You Will Never Guess What I Saw

I saw an Ivory-billed woodpecker!!!

And I saw a passenger pigeon.

Here is a male (yellow belly) grossbeak on the left, a female (white belly) on the right and an intersex bird in the middle - very unusual.

I saw a live kestrel.

I saw a great horned owl.

Here is a bald eagle looking behind himself.

And I saw a barn owl - I love his face.

I went on a field trip with the Master Naturalist convention to the U of M St. Paul Campus. We stopped at a storage facility for the Bell Museum.  This is where they keep the stuffed birds, mammals and reptiles that are not on display.  A graduate student who is specializing in ornithological genetics showed us around.  We saw everything size bird from an ostrich to a bee humming bird.  The ivory-billed woodpecker was the highlight for me.  After that we walked a few blocks to the Raptor Center and had a tour there.  What a fun day.  How many people can say they actually saw an ivory billed woodpecker?