Tag Archives: MN North: Sax-Zim Bog

Gray / Canada Jay Fledglings!

Year 13

In my 14 years as a volunteer naturalist at Sax-Zim Bog, I had never seen “fledgling” Canada / Gray Jays till this morning. I had always heard that for a very short time after the young birds leave the nests they are “gray fluff balls”. This morning was super special for me. I almost drove by the mature Canada Jay I saw foraging on the side of the road, but I decided to stop and oh my … how lucky. I spent almost one hour with the jay family.

Just to give some perspective, in the same 14 years I have seen Great Gray Owlets on three occasions (and multiple times per nesting season). Thus, at least for me this is a much rarer birding event!

Canada Jay / Gray Jay Fledglings (two youngsters in third image)

An adult from this morning …

Attacking an old bee hive ???

The Movie (video link for blog email subscribers)

Spring (?) Birding … Ice and Owls!

Year 13, ,

The calendar might claim we are well into spring … whether you like to count either the first day of meteorological spring (March 1st) or astronomical spring (March 21st) as when the season arrives. Here in the Northland, we know better than to be fooled by either of those two dates. In the forests inland from Lake Superior, snow is still deep on the ground. Area lakes have not started to ice out, with only very small areas of open water where currents rule. In short, we continue to earn our nick name, the Arctic Riviera!

Here is a Snowy Owl I photographed yesterday evening. It was actually one of two Snowy Owls I saw at the traditional Snowy Owl wintering grounds here at the Head of the Lakes. Our visitors seem in no hurry to migrate north to the Arctic. Given this year’s Snowy Owls which are visiting our region are almost certainly only one or two years old, and given Snowy Owls do not breed till they reach three or four years of age, these local birds do not have hormones screaming at them to fly north!

Snowy Owl on April 8th

On the “spring migrant front”, the early birds which have returned to our area may be regretting their early plane ticket. I think this Great Blue Heron does not look very happy. It had found a very small spot of open water next to a beaver mound, but I doubt it was catching any fish. When I checked on the bird a second time after one hour had passed, it had not moved an inch. Where would it move, the pocket of open water was only 15 years in length.

These Canada Geese only had open water in the harbor because the US Coast Guard Cutter Spar and broken ice!

Now we venture up to the northern edges of Duluth and the Canosia Wildlife Preserve. These wetlands are a great birding spot, but the trails and ponds are still socked in with snow and ice. These turkey’s were courting and I particularly enjoyed this “Smokey Gray” morph turkey. Here is what the National Wild Turkey Federation says about this color:

“Its mutation is based on the fact that it has no brown pigments within its feathers. Coloration varies, but white is typically the dominant tone with black and dark gray contrasting tones, especially on the back, wings and tail feathers.”

Finally, I zipped up to Sax-Zim Bog where I found lots of incoming Northern Harriers and Rough-Legged Hawks which were returning to the Sub-Arctic.

Eventually Spring will come, but not today (snow in the forecast).

 

Northern Hawk Owl Hunting

Year 13

With the help of some other folks, I finally found a second Northern Hawk Owl in Sax-Zim Bog on Saturday morning. After the atrocious weather the past few  days … dare I say dreich?! … the day was finally worth heading outside. Putting our weather in perspective, I went through 40 pounds of salt trying to keep rid our walks free of ice buildup from the snow and sleet screaming in off Lake Superior.

While the weather forecast claimed the sun would arrive by mid-morning, Mother Nature said if you really want to photograph the Hawk Owl, you MUST show patience. I arrived in the Bog at 7:30 am, and the sun did not come out till 1:00 pm. However, the long wait was worth cooling my jets. The Northern Hawk Owl performed!

Sax-Zim Bog Northern Hawk Owl Hunting

The owl moved all afternoon between three perches near a small creek

Perch #1

Perch #2

Perch #3

One of the dives for a vole

Vole Capture #1

Vole Capture #2

Back to Hunting on Perch #3

In the final image of the “back to hunting” photos, the full sun had come out. It was taken about 15 minutes later than the other images in the sequence and something had obviously caught the owl’s attention.