Category Archives: Year 13

Birding via YouTube (Nestcams to Thermals!)

I think most everyone knows that YouTube is a great spot to go birding. Trying different searches within YouTube itself can yield amazing results … not just searching directly from Google. My other birding search engine is queries made from within Reddit. I look for interesting discussions on birding topics. This is how I actually found the channel, “Of Human and Nature” this morning. I watched this gentleman’s out of Germany excellent field documented  birding expedition where he was trying out a new thermal monocular (video link).

However, the real reason I wanted to create this post was to remind / inform everyone that even though the date is early in February, we are now starting the time of “bird nestcams”. Here are two of my favorites …

  • Eagle NestCam on Captiva Island in southern Florida. Remember, the best action for this camera will be early morning after sunrise, and the camera is located in the Eastern Time Zone of the USA. NestCam Direct Link for blog email subscribers).


  • Great Horned Owl NestCam in southern Minnesota. Remember, the best action will for this camera will be in the early hours after sunset, and this camera is located in the Central Time Zone of the USA. There is seem to be some “rollout technical issues” for this camera, but it is 100% worth visiting this YouTube link and exploring Stan Tekiela’s channel, Nature Live.


I would be remiss if I did not add links to my own YouTube channels. While I don’t promote these channels very much, I post many nature videos in YouTube that do not end up included here in a blog post.


Now a flashback … longer time subscribers will remember when three years ago I built fuzzball (Great Horned Owlet) a quick lawn chair nesting platform (see the blog post)! The nest from which this owlet had fallen was extremely high in a white pine, and even my friend who is a retired Duluth Fire Captain told me the real nest was too high to be safely reached. The “packing tarp” was to insure neither Mom GHO’s or Fuzzballs would get caught in their new nest.  Police tape was put up surrounding the pine to protect the youngster as the nest was located just off a hiking trail.


More importantly, Momma GHO said “yes” to my nesting platform and fed Fuzzball for over two weeks before the owlet fledged (YouTube link for blog subscribers … Fuzzball gets fed)

The Arctic Rivera’s Largest Bird Feeder!

Duluth’s Canal Park has the only open water between the harbor and the near waters of Lake Superior. All the recent cold meant lots of ice growth, which pushes diving ducks into the Canal. However, the sides of the ship canal are full of tasty zebra mussels … thus the Arctic Riviera’s largest bird feeder.

Enjoy these photos and videos of the feeding Goldeneyes.

  • Video Links for Blog eMail Subscribers: One | Two


The Movies!


Minnesota (Sung by the Marsh Family)

I have been debating whether I should post about the horrors occurring here in my home state of Minnesota. The World is strange when a family in England beautifully captures in song the horrors occurring here in Minnesota. regardless … thank you Marsh Family … sung to the tune of the classic song, San Francisco. I never expected the federal government to invade my state with masked men.

Worth a listen and watch. The YouTube video is immediately below this screenshot (video link for email subscribers).

I am sorry if I lose subscribers because of this political post, but I can no longer stay silent. Polite comments w/o foul language from all sides of the political spectrum are allowed to this post. However, new individuals and their comments are moderated which can take me up to 24 hours. As a fyi, this is only the 2nd time out of 2,539 posts over 13 years where I have strayed from my core topics … birds, other wildlife and nature.