Tag Archives: MN North: Sax-Zim Bog

Lazy Birder = Exploding Coca Cola! = Boreal Chickadees!

Are you a lazy birder? I can cut corners on occasion and this morning I paid the price. Let me back up to yesterday evening … a violent snow squall with 40 mph winds had settled over the Head of the Lakes (Duluth / Superior). The temperature had already fallen to 10F (-12C) and would reach -6F (-21C) by 6 am this morning with continued high winds.

The energetic birder would have remarked “dang the weather” and after watching two episodes of Coach Ted Lasso at 9:15 pm (official YouTube trailer) with one’s wife and visiting son / daughter-in-law headed out into the fearful elements to put the car in the garage (remote stand alone garage which is down the hill). Please understand I had purchased a six-pack of Diet Coke earlier in the afternoon, and the cool overnight temperatures for a car parked outside overnight would not bode well for the “Real Thing“).

Fast forward to 8:15 am this morning while out birding. I wanted a Diet Coke, and it did not look frozen. However extremely cold drinks under pressure can be deceiving. Screwing off the top of my coke, I suddenly has exploding coke all over the car. Remember how I said it was -6F outside? As my Coca Cola hit the “inside” of my car’s windshield, it froze immediately in scattered random splash marks on the “inside” of the frozen windshield … right in my field of view. The coke was in many other places, including all over me.

Quickly searching the car, I found a long-sleeved t-shirt I keep in my Subaru in case the mosquitoes are bad. Thankfully at -6F I knew the pesky bugs would not be a problem, and started to use the shirt as a towel.

Hmmm … I discovered a shirt/towel rubbed on frozen Diet Coke ice makes a smeary mess of the windshield. It was time to move onto the next phase of my cleanup operation. During the car’s defrost as high as possible I managed to soften up the Coke ice such that I could flake it off the inside windshield with my fingernails. Success!

Finishing the cleanup of the car I drove for about another 10 minutes to the Admiral Road Feeders in Sax-Zim Bog (I was the only car … midweek … late in the winter season … super cold). Shortly thereafter a Boreal Chickadee lands next to the frozen peanut butter (this post has a frozen food theme!). I press the shutter … nothing happens. In the viewfinder a message appears … simm card not present! Uff Dah! Did I mention I was a lazy birder? Yes, not only did not put my car away the prior evening, but I did not return my SIMM card to the camera.

If you know anything about chickadees, they do not tend to stay in one place very long. However, as part of my camera kit I always carry an extra SIMM card (insert in camera and format). Thankfully the lure of peanut butter brought the Boreal Chickadees back, and my camera was finally ready.

Are you ever a lazy birder??!

Boreal Chickadee Photos!

Great Horned Owl Loves its Winter Perch

How do I know this fact? Every morning for the past 25 days I have checked in on my friend, and Poppa Great Horned Owl is always on its favorite perch. Thus, what defines a great perch?

  • Near where his “lady love” sometimes comes for a visit
  • Protected and hidden from above and those pesky crows.
  • Shielded both from fierce winds off Lake Superior, and out of the NW

I have tried to find where Momma Great Horned Owl likes to perch, but other than a general idea I have failed. However, the duo seems to be interested in a couple of nesting spots near where Poppa resides … we shall see. I took this image a few days ago shortly after sunrise.

I do know that the owls hunt my feeders. 3 nights ago around 4:00 am I heard a hooting duet outside my bedroom window (we keep a window open all winter long …). Anyhow I threw on a jacket and went out on the deck in my PJ’s. The stench of skunk was strong, and I knew Pepe Le Pew had met its demise. Great Horned Owls are one of the few animals or birds willing to prey on skunks. It was obvious what had happened. There were two skunks that visited our bird feeders every night … my trailcams now only show one. I suspect the duet during the early morning hours took place after Poppa fed Momma skunk (normal this time of year … she is developing eggs)


On a sad note, a friend let informed me that the Sax-Zim Bog Snowy Owl was struck by a train around noon yesterday. Unfortunately this owl obviously liked to hunt near the tracks. Yesterday it was actually sitting on the tracks, and did not move away fast enough. The owl most likely did not understand trains which do not exist in the Arctic.

Snowy Owl Catches a Vole

Late Friday afternoon I drove over to Sax-Zim Bog. My hope and goal was to photograph an owl against the riding moon. I have found the day before the “full moon” is the best day to photograph objects in the foreground (like an owl) with the moon still not to far above the horizon. From a strictly photography vantage point the day before full, the moon is at 99% of full, and rises about one hour before the next evening (the actual full moon). The eye can not tell the difference between 99% and 100% full moons, and the earlier rising hour makes for more light on foreground objects. During my photographic career, I have pulled off these photos a few times. First one much find an owl, and then it must agree to pose during the 15 to 20 minutes where moon pics are possible.

Here is an effort from last winter when I succeeded.


However this past Friday night I failed. Although I found two owls, neither bird was willing to hunt during the early evening where I could align the rising moon behind them. All was not lost, however, the male Snowy Owl which has been hanging out in Sax-Zim Bog the past few weeks provided me a great show before sunset, and at sunset!

Snowy Owl Hunts & Catches a Vole

The Attack

The Capture, Meal and TakeOff

Snowy Catches Another Vole (TakeOff)

Sunset Railroad Snowy

One cool fact from this sequence … I was standing about 50 yards away from the owl. Little did I know it had spied a vole within 15 feet of me. The Snowy flew right at me … attacking the vole right at my feet (it missed). My heart was going thumpa, thumpa, thumpa!


Yup … moon shot failures. Who cares?!