Remote Birding Safety

Year 6

When a person birds (or hikes, camps, canoes, etc.) in northern Minnesota, it is not unusual to be remote. In my case, this most often means I am by myself. While hiking / birding a trail it is possible I could have an accident … for instance trip and break a bone.  Obviously this would not be good news. Earlier this year I blogged about satellite SOS devices which I insisted my two sons use during their winter trek across the BWCA. It is worth reading that post and the discussion (i.e. all the comments). While enjoying the outdoors should be enjoyed, safety should not be forgotten.

It is possible that many readers of this blog may think: “Gee … Rich lives in northern Minnesota, and is often off the cell grid. I live near XYZ urban center. This is not a concern for me”

Not! While you may not need a satellite SOS receiver, it is just as possible that anyone could need help while hiking a trail within 50 miles of a large city. There is a solution which works quite well assuming that a person is “on the cell grid”. Google Maps now allows a person to share their location with any of one’s contacts … for a limited period (15 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) or ongoing (i.e. does not stop sharing your location till the user ends the sharing). Molly (my wife) now has my location permanently shared to her. If I did not come home when expected, or if I texted / phoned that I needed help, she would know my exact location and be able to summon assistance.

The process is quite simple, and we tested the accuracy a few mornings ago when I was up in Sax-Zim Bog. It is worth noting the following:

  • I have an Android cell phone: Motorola 7g (not a high end phone)
  • Molly has an iPhone
  • Both of us have Google Maps for northern Minnesota pre-downloaded to our phones. While not necessary, is speeds up the use of Google Maps and saves on data.

Step #1: Person #1 (in this case, me) who wants to share their location, must take that action via Google Maps on their mobile device.

1a. Access the Google Maps menu

1b. If desired, download Offline Maps. Otherwise, access Location Sharing.

1c. Select desired contacts with whom you wish to share your location, and the period of time you wish to share your location (in my case … ongoing)

Step #2: Person #2 (in this care, my wife Molly) must accept the sharing request. She received an email and message within Google Maps. When I was in the Bog, she went to Google Maps on her iPhone. All the screenshots in Step #2 were taken by Molly on her iPhone.

Step 2a. Access Google Maps (after accepting sharing request)

Step 2b. Press on the icon which represents the person who has shared their location with you. In this screenshot, one may see an icon of me!

Step 2c. Molly zoomed in on her map. She could have selected Directions. One oddity is it gave my address on Owl Avenue, yet showed my location correctly.

Step #3: Confirmation. I had stopped right by the railroad tracks on Kolu Road.  I wanted to use a location where I could easily check when I returned home and saw the screenshots that Molly had taken, whether it showed me in the proper location. All three screenshots in Step #3 were taken by me at the same time as Molly took her screenshots in Step #2

Step 3a. My location … stopped immediately before the railroad tracks on Kolu Road.

Step 3b. I pressed on my location (blue dot) to bring up my GPS Coordinates

Step 3c. I changed to satellite view to show my location

Northward Ho..oh!

Year 6

Remember all the old Western movies, and the wagon train pulling out. The leader will yell … Westward Ho oh! Well someone finally told the birds it was time to move north, but then the cold North wind said STOP! There have been an amazing number of birds at the head of Lake Superior over the past few days, but the very late spring has meant limited food. I have seen lots of warblers battling the few returning humming birds for the use of my hummingbird feeder (seriously). If the warblers are not drinking from the hummingbird feeder, they are eating suet. It’s weird, but when you’re hungry …

Now most people might have thought yesterday was an ugly day for birding. The local weather had occasional showers, dark skies, high winds (25 mph) and only 45F. However, I decided differently. After taking care of some business items, I hiked over to visit my local Great Horned Owl family. I discovered the owls were up late (8:30 am), and the Mom was giving flying lessons to the kids. If you want food, fly to Mom. Finally, the parent owl perched out in the open and paused to allow her photograph to be taken.

Upon returning home, I discovered that now in addition to the migrating warblers at my feeders (and many other birds), Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks were chowing down. I often have four grosbeaks in my feeders at once with many more in the woods. While this is not unusual for Evening and Pine Grosbeaks, I am not used to hosting flocks of Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. It was cool and exciting. More migration photographs coming as I have time to post.

I know some of you follow my blog because I am one of the first users of the Canon SX-70. All of these grosbeak images were taken with higher ISO numbers to allow for a faster shutter speed. I am thrilled with how well the ISO 800 pics turned out. Remember, all things being equal … an ISO photo 400 should have double the quality of an ISO image. I will admit to taking lots of photos using burst mode. You’re not seeing the blurry images. This strategy is smart photography when one has bad light. Adjust to the weather situation.

Finally, while the female’s coloration may seem drab, it’s great camouflage for sitting on a nest.

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Male … ISO 800 pics

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak Male and Female … ISO 400 pics

 

Birding the Fearful 40’s!

Year 6

It’s was ugly outside early this morning … the temperature hovered around 40F, NE winds were steady at 25 mph with occasional gusts to 40 mph, and rain … thus the fearful 40’s. Now some folks would think these are horrible birding conditions, but those people would be wrong. Instead given the northern migration which is in progress, I knew there were good probabilities to see birds I would not normally find. The ugly conditions would convince birds to hide from the wind and pause their migration. Just like when bicycling, who wants to expend all the energy to fight a fierce headwind.

The key to successful birding on days of this nature is to understand the weather, the current date in the migration and your local habitat. Thus, I dressed for the weather and went out to the Park Point Recreation Area (big sand spit / dune which forms the Duluth harbor). The playing fields were under lots of water, and in addition to all the ring-billed gulls, I found some gulls and terms migrating up to the Arctic / northern Canada. Enjoy.

Courting Bonapart’s Gulls

Caspian Terns

The two types of birds jointly in one image