Northern Harrier Nest!

Year 10
There are epic days while out birding, and seven days ago I had just such a day/find. I left home at 5:30 am and had actually not seen much, till my last stop of the morning when I found a Northern Harrier nest!!!!
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Actually, I know where the nest was located (young now fledged), but could not actually see the nest. Northern Harriers nest on the ground on small raised mounds of land in the middle of bogs. It is impossible to see their nests unless you are a glutton for punishment. One would need to wade through the swamp / bog braving all the horse flies, mosquitoes, other bugs to get anywhere near the actual nest. I stayed on dry land!
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A few days prior to my find I had noticed a male and female Northern Harrier on the wing at this location. The female dove down into the Bog, and disappeared. Seeing two harriers together made me wonder if a nest was in the vicinity and when I returned to that location … jackpot!  I now saw four harriers together … Mom and her three juveniles. In the intervening two days the young had fledged and often sat in a nearby dead Tamarack Pine. I proceeded to watch the juvenile Northern Harriers for hours. Their acrobatics as the young hawks learned to fly told me where the nest was located. The juvenile harriers would dive to the ground out of sight … at the same exact spot.
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Here are some images I have taken over the past seven days of the Northern Harriers.
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All Three Juvenile Northern Harriers

Learning to Fly

One Juvenile Landed on a Remote Road

More Images ...

I took all of my Harrier photographs from quite a distance while seated in my car. My tool for camera stabilization is a “bean bag mount”. I love the medium sized bag from Grizzly. They are inexpensive mounts and a person may place it directly on the window frame of a car. I have also placed mine on rocks, tree stumps, etc. to get a stable camera platform. It is easier to carry in a small backpack than a tripod. One does need to fill the bag with your favorite “stuffing. I am using dried peas! Link to the Grizzly company. I bought mine via Amazon … minimal cost.

The Purple Cows of Birding!

Year 10

Do you stop for Purple Cows in life? This term grew out of a bike tour and the “purple cow” I saw while on a nine day self-supported bike tour around 1/2 of Lake Superior (The Trans Superior Tour). I stopped to inspect the Purple Cow and was introduced to the “Woodcarver of Washburn” (read more about Purple Cows and our travels … Molly and I were interviewed for the local paper about our bike touring).

Earlier this Summer I found a new Purple Cow while out birding … a Seussical Cow! Yes, the esteemed doctor would be thrilled to see this roadside children’s bus shack. Here in the Northland where temperatures get dangerously cold in the winter, out in rural areas many families build small buildings where their children may await the school bus. Here is today’s Purple Cow. I waited to take a picture when I had the first light of the morning plus wildflowers.

Not just when birding, but also when travelling across America Molly and I almost always take longer routes that get us off the interstate highway system. Purple Cows are rarely if ever seen from super highways. Here is the original Purple Cow!

This day’s birding was (a few days ago) was unusual in itself. After all, how often does one see a Black Pheasant? In my case, never before this outing. The bird led me to do some research. While the pheasant might be an escapee as pheasant are rare in northern Minnesota … black pheasants which indicates a bird is melanistic are even more rare. Regardless, here is the Black Pheasant which definitely was trying to hide from me.

Great Horned Owls … 6th Month!

Year 10

Today marks the sixth month I have watched my local owls since they decided to nest near the end of my driveway in early March. I believe this is one of the parent Great Horned Owls enjoying our unusual 85F heat near Lake Superior this afternoon. I have now followed the two parent owls for five consecutive years.