Pine Island State Forest Birding

Year 10

This post is a bit different as it shows some of my favorite “hang outs” in northern Minnesota, including the Toomey Williams Forest Road. However, the DNR has now locked the gate at the beginning of the road in the middle of the Pine Island State Forest wilderness. Our recent spell of temperatures above freezing had softened up the ground making the road very rutted. When the weather returns to “the norm” and the ground refreezes the gate will be reopened.

I spent two glorious days (Wednesday and Thursday) this past week in this remote area. I arrived on Toomey Williams long before sunrise. After all, owling requires one to get up long before sunrise. This was my view as I started owling

30 minutes later when the sun was finally making its presence know I took these pictures with my cell phone. My Subaru Outback is my trusty backwoods steed. It now has 216,000 miles on the car, and is going strong. These images also show why I love Toomey Williams … remote, with Boreal forest bog. I saw zero other cars or people during my morning.

More and more cell towers have changed the back country. Occasionally a person will actually have mobile phone coverage. Most of the time I had no signal, but after 35 miles of driving on various forest roads (all dirt … successively more remote), I arrived at Phone Box Corner. In my younger days this box would have had a satellite phone. No more!

Phone Box Corner

And yes, I did see some birds! (Pine Grosbeak, Bald Eagles, Rough-Legged Hawks, Spruce Grouse)

Northern Hawk Owl in Flight at Sax-Zim Bog!

Year 10

Sometimes you get lucky! I was driving home yesterday from birding hear the Canadian border (good times … more later), and decided to swing by Sax-Zim Bog. I wanted to see if I could find the Northern Hawk Owl that has been haunting Hwy. 7. Northern Hawk Owls are notorious for using the same hunting territory, and when I arrived at my desired point shortly after lunch there was not a single car to be seen on Hwy 7 (not a good sign if you are hoping for an owl … other cars are indicative of an owl sighting).

I scanned the horizon with my binoculars and spotted the Hawk Owl over 2/3 of a mile distant. Oh well, I thought; many be it will move closer. I settled down to wait and then the owl disappeared. 30 seconds later it landed on a power pole right next to me!

Then the magic happened. With almost any other raptor I am able to tell when they will take off, with the Northern Hawk Owl I can not figure out when a take-off is imminent, and these owls are fast. Within a micro second they are out of your frame, and forget tracking.

As I said … I got lucky. The NHO took off and immediately turned back towards me while I was in the process of taking multiple pictures. Yippy!

Northern Hawk Owl Take-Off (if you can tell from the second image the owl is about to take off, you have a better understanding of these birds than me … it looks like the bird is about to take a snooze)

End Location … a RR Signal Pole right above me

A few more photos of my signature bird!

The Pine Grosbeaks of Pine Island State Forest (and more)

Year 10

With this post I will finally catch up on photographs. Over the past week seeing all the Owls and Northern Lights had really put me behind in more than just sleep. Thus do to an unexpected gap in our schedule, I am considering a return to Big Falls tomorrow including a one night stay. One might ask, what motivates me to drive three hours when Sax-Zim Bog is only 50 minutes from my doorstep??

  • Birds! (winter finches are staying up near the border)
  • Minimal snow on the ground. Often by this time of year the back country is impossible to access
  • Good weather … no snow, moderate winds and a day each of sun and clouds (I like both as it leads to different birding outings)

Here is the final report from last week’s trip to the Pine Island State Forest (previous post: When Great Gray Owls Outnumber Humans)

Pine Grosbeaks (very few of these birds down by Duluth)

Bald Eagle (they’re everywhere)

Rough-Legged Hawk (the numbers this fall are amazing)

Canada / Gray Jay