Sunday Night at the Movies … Minnesota Style

Year 10, ,

How many of you remember the days before one could even rent VCR tapes? In my youth during the early 1960’s this meant gathering around the TV as a family to watch “Sunday Night at the Movies”! Everyone hoped the two networks (CBS and NBC) had picked a film the entire family would love. Here in Duluth we had only two TV stations (ABC was still somewhere off in the future). Heck, our city at the time did not even have a McDonalds.

Thus, I bring you 365 Days of Birds at the Movies … on Sunday night (at least that is when I am blogging). (Image courtesy of FreePik.com)

Here is a short YouTube clip of the NBC Sunday Night Marquee Opener from the early 1970’s (video link for email subscribers).

Here are my movies, which started with an unexpected session the North Shore Duluth Scenic Railroad’s Steam Engine! I was hiking / birding in the woods near my home yesterday afternoon when I thought: “Is that a steam engine whistle?” Yup! The North Shore Scenic Railroad was out testing #332. The train was over three miles away from me when I first heard it. I upped my hiking pace … hurried home … and went to find a steam engine one mile away from my house!

And Now the Movies! (all videos taken during the last seven days)

North Shore Scenic Railroad Steam Engine #332 (video link for email subscribers)

Ring-Necked Pheasant near Sax-Zim Bog (video link for email subscribers)

Steam at Sunrise over Lake Superior (video link for email subscribers)

Great Gray Owl Sunrise … Rose, Orange and Gray!

Year 10

I was complaining (whining?) with my last post that I had gone the entire month of October without seeing an owl, but this morning that streak of poor luck changed. I arrived in Sax-Zim Bog long before sunrise, and as the pre dawn sky started to go orange, pine and rose I found a Great Gray Owl hunting for its breakfast (or for an owl that stays up all night is it dinner?).

It was a gorgeous morning.

Better yet, the owl then flew across the road and hunted with the first few moments of sun on its face. In total I only spent ten minutes with the hunting owl, but the time was precious.

Over the years November has often been one of my favorite months for finding Great Gray Owls. Juvenile owls  must increasingly hunt for themselves which means these youngsters are easier to find. The young Great Grays are poor hunters and this fact forces them to spend significantly more time hunting “per catch” than their parents.

Owling Angst – Pheasant Finds!

Year 10

Will the owls ever let me see them again?! October was a horrible month for owling. While I used my extensive knowledge about “the wise ones”, I found nary an owl in October. Two mornings ago I arrived on McDavitt Road in Sax-Zim Bog almost an hour before sunrise. Conditions were perfect … dark … an almost full moon to spy a hunting owl … light winds … and cold, 11F (cold conditions require an owl to hunt and eat more often). I knew these conditions would be prevalent the prior evening, which is why I found myself up in the Bog long before sunrise. Better yet, the juvenile Great Grays I had seen in August and September should now not get fed much by their parents. The young, still learning hunters given their failure rate at hunting, should be out searching for voles a larger percentage of the day.

When God gives you lemons, make lemonade! After 90 minutes of seeing nary an owl, I threw in the towel and left the forest and took a circular route home which would optimize my search for non forest birds. I quickly found quite a few red-tailed hawks, but the real discovery of the morning was a flock of ring-necked pheasant.

While cruising the area I spied the pheasants down in a roadside ditch … a shady ditch. Given the temperature had only reached 18F I knew the birds would eventually climb up to the road to forage. I waited for 20 minutes, and my patience was rewarded. Seeing pheasant in northeastern Minnesota is actually quite a treat. Our habitat is not vary pheasant friendly. The ring-necks eventually walked quite close to my “car blind”.

There actually is a key take-away from my story. Adjust your birding focus if success is not presenting itself. I moved habitats and birding focus. Apparently my local owls, given all my October owling searches, were laughing at me last night. While Molly and I were watching grandkids trick-or-treat down in the Twin Cities,  my locals were hooting up a storm in my own yard at 6:30 pm. My Haikubox kept sending me notifications, and the recordings were loud and  clear. Uff dah!

The Ring-Necked Pheasant of the South Bog