Category Archives: Year 12

Red-Winged Blackbird Attacks Bald Eagle

Year 12,

Momma warned me there would be days like this!!!

An immature bald eagle was repeatedly dive-bombed by a red-winged blackbird at the Park Point Recreation Area a few days ago. The blackbird had to have a nest near by with recently fledged young. I personally have been on the receiving end of blackbird attacks many times in my life.

As a fyi, Bald Eagles do not get their white heads and tails till almost 4 years old. This is not a Golden Eagle. However, we do get some migrating Golden Eagles coming south from their breeding grounds neat Hudson Bay in late October to early November.

Press or click upon any image to view at full size. It’s fun to see the eagle’s eye expressions.

Incoming

Close Encounters of the Blackbird Kind

And from a very wet early morning up in Sax-Zim Bog this past week … a drenched Broad-Winged Hawk.

Slag Point Birding (St. Louis River in Duluth, Mn.)

Year 12

Slag Point was part of the U.S. Steel Plant EPA Site cleanup. While it has taken a quarter of a century, the river is now pristine and this great birding walk (Slag Point Trail) was opened one year ago (June 2024). One accesses Slag Point via the small parking area in Duluth’s Morgan Park neighborhood (Google Maps GPS link).

Over the past few days I have repeatedly visited Slag Point (Morgan Park Mud Flats) with the intent of showing off this beautiful walk. The round trip hike out to the actual point is 1.56 miles which assumes you also take the side loop. I have personally found the birding best out near the point and on the side loop. While the area has only been open one year, the work to reclaim the site was most excellent and the birds are already voting an enthusiastic “bravo, bravo!”. Quite frankly it is during the spring and fall migrations that this area shines, and late July means Arctic shorebirds are already flying south for the winter. I hope you enjoy this introduction to Slag Point, but more importantly get out there and enjoy it yourself.

And two still images representative of the videos … taken by my DJI NEO drone

Near the parking area / starting point for a walk

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Looking towards the point just after sunrise on a “wildfire smoky day”

Did I mention birds?! I had a great time with Arctic Shorebirds both mornings. Each day these birds were our near the point eating bugs off log booms. The logs were only a few yards offshore.

Semipalmated Sandpipers & Plovers in Flight!

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Together Again!

Tall Birds During a Time of Plenty

Year 12,

I have been birding the Canosia Wildlife Preserve and South Bog over the past few days. While I had hoped to find just fledged Northern Harriers, the birds that have appeared have been the “Tall Ones”! This Great Blue Heron likes to hang out on the beaver mound in the small lake on West Lizmore near the rookery. I have seen it two days in a row, and watched it for almost an hour each day.

Another fun haunt of mine is the Culver, Minnesota area, which I call the “south bog”. There is a nice mix of bog, boreal forest and farms, and it is closer to my home in Duluth than Sax-Zim. Here are three GSP Google Maps links:

  1. Where I turn off Highway #7 (Burnett Road intersection)
  2. The Culver Volunteer Volunteer Fire Department (in the middle of my birding drive)
  3. Where I turn around (Brookston Way / Eklund Way intersection)

Map of Birding Area (press or click upon to maximize)

Most of this birding drive is along dirt roads. I LOVE the farm at the end of my drive (where I turn around. This Sandhill Crane was standing on a hay mound at the farm. I also saw a Broad-Winged Hawk catch a snake at the Artichoke River (GPS Link).