Canada Lynx Scent Branch Time

Year 13

I have four trailcams pointed at this small white pine, but only two actually captured images and videos of the lynx. This morning I reworked the cameras with new positions and points, but I have to make certain I do not touch spend much time touching the cameras. The  Canada Lynx hate my scent! (i.e. they attack my trailcams)

Scent Branch … The Movie! (video link for blog email subscribers)

Apparently the small pond I have been watching all summer, and enjoying the Trumpeter Swam family has had another two swans take up residence!

Tinderbox Forest Bogs in Minnesota

Year 13

Northeast Minnesota (the BWCA) and the Quetico have been plagued with forest fires this summer. This video shows the bone dry conditions this summer. I am hiking FR#813 in the Greenwood Creek Forest / Bog in the Nature Conservancy Sand Lake / 7 Beavers Wilderness Preserve.

Dry Bog Hike in Northern Minnesota (severe drought)
(video link for blog email subscribers)

Grassland Birds

Year 13

The highway department has been busy mowing the edges of roads. This includes dirt roads in Sax-Zim Bog and Two Harbors Highlands. In fact, Stoney River Forest Road has  now reopened. Given the Minnesota grouse hunting season does not open till September 19th, it is an excellent time to take a birding excursion into rural America. It is likely you will have dirt roads all to yourself for the next 30 days. The mowing means it is easier to find/spot these “grass foraging birds”.

Such was the case a bit south of Meadowlands. I spied the male Ring-Necked Pheasant well in advance, and patience was rewarded when after five minutes, his lady love came up to join him in a morning forage for breakfast. Right now it appears the wildflowers, black-eyed susans, are everywhere! Enjoy.