Tag Archives: MN North: Canosia Wildlife Area

Canosia Wildlife Preserve Osprey Fish Delivery

Year 10

Chicks are hungry, and starting to get BIG! Most of the raptor nests in the Northland are very busy right now, and the parents are having to spend an increasing amount of the day hunting. Within days most of the chicks will be large enough that moms will leave the nests and also start hunting (no need to protect the chicks). Actually with the Canosia Wildlife Preserve Ospreys they are actually fishing. This is just one of three active nests near the preserve.

Although it required over an hour of waiting near the nest, my patience was rewarded when Dad Osprey came flying in with a good sized fish about 8 am. Makes you wonder if he caught and had his breakfast before delivering to the nest?!

Here is the sequence of images documenting the fish delivery. If you maximize the final image you will be able to see two chicks. Wisely they kept low and out of the way till Dad left the nest. The third image best shows the fish in the Osprey’s talons. Enjoy!

Meet Fuzz Ball the 2nd! (Great Horned Owlet #2)

Year 10,

I actually was first able to spy “Fuzz Ball the 2nd” two days ago, but I was so excited with my local evening grosbeaks yard birds (still here this morning), that Fuzz Ball had to wait for its own blog post. In fact, I went outside this morning at 6:15 am … in the rain … to insure the bird feeders were full and ready to welcome any evening grosbeaks.

Monday it was a cold, wet, and windy day. I really wasn’t very motivated to go birding, but I was concerned that my owls would think I did not like them anymore. Thus, in the drizzle I hiked over to the nest and discovered “Fuzz Ball the 2nd!” Both owlets do not really fit under Momma Great Horned Owl anymore, but that Lake Superior wind was cold!

Fuzz Ball the 2nd! (and sibling)(both trying to stay warm)

Fuzz Ball the 1st Expressing an Opinion of The Photographer!

Meanwhile the other birding has been fantastic. Migration is finally in full force. At the Pioneer Road / Rice Lake Wetlands I found this rare bird (as noted by eBird)

Short-Billed Dowitcher (and a Dowitcher in non breeding plumage)

And of course my own Evening Grosbeaks when the sun finally arrived yesterday afternoon.

Colder by the Lake Birding (and foxes!)

Year 10, , , ,

Colder by the Lake! As we drove home two days ago, the temperature was 65F across Minnesota … until Molly and I approached Duluth. Any weather forecast for the State of Minnesota at this time of year will always end, but “colder near Lake Superior”. The water temperature in the big lake is in the high 30’s F, which makes it hard to warm up the air if you live near Gitchi Gummi. Thus, 45F is a pretty common temperature at my house 800 yards above the shore if the wind is off the lake (or colder).

One practical effect of “colder by the lake” is spring food production starts later than spots inland. The Black Bear which raided my bird feeders last night understands this issue very well. Find a food source and stick with it! For birding, find the local micro-climate with food and migrating birds will be easily be found. Here are a few images I took over the past few days.

Amity Creek (my home area)
Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Canosia Wildlife Preserve (Pioneer and Rice Lake Road Wetlands)
Greater Yellowlegs

Forest Hill Cemetery
Hooded Merganser

St. Louis River at Chambers Grover
White Pelican

Duluth Area
Fox Kits

Stoney River Forest Road (Greenwood Forest Fire Region)
Ruffed Grouse

Note: Stoney River Forest Road is clear of snow, but as you can see, not Whyte Road. The snow in the Boreal Pine Forest is still about one foot deep.