I took a fast-paced trip up to the winter birding havens of Sault Ste. Marie, MI and Duluth, MN with a couple of friends from TX. We stopped in IN on the way up for the Hooded Crane, then hit Lake Erie in OH for the long-staying Black-tailed Gull, and on the way home stopped in St. Louis for Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

We saw practically all of the target species we had a reasonable chance at and looked for. Both of my friends got a number of lifers, and I got the only 3 I had a chance at:

Black-tailed Gull (ABA bird, seen previously in South Korea)
Spruce Grouse
Hoary Redpoll

Other birds of interest on the trip included, and practically all photographed:

Trumpeter Swans
Long-tailed Ducks
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Hooded & Whooping Cranes
Northern Goshawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Glaucous, Thayer's, Iceland, Great Black-backed Gulls
Snowy, Northern Hawk, and Great Gray Owls
Black-backed Woodpecker
Northern Shrike
Gray Jay
Boreal Chickadee
Bohemian Waxwing
Snow Bunting
Pine Grosbeak
Red Crossbill
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll
Evening Grosbeak
Eurasian Tree Sparrow

We had some incredible gulling one afternoon in Duluth at Canal Park, which will be included in a separate gallery.

The photos are arranged chronologically, as a running trip narrative.