Category Archives: Background

Google Maps … A Woodsman’s Friend!

Background

Google Maps is my friend! Whether I am planning a bike tour, or a birding / photography outing, many of these events start with Google during the dark early morning hours. My trip planning sessions start with focusing upon the desired area. Rather than the obvious travel routes, I expand the map and look for interesting back roads which eventually get me to the same destination. If the route looks promising I then switch into satellite mode and explore the land even more. By zooming in I can often determine if the forest has useful habitat (meadows, wetlands, streams, etc). If a route looks promising I try it! For instance, this weekend I will be helping out at the Sax-Zim Bog Visitor Center. Most people get to the blog by speeding up US hwy #53 from Duluth to Cotton, and then into the Bog by the shortest route. Not me! I’ve included my planned Saturday route to the bog below, which some minor annotations. My route travels along county #47, first paved and then dirt. I end up in Meadowlands, just south of the Visitor Center.

In case your interested, I use Street View all the time in Google Maps for my bike tour planning. Street View helps me plan routes by answering questions like … What kinds of shoulder does the road have? Does the scenery look interesting? How much traffic? However, Street View is not useful for birding because the back roads are too remote for this feature. (my long distance self-supported bike tours).

My Planned Route
Google-Maps-Birding-Route-Plan

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Zoomed-In Detail of One Section
Google-Maps-Birding-Route-Detail

 

Photo Project Index

Background

I have created a index of this 365 Day Photo Project. It contains the best two photos for each bird species. However, as for some birds I have only captured one or two photos, in a sense the index also represents “my worst” efforts!  🙂

I hope the index allows the reader to explore the interesting and beautiful birds which inhabit the Northland in and around Duluth, Minnesota.

Day 331: Christmas Bird Count Black Capped-Chickadee

Background, Year 1

Today I led a team in northern Minnesota as part of the Audubon Societies Christmas Bird Count. We were given an area and go told to count the local birds. Please understand that in the Northwoods in the winter, the number of birds is greatly reduced and the weather during the count can be sub-optimal!

Our count totals: 233 individual birds

  • Bald Eagle: 1
  • Black-Capped Chickadee: 17
  • Blue Jay: 1
  • Common Crow: 30
  • Common Raven: 33
  • Common Redpolls: 132
  • Downy Woodpecker: 1
  • Pileated Woodpecker: 1
  • Purple Finch: 17
  • Red-Breasted Nuthatch: 3

Black-Capped Chickadee (one of the birds we counted)
331-Birds-365-Black-Capped-Chickadee