles for extra excursions and other services. At times schedule changes or route changes have been necessary. If such changes are proposed and accepted by participants, it is with the understanding that they accept the obligation to pay any extra unanticipated costs.

On all of our tours, participants are responsible for any extra expenses incurred from deviations to our scheduled tour itinerary which result from events out of our control (additional hotel nights, transfers and transportation by air, water or ground). This could be a weather related event, natural disaster, the result of flight or rail cancellations, labor strikes, acts of God and the like.

We advise you to buy trip cancellation insurance which may reimburse you any unrecovered payments from cancellations or additional payments from any necessary tour deviations.

Some participants have lost substantial sums when illness, or other circumstances prevented them from taking a tour or forced them to depart the tour early. We can’t offer refunds for unused portions of a tour unless agreed to before the tour. Trip cancellation insurance may reimburse you your losses if you must leave a tour early for illness or other valid reason.

Therefore, we strongly advise you to buy trip cancellation insurance which may reimburse you the entire unrecovered amount if it becomes necessary for you to cancel, shorten or change your participation on your tour.

UNUSED PORTIONS OF A TOUR: We can’t offer refunds for unused portions of a tour unless agreed to before the tour. If you fail to show up or meet the tour regardless of the reason, we are under no obligation to provide any refund. Trip cancellation insurance may reimburse losses if you fail to meet the tour or must leave a tour early for illness or other valid reason.

COMPLETION OF PAYMENT: Foreign travel agents, hotels, airline operators etc. require advance payment. We are able to offer better rates on our tours because of negotiated contracts with specific payment dates.

Your cooperation with timely payment helps to avoid problems with your arrangements. For this tour we require your final payment to be received in our office by November 1, 2019.