Strutting Ruffed Grouse of Stony River

Year 10

It may be late August, but the Ruffed Grouse on Stony River Forest Road were strutting their stuff in northern Minnesota as they courted their lady loves! Such was the case two mornings ago when I drove up to the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area. While the rest of Minnesota was sweltering in 100F heat, I experienced 58F and heavy fog. While normally I would not recommend these conditions for birding, I had a delightful “birdy” time on Stony River Forest Road. In total I saw 12 grouse … 9 Ruffed and 3 Spruce. In addition the new juvenile Broad-Winged Hawks were out in force hunting near the boreal bogs. It was a great morning. As a fyi, the road bed of Stony River Forest Road is in excellent shape and even a two wheel drive vehicle would have zero problems on  this “minimum maintenance” dirt road deep in the wilderness. See my Minnesota Birding web pages for more information about this road. During my two hours on Stony River Forest Road I saw zero other vehicles or people, which will likely hold true till grouse hunting season.

Strutting Ruffed Grouse of Stony River … Courting! (2 unique birds)

Broad-Winged Hawks (3 unique birds)

And a short video of courting grouse … the guy! (video link for email subscribers)

Great Horned Owl Update

Year 10

FuzzBall and Junior are doing fine, and hunting the Thimbleberry Patch! I had a fun time yesterday afternoon in the fog and light drizzle visiting the juvenile owls. I found the pair rather quickly when one of the first trees I checked had all kinds of white wash underneath it … extremely fresh! After first eating a few thimbleberries, I walked 50 yards away from the white pine, turned and took these photographs. Quite frankly the two young Great Gray Owls did not look happy with the weather. From my vantage point I thought being near Lake Superior was fantastic. 180 miles to the south at my daughter’s house in Plymouth, Minnesota the temperature was 98F and very humid. Hearing this really made me appreciate my 66F with strong winds of the big lake.

Owlet / Juvenile #1

Owlet / Juvenile #2

They were perched about 8 yards from each other.

Red-Tailed Hawk Take-Off (Pine Island State Forest)

Year 10

We are coming up on my favorite time of the year to be out in the woods … September and October. The fall colors will be gorgeous with moderate to warm air temperatures and very few bugs. Who could ask for me?! Add migrating birds into the equation and the formula for an enjoyable outing is wunderbar!

Over the weekend I spent time on Toomey Williams Forest Road in Pine Island State Forest (west of Big Falls, Minnesota). This road is one of the most impressive drives through Boreal Forest Bog Habitat in Minnesota. Except during grouse hunting season I have never seen another car on this road … Bull Moose Yes … Cars No! Sax-Zim Bog pales by comparison.

All of my favorite drives / birding outings are documented on the Minnesota Birding Locations page of this blog. Tomorrow I plan to be up on Stony River Forest Road. Here is a map which shows my bog drives.

One of my favorite times this weekend was watching a Red-Tailed Hawk hunt for over 30 minutes shortly after sunrise on Toomey Williams. I am lucky that Pine Island State Forest and Toomey Williams is only an hour from my cabin.

Red-Tailed Hawk Take-Off

A few minutes earlier on a spruce