Blue, Red and Yellow Birds on White and Green!

Year 8

I drove over to Sax-Zim Bog yesterday to end 2020 in terms of birding. My target birds in this order were: Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbeaks. Blue Jays were not even on my radar … too common! It just shows if photography is your goal, you have to “go with the flow”. My photo opps for either kind of grosbeak were limited (know where to go now), but did 5 blue jays put on a show for me. It is always interesting to observe that while 99% of Blue Jays migrate south each fall, a few hearty souls stay north and thus will have first pick of habitat next spring for mating.

In addition to the snow flocked pines, the hoar frost was amazing yesterday. The end result is I skipped my planned afternoon and after a short intermission, went out owling yesterday afternoon. I needed to be outside deep in the forest. More on that excursion later!

Blue Jays of Sax-Zim Bog!

The other target birds … Evening and Pine Grosbeaks

Who says there is not any color in the snow flocked Boreal forest!

Hungry Owls

Year 7

In the last nine days we’ve had three snowstorms, including one blizzard. Two nights ago seven inches of the new white stuff fell out of the sky. The end result is that the snow in the forest is now deep, which makes hunting much more difficult for Great Gray Owls. Given this kind of owl hunts by hearing its prey running beneath the snow, it is always easier to hunt when there is no snow. In addition the three storms have meant lots of wind, making the listening process of hearing mice and voles much more difficult. Over the past nice days a lot of meals have been missed. Owls are hungry.

Yesterday afternoon, in the middle of the afternoon I found a Great Gray Owl hunting around 2 pm. I suspect this bird is a juvenile and not an accomplished hunter. The wind was strong and the snow was deep which meant non ideal hunting conditions; however hunger is a great motivator.

It was a beautiful experience for me, but for the owl it was a matter of survival.

This first photograph is “backed off” to show the owl in its environment. As photographers (me included) we often want to zoom in as closer to a subject as possible, which is quite often a mistake.

Now I wanted to feature the owl and the snow flocked trees.

Video 1: Great Gray Owl during a snow squall (link for email subscribers)

Video 2: Windblown Great Gray Owl (the bird gave up hunting shortly after this point) (link for email subscribers)

Sea Smoke Sunrise (pre dawn)

Year 7

It was 13F below zero (actual, not windchill) this morning. Thus I decided it was a great day to head out and catch the pre-dawn light over Lake Superior. I normally find the most vibrant colors are 30 to 40 minutes before actually sunrise. I definitely needed a full thermal layer in addition to normal clothes and outerwear! The slight wind out of the SW blew the seasmoke offshore revealing these freighters at anchor. I did eventually go owling, but away from the warming waters of Lake Superior, the temperature was -20F. I know from experience birding is poor when it is that cold, and in fact the birding was poor. Everyone and everything is just trying to stay warm!

The more dramatic sky colors are the result of my taking a hike to better line up with the approaching sun beneath the horizon.