The Butcher Bird / Northern Shrike

Year 11

With a hint of sun I decided to cruise the Superior, Wisconsin fairgrounds and the Bong Airport in search of the large predator which has not made any appearances this year. While I did not find a Snowy Owl, nor has anyone else except a brief sighting one day by Mr. Steve, this winter for the first time ever there are no Snowy Owls in the Twin Ports, I did find two Northern Shrikes.

This predator bird is perhaps ounce for ounce the most vicious killer out in the bird world. It is also know as the Butcher Bird … for good reason. This robin sized bird, not a hawk by any means, is one of our winter visitors from up north here on the Arctic Riviera. Take a look at this first image and focus upon the pointy fence. Northern Shrikes are known for impaling their kill on barbed wire or any other nasty pointed item. While I did not see this Shrike catch anything, it did not need to go far upon catching something to cache its prey for a later meal.

On the other side of the Superior Airport, I found another shrike hunting. These birds tend to like bushy trees by meadows where they can hide and surprise their prey.

Les, the Great Horned Owl, Poses for Super Monopod

Background, Year 11

Super Monopod has returned! It is new and improved, as I have solved the pendulum problem (i.e. the camera may swing at the top of a fully extended super monopod).

  • Question: You may ask, what is “Super Monopod?”
  • Answer: A ranger approved manner to get your camera higher.

Read my original Super Monopod post and review … it shows initial results (photos). I even showed my setup to a park ranger who very much approved … assuming one does not get to close and push / flush birds. As a fyi … Les never moved all day! While one could use a drone to get a camera higher in the air, it is obvious that drones disturb birds and should NEVER be used.

The key to solving my pendulum problem was purchasing an inexpensive ball club head which allows me to tilt my camera on the top of my Super Monopod. Thus, at an extended reach of the poles, I no longer need to tilt the extremely tall monopod. I also use the ball club head with my Amazon Basics monopod (very light). I control my Sony A6300 at the top of the Super Monopod via remote control using a Sony App my phone.

Les, the Great Horned Owl (pics taken yesterday under horrible photographic conditions)

Two pictures of Super Monopod V1 (w/o the new ball club head)

Greenwood Creek Bog Bird Feeders Update

Year 11

While the new location of the bird feeders still is not wildly active, the trend is very positive and it appears this will be their permanent home. Within 24 hours of my placing the feeders and scattering sunflower seeds, the local grouse population had discovered the offerings. As a fyi, over the past few months I have seen many, many roughed and spruce grouse very near this location, both on the trail (Forest Road #813) and out on the highway (Lake County #2).

Yesterday morning, it was a treat for me to discover two different groups of birders at the feeders. Obviously I am successfully getting the location of the feeders out to both birds and humans! Here are all the details about the feeders including GPS locations, maps, hikes and more.

I enjoyed watching some Black-Backed Woodpeckers during a hike from the feeders this past Sunday. It was crazy warm … 52F in early February in the Boreal Forest. While I enjoyed the warm sun, this kind of weather is actually dangerous for the habitat and hopefully we will quickly see returns to much colder conditions.

Here are a few of my Black-Backed Woodpecker images. The couple were about 800 yards down the trail.  Before I move on to the photos two final comments:

  • Included you will also find Lynx tracks. A family of these gorgeous cats are obviously in the area
  • Two owl boxes are on nearby trees. One box is about 300 yards down the bird feeder trail on the right (about ten yards off the trail). The other box is about one mile down the main trail (forest road #813) on the right … where the bog begins. I suspect the US Forest Service put these boxes up some years ago. Both boxes are in good condition, and appear to be focused towards either Saw-whets or Boreal Owls; however Boreals have not been known to have nested in NE Minnesota now for over ten years.

For this video of the Black-Backed, I have slowed the speed down by a factor of two (video link for email subscribers)

And finally two cell phone pics from my hike … the Greenwood Creek Bog and the Lynx tracks.