I rose long before sunrise yesterday morning, which is a challenge because the sun rises at 5:15 am. However, I wanted to catch the early morning golden hour in my search for Black-Billed Cuckoos. Yesterday morning’s light was perfect given the fact all the rain over the past few days (3 inches in NE Minnesota) had knocked the forest fire smoke out of the air, and the day had dawned clear as a bell.

Cuckoo Quest 2023 was a smashing success. Not only did I find lots of cuckoos, but my camera even captured a Black Bear! (plus a Baltimore Oriole, Purple Finches, an American Kestrel and an Upland Sandpiper). It is a time of plenty in the Northland for birds if you know where to look!

First, birding equals location, location, location. While I had documented an amazing number for Black-Billed Cuckoo eBird sightings in my earlier post, I actually skipped all but one of the of the earlier sighting spots due to various things I did not like about those locations. However the location on Hessey Road was wunderbar! (see my screenshot of location and Google Maps link). This spot is stupendous. There is an old white pine (65% dead) that is by itself way out in the open and every bird loved landing on that same tree early in the morning … including some of the multiple cuckoos I heard calling. The old white pine in combination with forest on one side of Hessey Road and farmland / pasture on the other side of the road was perfect for birds. In my 90 minutes of birding on the dirt road, zero cars drove by me!

• Google Maps Link for Location

Now … here are photographs that I took all from near the old white pine on Hessey Road.

The first star of the morning, a Black Bear

Black-Billed Cuckoos

American Kestrel

Baltimore Oriole

Purple Finch

Two short videos of the famous cuckoos (links for email subscribers: One | Two)

On the the way home I watched this Upland Sandpiper

Now it’s off to Lake Vermilion for a week at its very remote NW corner! I also intend to spend some time up at Crane Lake and the border region … only 40 minutes from our Lake Vermilion cabin.

It’s almost here! Excitement reigns in the Northland. Cuckoo Quest 2023 will be this Friday morning! Yes, your intrepid Northwoods birder will brave the Wisconsin Grasslands in search of the Black-Billed Cuckoo! Is this a quest for a person who is cuckoo? No! My thanks as always to the Wisconsin DNR and their annual Cuckoo Population Survey. The area inside the map has lots of cuckoos, with GPS locations! Thank you Wisco DNR in advance for providing me a great morning of birding. The area has numerous other grassland birds and wildflowers. I look forward every year to Cuckoo Quest. It is a delight for the senses.
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Here is a link to the eBird data. You “may” need an eBird account for the data to load. You definitely will need to zoom in on NW Wisconsin. The data is for Black-Billed Cuckoos seen in June of this year. The “dotted arrows” are my driving route.

Here are three photographs I’ve taken over the past few days … Grassland Birds!

Dickcissel

Bobolink

Eastern Kingbird (and dragonfly)

Sounds like a naming conflict, but not! On this last day of Spring I drove over to the Wisconsin Grasslands (quite different habitat from the Boreal Forest near my home). I enjoyed seeing the bug eating grassland birds which are normally the last to arrive in the Northland, and the first to leave. While most shorebirds hang out near bodies of water, a smaller number of species call the grasslands their home. The Upland Sandpiper and Killdeer are two such birds. Unfortunately as grasslands have disappeared across North America, the Upland Sandpiper is becoming more rare.

Thus, I was thrilled this morning when not one, but two sandpipers perched on fence posts only ten yards from my car (see map for location … must be a nesting pair). In addition, there were lots of Killdeer at the Cloverland Town Hall area. In fact, driving any back road slowly in this region will yield fun finds. I saw Indigo Buntings, Eastern Meadowlarks, Bobolinks and many, many more species. Take Wisconsin Hwy 13 towards Bayfield, which is the first exit after you leave Superior on US Hwy 53/2.

Killdeer at Cloverland Town Hall

Upland Sandpiper

TakeOff and Flight (I thought I had perhaps spooked the bird, but it actually flew over to within ten yards of me, and then its mate flew up from the grass and landed on the next nearest fencepost. Some years I am lucky to see even one of these birds, and today I had the happy couple within ten yards!)