Owl Song!

Year 5

Very cool! Last night when I arrived home from watching this Snowy Owl, and while loading photographs onto my computer, I heard owl song outside. Yup, Mr. and Mrs. Great Horned Owl while hunting the Amity Creek Ravine right across from my yard decided to serenade each other. I put on my winter parka and went outside and listened to the duet for about five minutes!

It was an owly night in the Northland! I need to get an audio recording app for my smartphone. I have heard all kinds of owls sing, and can identify the following owls by sound: Barred Owls, Great Gray Owls, Great Horned Owl, Northern Hawk Owls and Snowy Owls (more of a clicking and screeching).

Main takeaway from these photos … if you are a vole, you are in BIG trouble!

And a short video of the owl hunting

Sax-Zim Bog Early Winter Birding Report

Year 5

The Friends of Sax-Zim Bog staff and volunteers had our annual training day yesterday. Many of us birded the Bog starting at sunrise and then arrived at the Welcome Center mid morning. All the feeders are now filled at the Center, and the deer carcasses are out. There are a good number of Pine Grosbeaks (including the one pictured), and lots of Gray Jays at the Welcome Center. However, the Redpolls count is very low.

One Great Gray Owl was seen by a volunteer while birding, but the numbers and frequency of sightings right now are not high. I am convinced the Great Gray Owls being seen at this point are local birds (no migrants).

Over the last 24 hours of the first Northern Hawk Owls have been seen in northern Minnesota. One of the sightings was in the Bog on McDavitt, but the bird could not be re-found. I looked hard 30 minutes after the reported sighting including a few hikes.

The Welcome Center will open at 10:00 am on Saturday, December 8th, but as noted the feeders are now filled. Remember, in addition to stopping by the Welcome Center during your trip to the Bog, use my Google Map overlay.

Two Rough-Legged Hawks having a Disagreement over a prime hunting spot

Holiday Train!

Year 5

Looking for a special free family event which reminds oneself of an earlier time when folks understood what makes life special? Attend holiday train! What could be better than watching a locomotive and its cars all decked out with Christmas lights chug into town and then have the box car door fold down and yield a free 1/2 hour concert by nationally known acts?

Canadian Pacific’s two holiday trains will be travelling across southern Canada and the northern United States over the next two weeks. Make it part of your new holiday tradition. Next weekend I will be in Nipigon, Ontario along the North Shore of Lake Superior enjoying the spectacle. Although the event is free, a donation of food for the local food shelf is greatly appreciated. (see schedule for the USA and Canada)

Last year saw me watching the Holiday Train in the small prairie town of Plummer, Minnesota. Molly wrote an article for the Lake Country Journal and I provided the photographs. This image of mine is currently their web site’s home view.

Some views of the train and last year’s concert in Plummer.

This year’s routes … (see schedule for the USA and Canada)

Watch a short video from last year’s concert