All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Tree Swallow Attack!!!

Year 5
To the uninitiated and those of us who do NOT think like tree swallows, this may look like a wood duck house, but NO! This is obviously a tree swallow house.
 
Tree Swallow #1 (lower bird) does not know this fact, but it is about to get attacked by Tree Swallow #2 (upper bird). The fight was over this bird house, AND a nearby female. These are the first tree swallows I have seen this spring near Duluth.
 
Attack! … image taken of the same two birds a moment or two later.
It is interesting to note that there were three other wood duck houses (unoccupied) near by, but the swallows only showed interest in this house, and contested it fiercely. Two more pics from this morning. Apparently whomever controls the door, controls the bird house.

Great Horned Owl Chicks

Year 5

While understanding bird habitat is a must, having good scouts is really nice when a birder. My son and daughter-in-law are both marathon runners. At least once per Spring while on their long evening runs they discover the locations of owls and let me know where to find the birds! Such was the case this past weekend, and I spent an hour both at dawn and dusk with the Great Horned Owls chicks. These birds are almost ready to fledge. Owls have their chicks early in the season in that it allows them plenty of time to learn how to hunt during the summer. Young owls are clumsy hunters at first.

One other item worth noting. It is supremely important to be quiet in the woods. During the hour I watched the chicks at sunrise, they mostly snoozed, but when some animal stepped upon a branch and I heard a resounding crack of breaking wood, the owls were instantly awake.  The birds knew this was not normal noise and went on alert. If you make much of a racket while hiking in the woods, you will give yourself away and all the animals and birds will easily avoid you. This means you will not see much wildlife.

Dawn Photographs

Dusk Photographs

Chambers Grove White Pelicans

Year 5

There were over 100 white pelicans yesterday morning at Chambers Grove on the St. Louis River. Assuming these birds are migrating up to Red Lake, Lake of the Woods or Rainy Lake, the St. Louis River is a great place to stop. Ice rules on those lakes even on May 5th.

When I was a child back in the 60’s, pelicans never would have stopped to rest and fish on the St. Louis River. The pollution was horrible and the water did not support much life. Over the past fifty years the clean-up of the river has been fantastic, and even sturgeon once again spawn in the river. The musky fishery is also quite healthy. Learn more about the great work being done which has brought this river back to life via the St. Louis River Alliance.

Over the next few days, if you have a few free moments, a trip to Jay Cooke and the Swinging Bridge followed by a jaunt down to the Chambers Grove would be a great activity. The river is rushing and the birds are present!

Migration may have been held up by the late winter, but the birds are definitely now appearing. Jeannette. a reader of this blog, pointed out it will soon be time for the 2018 Chequamegon Bay Birding & Nature Festival. Given migration is heating up, the number of birds seen at the festival (May 17 to 19) could be fantastic this year.

White Pelicans