Great Egret Courting at the Grotto Lake Rookery

Year 13

For years I have been aware of the Grotto Lake Rookery in the Fergus Falls, Minnesota town park. However the distance from Duluth always made me reject making the long round trip drive (9 hours). However, when my friend Jim suggested reserving a Prairie Chicken blind at the Hamden Slough Wildlife Reserve which is also within easy striking distance of Grotto Lake, I jumped! After a fantastic morning with the Prairie Chickens out on the prairie in the blind which started loooonng before dawn (blog post coming), I suggested we try the Great Egret Rookery in the afternoon. Jim was game, and we made the now much shorted drive to Fergus Falls (now only 2 hours round trip).

Oh my did we strike hit the jackpot! The ice on the pond had only gone out shortly before our visit and the Great Egrets had apparently only just arrived via their Spring migration within the past 24 to 48 hours. The birds were courting like crazy, while at the same time decked out in their finest mating plumage!!! My apologies for the HUGE number of photographs. This was an amazing time with the Great Egrets and I as much am documenting the experiencing for myself. (Audubon, Minnesota and Fergus Falls are essentially due west of Duluth via a four hour drive … from the Boreal Forest to the Great Plains and Prairie Potholes)

The Rookery (on a nest)

You brought me a stick!!!

Take-Off!

On the nest …

Great Egret Mating Displays

A Great Egret Couple Mating

A slight disagreement!

The Joy of Flight (Take-Off)

A small view of the Great Egret Rookery (two nests out of many, many trees)

Bird Migration Paused on the North Shore

Year 13,

Some fellow birders/naturalists recorded yesterday several “reverse migrations” in progress near my home. Our cold weather and nasty winds when coupled with the snow one may still find in the woods inland from Two Harbors made many bird species decided they would migrate back south along the North Shore of Lake Superior. These birds will eventually turn around and continue their northern spring migration, but for the moment conditions dictate going further north is dumb (no food, ponds and lakes still iced).

Actually, I did find the pond at Forest Hill Cemetery beginning to lose its ice, and these Ring-Necked Duck males were chasing the few females that had arrived in the Northland. It is normal for the males of bird species to arrive back on prime habitat before the females return. This helps them “win” the courting / breeding competition.

Ring-Necked Ducks at Forest Hill (the female has the brown plumage)

Soon the Spruce Grouse will be busy strutting their stuff. I saw this male on Stoney River Forest Road yesterday morning while placing out birdsong listening stations. There obviously were no females around because the male never displayed even once in the five minutes I observed the bird.

Spruce Grouse Male

40,000 Bird Songs from Northern Minnesota!

Year 13
This morning I achieved 40,000 birdsong sound ID’s made and recorded since my little Raspberry-Pi birdsong listening computer went live last August. The number would be even higher if I did not configure my computer differently than the standard install:
  • Force the confidence for an I.D. to be 75% rather than the standard 70% used by the Cornell Merlin App and BirdNET-Pi. 2)
  • Require the computer to wait 2 minutes before I.D.’ing the same bird species.

Regardless, it has been very fun to learn more about the birds singing in my yard, and give/build/install similar listening systems at many of NE Minnesota’s Nature Centers. I have also built listening stations for many friends, and also have five systems I modified for placement off the grid in the wilderness. Learn more!

The post directly linked above explains how I brought a listening station to Costa Rica this past winter. I discovered via my listening station that Elegant Trogon’s lived in an area I liked to bird, which then led me on a quest to both see and photograph the Elegant Trogon!