The hotest bird to show up in the Minnesota Rare Bird Alert? Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches--birds not typically found in Minnesota.

On the 29th, Mike Schrage reported three GRAY-CROWNED ROSY-FINCHES in Cloquet, St. Louis County. Directions from interstate 35 take the Cloquet/Iron Range exit and go north on state highway 33 to the second stoplight in Cloquet. Turn left onto County Road 7 (also called Big Lake Road) and go about three miles to the intersection with County Road 5. Turn left onto University Road and go about 100 yards. Look for the blue building on the left. This is the Fond du Lac Resource Management Division office. The birds have been on the sunflowers on the right side of the building. This is a working office building so birders are asked to please stay in their cars and remain at least 75 feet from the birds.

/It used to be that you would have to wait months to see a bird's photo in the club's publication. Eventually, people posted photos on their website. Now, you can watch videos of the rare bird on YouTube. I love technology. Bob Williams reported that the above film on You Tube was shot by my friend Brad Beisel and editted by my friend Mike Hazard today. At the end you may hear me say that all 3 birds are there, but only 2 show up in the film. The quality is not the best but at least you can see them in action.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to see the birds. In-laws are arriving for the weekend on Friday. I might head out on Tuesday afternoon if they are still being reported.