Tag Archives: MN North: South Bog

Northland Bird Migration!

Year 11,

During the long cold winter months, we hearty Northlanders often wonder if the birds of spring will every return. This past weekend provided just a hint, and the next few days should give us a HUGE push of our feathered friends into Northwestern Wisconsin and the Northeastern Minnesota.

Over the weekend, the rest of Minnesota and Wisconsin actually had some southerly winds (not up here), but it still helped a few intrepid birds reach our environs. However, over the next few days the winds will be extremely favorable for migrating birds … even near Lake Superior. Better yet, the forest near my home is almost devoid of snow … not just spots out in the open. If you decide to look for birds remember these few facts:

  • Forecast southerly winds often run smack dab into Lake Superior. Many times there are winds out of the NE in the spring and early summer when the US Weather Service assures us to expect otherwise. My point is I normally do not bird the shores of Lake Superior (or just inland) at this time of year. Instead I prefer non Boreal forest habitat which warms earlier and quicker in the spring … think farmland with scattered forest interspersed habitat. I particularly like regions where southerly winds do NOT blow across Lake Superior. Thus, I tend to avoid the forests inland from the North Shore.
  • Remember your migration highways and if possible bird near those migration paths. The Mississippi River Flyway is only 60 miles west of Duluth, and birds will also come up through Wisconsin along north / south rivers … ultimately figuring out how to either migrate along or avoid Lake Superior.
  • Most songbirds do their major migrations at night, but will still move in a northerly direction during the day. Unlike the fall migration, birds do not tend to linger long in one location. They are in a hurry to return to breeding territory.

Here were some of my own cool finds over the weekend …

The South Bog Region of NE Minnesota (farmland and forest south of Meadowlands)

Northern Shrike Returning to its Canadian Homeland

The Movie (video link for email subscribers)

Northern Harrier Looking for a Friendly Boreal Bog (and a friendly callout to Lorraine and her Northern Harrier!)

Sandhill Cranes … I think this pair has returned to their favorite Northland Farm

Apparently cows are also into bird watching!

NW Wisconsin (Wisconsin 35 farmland near Cloverland)

Red Hawk Hunting

And some local color … Goldfinches stay with me all winter, but they a becoming golden once more.

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

Tracking the Sun for Your Bird Outing: SunCalc

Background, Year 10, ,

I am enjoying a morning at home, as the rains finally arrived overnight and the weather is ugly outside, but such was not the case yesterday. The day dawned crystal clear and with the first hint of autumn. It was 39F on Admiral Road in Sax-Zim Bog at 6 am, and did not rise to 40F till after 7 am. I had an excellent morning, and enjoyed my route.

One very important aspect of any birding outing (or even just a longer hike in a local park) is knowing in advance where the sun will be located relative to your current or planned position. If you are visiting a new area, and slowly driving down a remote dirt road scanning for birds, if that road ends up tracking into the morning sun, your birding success will be poor. It is no fun on a birding hike or slow drive in your car to be staring directly into the sun. It makes it darn hard to see anything.

While I use an advanced app on my phone and tablet called PlanIt for Photographers, which allows me to not only know the sun’s and moon’s location on any given day (and time), or additional items like planning milky way photographs for a given time of night and learning where truly dark night time skies are located (and much more) … for most people an app of this nature is overkill. Thus in this post I am reviewing a free service you may use on computer (not phone) that easily allows you to plan your own outings, and is free! The service is named SunCalc.Org.

SunCalc allows the user to accomplish the basics, but arguably the most important task … where will the sun be located relative to a given (or expected) location at some time in the future.

SunCalc.Org (basic or entry screen upon loading web page)

The Red Arrows and White Numbering & Text are my Annotations!

Map Layers

Zoom In and Out & Location

Time of Day Slider

Select Date

Selected Menu Options

Once again, SunCalc provides only the basics, but it does a good job and has an easy to learn interface. Happy birding.