"Boreal" means northern, as in "aurora borealis." The terms is also used to describe the forests of northern Minnesota, full of pine and spruce, and the birds that live there. Today (Thursday) the Gunflint Trail in Cook County kicks off its first annual boreal birding festival, celebrating the variety of birds to be found in the northwoods. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports. Driving up the Gunflint Trail, a paved road that begins in the town of Grand Marais on Lake Superior, Sue McDonnell points excitedly out the windows at an ever-changing forest. McDonnell: We have the north shore hardwoods area, maples, poplar, then get into the decisuous/conifer mix, and then the conifers