Tag Archives: MN North: NorthStar Lake Region

The Birding Photography Snob!

Year 13, ,

Quoting myself from back in 2018: (read prior post)

In 1964 when I was eight years old my parents gave me my first birding books, National Geographic’s “Song and Garden Birds of North America” and “Water, Prey and Game Birds of North America”. Over the years with moves to college, a wedding and our first home, and now our return to Duluth, these two books have remained with me through every move (most books have not survived). I know that based upon what I saw in those books, my love of certain birds (and not others) were shaped … While others try to pad birding lists, I swoon over certain birds and ignore others!

The American Redstart was one of those swoonable birds. I had a deep desire to see this pretty little reddish orange and black warbler. Back in 1990 Molly and I purchased a small Minnesota cabin which is close to the Canadian border. It took a few years after that purchase till I realized our land was swarming with Redstarts starting each year with the last week of May. Here are just two images I took yesterday afternoon of one of my “snob birds”? Do you have a snob bird?

And the cover image of “the” book!

Actually the last few days have been most excellent, and not just for my “snob birds”. Over the past few days I have seen eight moose! These poor Moose family wanted nothing to do with me. I definitely pulled my car over and let the moose family run away from me. The calves look very young.

My local loons of Northstar Lake are getting ready to nest near my cabin, and yesterday morning I spent quality time by kayak with the lovely couple. Contrast my local loons nesting on or about June 1st, but down in the Twin Cities loon chicks are already hatching. Northstar Lake is 200 miles north of the northern Twin Cities and a dramatic difference in habitat.

Finally, Toomey-Williams Forest Road near Big Falls finally opened after a long winter and very wet spring. The raptors are busy setting up housekeeping and hunting (Broad-Winged Hawk)

Barred Owl Fight Under the Full Moon!

Year 13

Apparently my cabin is the territorial dividing line between two pairs of Barred Owls. Via my Birdnet-Pi I had learned the owls were present. However nothing prepared me for what happened at 4 am. Via the light of the full moon in the Boreal forest of northern Minnesota, two pairs of Barred Owls at first just hooted like crazy directly over where I was standing (two locations 100 yards apart). I then noticed the shadow of one owl flying and it went straight to the location of the other pair. This started 15 minutes of the most crazy hooting with short flights directly at each other. I was outside for 30 minutes, but my BirdNET-Pi  shows this hoot fest fight went on for almost two hours.

After coming back inside the cabin I did research via Cornell’s Birds of the World. I wanted to confirm that Barred Owl couples actual  fight, and the answer is definitely yes … and much more during mating / nesting season. As a f.y.i. my cabin is way north in Minnesota, and ice out on the lake was only 7 days ago. It is unlikely that the Barred Owls have nested yet, or if they have … only within the past few days.

It was an amazing experience!!!

Here is a screenshot I took from of my BirdNET-Pi shortly before 5 am. You will note the box ID’d the owls 429 times during the hoot fight fest. I do have a 15 minute audio file from the experience. I was dumbfounded when I first went outside around  4 am. I was hoping to track a single owl, but as the calls kept coming from different locations, I started to realize something special was happening.

Pre-Dawn Over Northstar Lake … Hudson Bay Watershed in Northern Minnesota. Image taken around 5:30 am this morning … 40 minutes before sunrise and about 50 minutes after the Barred Owl “hootfest” ended at 4:40 am. The Owls were still occasionally calling but the fight was over.

Migration Madness! Northern Flickers and Much More!

Year 13

Even though my cabin has zero running water this time of year, and I knew Northstar Lake would be socked in with ice, I made the two hour NW drive over from Duluth. My lake in is the southernmost body of water of the Hudson Bay Watershed. All waters flow north! The forecast said the weather would be warm (70F) and sunny. Thus, I ignored the ice and stayed away from the shore where it was chilly and opened up the windows and doors … wanting fresh air inside after being closed up all winter. It is the fastest way to warm up a non heated cabin (or cool it down). Whatever the temperature is outside, eventually my cabin will reflect those conditions. Thus, if it’s 20F outside, it will be 20F inside. Thankfully I do have both a wood stove and fireplace for those chilly days.

Mother Nature came through. By early afternoon as I worked on a new wood shed, strong winds out of the south were pushing huge numbers of migration birds  Here is the bird report only one hour after sunrise this morning via my BirdNET-Pi. (click or press upon to maximize for easier reading)

After I finished my chores I took a hike and then sat on the front deck. The number of migrating Northern Flickers was amazing (some will stay in my local forest) . These birds were eating bugs off the ground, and I hoped if I stayed motionless long enough the flickers would forget about my presence. Northern Flickers are a skittish species. Anyhow, jackpot!