Day 090: 60 Species in 90 Days of Photos!

Well … actually 61 species!

Today is my 90th day of 365 Days of Birds … my year long bird photography project. Now that I am about 1/4 of a year through the effort, I wanted to reach 60 bird species on my 90th day. When I started this project on my wife’s birthday back in January, I was worried about even finding birds to photograph in the middle of the northern Minnesota winter. Even today on April 22nd there is over one foot of snow on the ground in the forest, and none of the area lakes are even near ice out. For this reason the annual bird migration has been slow to get started.

Reaching 60 bird species in my photographs was made easier by spending some time down in Florida helping my Dad, but also made much more difficult given my stay up in the Colorado Rockies while working as a volunteer for the YMCA of the Rockies. Up in the mountains there were basically two birds present, crows and magpies.

Today I captured with my camera an Eastern Phoebe and a Kildleer. One of my goals of this project is to maximize the number of bird species of which I take photographs. Thus, I will often forgo a cool photo of a bird I have already photographed, and work hard to take pictures of birds I’ve yet to capture on my camera.

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Day 089: Interstate Bridge Goldeneyes

I only had a small amount of time to dedicate to bird photography today. Given Winter is still grasping at the Northland, I made a quick drive to the old Interstate Bridge (circa 1897). The old bridge infrastructure and pilings given some open water is a favorite for ducks. These goldeneyes did not disappoint me.

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Day 088: Magnificent Mate Wanted!

Easter Morning dawned crystal clear after yesterday’s rain, and thus I took an early birding / photography walk which started shortly after sunrise. The birds in the Medicine Lake Wetlands were extremely happy and busy about the business of finding a mate! As brunch was not till 10:00 am, I hiked for three hours. Here’s the list of birds I saw … of which many you will find photographs below:

  • Bluebirds
  • Buffleheads
  • Blue Jays
  • Canadian Geese
  • Cardinals
  • Chickadees
  • Cedar Waxwings
  • Coots
  • Downy Woodpecker
  • Great Horned Owl
  • Hairy Woodpecker
  • Mallards
  • Mourning Doves
  • Osprey
  • Red Breasted Nuthatches
  • Red Merganser
  • Red-Shafted Flicker
  • Red-Winged Blackbirds
  • Robins
  • Seagulls
  • Snowy Egret
  • Song Sparrows
  • Tree Swallows
  • Wood Ducks

Perhaps the most amazing site of the morning was when a bluebird attacked a tree swallow which was trying to take over the bird house. They ended up “wrestling” and “pecking” just a a few feet away from me. I was so surprised and startled I missed the photo opportunity!

Red-Winged Blackbird Displaying!
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Tree Swallows
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Red-Shafted Flicker
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Wood Ducks Looking for a Mate
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Red Breasted Mergansers (Wood Ducks in the background)
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Eastern Bluebirds
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Buffleheads Taking Flight
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