Yesterday I was able to drive my car to my summer parking spot on Forest Road #813 for the first time this spring. This allowed me to take new hikes and shift my trailcams to locations deep in the wilderness. During yesterday morning’s hike for the first time there were a reasonable number of migrants present (not a lot). It was fun to see kingfishers, wilson’s snipe and of course robins. At the bird feeders out by Lake County #2, purple finches rule and are getting to settle in for their breeding season.

My hike’s excitement was flushing a Northern Goshawk at almost the identical moment I heard a nearby Ruffed Grouse drumming. This coincidence led me down a rabbit hole when I got home … do Northern Goshawks with their prey preference for grouse respond and hunt based upon drumming heard. The answer is definitely yes! I found a University of Minnesota study which determined based upon their research in northern Minnesota that upon examining kills of banded grouse, 75% if these grouse were killed extremely close to their drumming logs during courtship displays. In other words, looking for a good female is dangerous!

Today’s photo of the day is of a recently returned Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. While some years a few will stay over in the Northland, this past winter these woodpeckers seemed to have all migrated south. One can tell this is a male because the red plumage reaches completely from the base of its back neck to its bill (not true for the female)