Tag Archives: MN North: Greenwood Creek Bog

Red, White & Blue Patriotic Birding Plus Our National Bird!

Year 12, ,

Today was a great day of birding which started with a Sea Smoke Sunrise Over Lake Superior. Yup, only 10F as I headed inland from Two Harbors 20 minutes before sunrise, and the air water temperature differential made for spectacular conditions out over the lake. Now some folks might wonder about birding on opening day of deer hunting season in Minnesota, but if you know your habitat (deer hate bogs), and stay well away from any parked vehicles next to the forest (indicative of hunters) you will be fine. However, even if I think I am in the forest w/o anyone for miles around, I ALWAYS wear blaze orange or red.

Okay … why patriotic birding? The answer was simple. I saw beautiful red, white and blue colored birds … plus our national bird, the Bald Eagle! In additional I finally put out meat suet (hope the bears are asleep, or at least woozy). I am trying some bone marrow this year to entire Boreal Chickadees. I just drilled two holes through the bone, and then hung everything up using wire and ring eye screws. My final assignment was to place a BirdNet-Pi birdsong listening device deep in the wilderness.

On to the photographs … the Pine Grossbeaks were real special. Essentially nary a Pine Grossbeak was seen last winter. Today I watched a small flock.

Red: Pine Grosbeaks

White: Snow Buntings

& Blue: Blue Jays

and our National Bird: Bald Eagle

The Nature Conservancy Loves Greenwood … As do I, wolves & spruce grouse!

Year 12

Folks who know me understand I love an area named the Greenwood Creek Boreal Forest and Bog. Earlier this month The Nature Conservancy closed on their largest land acquisition (12,000 acres) in over one quarter of a century in Minnesota. In addition to being a financial donor to this purchase, at the Conservancy’s request I provided photos and videos which they used as part of their campaign to raise money for this project, land which abuts their 7 Beavers Project. Read more via this story from Minnesota Public Radio.

Yes, the Greenwood Creek Boreal Forest and Bog Region is an amazing and special wilderness area. It is a rare week that I don’t hike at least once deep into this area. My Greenwood Creek Birds Feeders are located just off Lake County 2. The fact that The Conservancy will be protecting the Greenwood area for generations to come thrills me.

Did I mention that the timber wolves and spruce grouse love Greenwood? Per normal yesterday morning I hiked deep into this wilderness area, swapping out simm cards in my trailcams. For the third straight week in a row, this spruce grouse was hanging out near the creek at the exact same spot (literally within feet of my other sightings).

The Movies! (video links for email subscribers … wolves … grouse)

I don’t know if timber wolves hunt and eat spruce grouse (I suspect yes), but these wolf images / videos were taken by my trailcams which is located within 50 yards of where the spruce grouse is living. This location is also where some of my better moose sightings (Return to Greenwood Blog Post from earlier this month) come from. Anyhow, the Greenwood Timber Wolves.

Yes … Greenwood is special and worth a visit. I will keep the feeders filled through next spring, and I invite you to experience the thrill and beauty of true wilderness.

Great Gray Owl Irruption Winter 2024/2025

Year 12, ,

By the 1st of December I will likely know whether a smaller owl irruption will follow last winter’s great event. Bird statistics show that it is not unusual for a smaller irruption to follow a big event (like last winter).

Last November, I was actually one of the first individuals who realized that a magical winter of owls was in the offing.  Given all the hikes that I take up in the Greenwood Boreal Forest Bog Region, I knew the number of owls I was seeing was most unusual. I kept my mouth shut about sightings with the exception of a few very trusted friends. Eventually the owls would move down to more populated and birded areas near Lake Superior, and we wanted to enjoy the experience before the word got out across America’s birding community (and it did).

Yes, last winter was special. For the first time ever I had a “Great Gray Owl” yard bird, and the owls were easily found within ten minutes to twenty minutes of my house from the latter part of December through mid February. I have a HUGE number of images of last year’s irruption. This is a small subset of photos which I am thinking of entering in a contest.

Great Gray Owl Irruption … The Hunt

I learned from a friend who is a scientist with the Superior National Forest, that during the owl irruption almost nary a bird was a first year owl, a juvenile. Apparently Great Gray Owl reproduction had been good over the past few years, but now their primary prey, the forest vole, was in short supply. Although Great Gray Owls are not a bird which normally migrates, the lack of food forced the owls to move south. We also have native Great Gray Owls which live year round in northern Minnesota, including Greenwood.

Gray Gray Owl Irruption … Hunting During an Intense Snowstorm

This was one of the more crazy birding adventures I ever took. I was sitting at home on Groundhog’s Day, and Punxsutawney Phil definitely was NOT seeing its shadow in northeastern Minnesota. Instead we had almost blizzard like conditions with HUGE winds off Lake Superior. Who would go birding during such kind of weather? Me! Only 8 miles from my house on the Two Harbors Expressway, during the middle of the storm, I found many owls hunting from sign posts. Only starvation would make an owl hunt during the day AND a horrible snow storm.

Great Gray Owl Irruption … Two Harbors Lighthouse Scenes

For almost one month up to four Great Gray Owls would hunt at the Two Harbors waterfront. Eventually the word got out, and later in the day the crowds would get crazy. If I decided to visit Two Harbors (20 minutes from my home), I would normally arrive about 40 minutes before sunrise, and leave shortly after sunup. In this way I felt I captured the most dramatic light from pre-dawn to the 20 minutes post sunrise. Most people arrived a bit after sunrise or later. Thus, my experiences were mainly crowd free!