Migration Misfortune! Found these eight Trumpeter Swans “on” Stone Lake ice in the Sax-Zim Bog yesterday. Birds that return north the earliest get prime territory, and most years there are patches of open water, but not this year. The temperature is supposed to get down to around -15F tomorrow night (actual, not chill factor).

I found a Leucistic Common Redpoll this morning at the Yellow-Bellied Bog on Perry Road in Sax-Zim Bog … a most “uncommon redpoll!” Normally I do not like to take “feeder photographs”, but in this case it helps show you the difference between a redpoll with normal pigment, and one without, Leucism (Wikipedia link).

Leucistic Common Redpoll

Feeder Videos with the Leucistic Common Redpoll (subscriber video links: video one & two)

Common Redpoll feeding frenzy (subscriber video link: video three)

Have you ever tried to think like an owl? With most birds, when they focus upon a food source, is there a reason a particular decision has been made? If one is able to confirm (or deny) one’s hypothesis it will make birding easier in the future.

A number of us found a Northern Hawk Owl yesterday up in Sax-Zim Bog. The owl chose to hunt from the tallest tree that was near a small bit of open water in a small creek. My question, for which I don’t know the answer, did that small amount of open water attract more voles and mice. While I may not know the answer, it is quite possible the owl has learned the answer to this question. These are the kinds of questions you should always be asking yourself while birding.

Northern Hawk Owl

and on its perch …