Tag Archives: MN North: Minnesota Point

Reading the Lake Superior Bird Migration Effect!

Year 5, ,

Lake Superior at this time of year is cold! The water temperature is only in the high 30’s and even on May 18th there is still a tiny bit of ice in a few spots around the lake. This extreme cold not only affects the region’s weather, but also has an effect of where one can find birds.

As my wife was out of town, I decided to have a heavy day of birding. Given my knowledge of Gitche Gumee I visited three different spots where I expected to find certain kinds of birds.

  1. My first location to visit was the Cloverland / Wisconsin Hwy #13 Grasslands. This area is on the south shore of Lake Superior, and is warmed by any southerly wind. In Northeastern Minnesota, southerly winds come across Lake Superior and the forests near my home are much colder … later into the Spring.  I know I am able to find grassland and wetland birds much earlier near Cloverland.
  2. My second location was a spot on the Western Waterfront Trail which is protected from Northeast winds. This means some protection for migrating warblers and the trees bud and bloom a bit earlier than elsewhere. It is a good early season location.
  3. My final location was Minnesota Point just before sunset. For the past three days strong winds have blown off Lake Superior and I guessed the NE winds would result in Arctic shorebirds taking a break from their northward migration.

I was correct on all accounts. Here are some my images from today …

Sunrise Birding near Cloverland Wisconsin … Wilson’s Snipe and an Upland Sandpiper

Mid Morning Birding the Western Waterfront Trail … Male and Female Yellow Warblers

Sunset Birding on Minnesota Point … Ruddy Turnstones and Dunlins

Birds With Long Legs!

Year 5, , ,

Over the past three days I seem to have acquired the urge to watch birds with long legs! There has been some method to my madness as during the first two days of the period I was down in the Minneapolis area, and I wanted to see some Great Egrets … a bird which is quite rare in NE Minnesota. Thus, I focused upon wetlands at sunrise, and I was rewarded with being able to watch six different Great Egrets. Arriving at these wetlands before 6 am insures that even though I was birding in a major metropolitan area, I had the trails to myself. This fact insures other folks do not scare the birds I seek, and just maximizes my enjoyment. However, I have found even on urban trails, if one finds “non popular” trails you are rewarded with more bird sightings. Given herons and egrets spook easily, this rule is important. My two wetland areas were the “Plymouth Wetlands” (series of ponds in off Zachary Lane north of Schmidt Lake Road) and Wood Lake Nature Center.

I actually did visit the Plymouth wetlands again in mid afternoon. While the time of day is not great for photography, I was rewarded with watching this Great Egret fish.

On the way home to Duluth I swung up to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge … once again arriving around 6 am. It was interesting to visit earlier in the season as the marsh grass is not grown up yet. My major fun was watching some Sandhill Cranes from very close. Eventually I had to leave Wildlife Drive due to a prairie grass burn which was about to start that morning.

When I got home to Duluth I was amazed to find a temperature of 87F at my home. However, Lake Superior took over within a few hours and the winds shifted from the SW to blowing out of the NE off the big lake. In 45 minutes the temperature dropped from 87F to 45F! I figured no bird in their right mind would fight the strong wind and the migration northward would stop immediately. Thus I drove down to Park Point and found a lot of Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings dancing in the waves … trying to eat. These birds are on their way up to the Arctic, but stopped in Duluth right now. Here are a few of the Ruddy Turnstones. Thus my day ended with some short legged shore birds!

Rescuing Sky, the Snowy Owl!

Year 4
Thanks to all who helped me with our Snowy Owl rescue out on the Duluth Harbor ice. I delivered the Snowy, now named “Sky” to Wildwoods (as in Sky Harbor Airport). The owl is very thin, but there was no evidence of any car strikes. 
  • Tom: Thanks for going home to get the wood and fish net. Duct tape is an amazing product. With it we were able to construct a 20 yard long rescue device.
  • Judy: Thanks for your initial concern, and sticking it out with me. It is your video of the actual rescue included with this post.
  • Ginny: Thanks for all your photos, and the blanket which I used to warm up with when I got out of the harbor. My feet and legs were frozen.
Some history about our efforts. I first spotted the owl shortly before sunrise sitting out on the ice. A sighting of this kind is not unusual … actually rather common. I took a few photos and left the owl alone. Returning after church I discovered the owl had only moved a few feet in hours. It did not take notice of us, even when we tried to scare and flush it.
 
Having hand rescued a Snowy Owl back in October, with thanks to Frank Nicoletti who is the head bander at Hawk Ridge, I knew how to hand capture this owl. The ice was very thin. Thus I was not willing to walk out on said ice. With our Snowy Owl capture device, I waded in up to my knees … breaking the ice (some nice cuts on my shins), and pushed the ice out of the way. I then netted the snowy and pulled it back to where I could grab the owl. As soon as possible upon getting on shore we put a blanket over the snowy to try and limit its stress.
 Video of Snowy Owl Rescue

A few more notes … In the morning, the owl appeared to be fine. When I returned after church I heard it had not moved at all. In addition, a person who was near by had taken dogs for a walk. When that person first got out of their car, the dogs ran over to the owl (the dogs did not attack or touch the owl). I knew that in the Arctic where Snowies nest both Arctic foxes and wolves would be perceived as dangerous by an owl. Thus, any owl that would not move or fly away when confronted by canines had to be in need of help.
Video Taken at Sunrise

 I had never expected to hand capture a Snowy Owl back in October. I told everyone it was a once in a lifetime experience. Well … with the irruption of Snowies I have now worked at saving two owls. I hope Sky recovers. It is in good hands.
 
I will post updates about Sky on my blog.
Oh yes … yesterday I also saw a health Snowy Owl in the Duluth area!