Tag Archives: MN North: Sax-Zim Bog

Sax-Zim Bog Barred Owl

January 21, 2018Year 5MN North: Sax-Zim Bogrichardhoeg@gmail.com

Yesterday I took three friends up to the Bog. The weather was weird … over 40F, no wind, and bright skies … in short not a Minnesota winter. Only five days earlier we were in the midst of a two week long cold snap where temperatures in northern Minnesota were well below 0F every night.

If you are planning a trip to Sax-Zim Bog, make certain you visit the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog web site and review the “Plan Your Visit” page. Download a map. Believe it or not there are lots of birds, including owls which do not live on McDavitt and Admiral Roads. While we did make a brief visit to the South Logging Road off McDavitt to see a Northern Hawk Owl, most of our time was spent on roads where we were the only car / people in sight. This meant we had to find our own owls, but also insured my friends experienced a more true wilderness experience. Get off the main drags!

Here are a few photographs from yesterday …

Barred Owl
I was thrilled to find a Barred Owl out hunting around 10:30 am. I consider this bird nocturnal.

Be One with the Tree, Luke SkyWalker!
When Great Gray Owls see their enemies (ravens, crows, and eagles), these birds stand up very straight to minimize their profile from above lessening the chance of an attack.

Gray Jay
Canada’s new national bird enjoys eating off a deer carcass.

Dinner with Two of America’s Top Naturalists! (and a Boreal Owl)

January 16, 2018Year 5MN North: Sax-Zim Bog, MN North: Two Harbors Highlandsrichardhoeg@gmail.com

Over the past two days I have been privileged to bird with Paul Bannick, who amongst other items is a senior staff member for Conservation Northwest. Knowing that he and Sparky Stensaas were good friends, after yesterday’s birding excursion Molly and I hosted everyone for dinner. (Sparky is the executive director of Friends of Sax-Zim Bog)

While we were having a glass of wine, Sparky was glancing at Paul’s new book, A Year in the Lives of North American Owls. Wow! and I repeat Wow! Sparky immediately recognized the location of a particular photograph based upon some willows in the background of an image. This started an interesting test which truly amazed me. Paul would open the book to a given page, and then test Sparky’s knowledge. Could the location of the photograph be determined based upon the various plant life in the photograph, or the minor plumage variations of a given owl. I was dumbfounded how easily these two individuals could recognize the location of a given bird based upon plant life, etc.

Obviously the past two days were a treat for me. While I provided some local habitat knowledge, Paul was extremely generous is helping further my education about birds, and often specifically owls. Here are some of images I took over the past two days.

Day 1 was ugly, and not a good day for owling. The wind was screaming out of the Northwest in excess of 20 mph, and the snow came down almost non-stop. Somehow we found four owls. At one point we even stood in the middle of a pasture braving the -30F chill factors to photograph a Northern Hawk Owl.

Boreal Owl in the Duluth area

Northern Hawk Owl at -30F Windchill (Oh man it was cold while photographing this bird. Paul got a minor case of frostbite)

Great Gray Hiding from the Wind & Snow (We went back four hours later; the owl had not moved one inch. This spot captured what little solar warmth was available, and was out of the wind. The final image was taken during the second visit … sleepy owl)

Day 2 was fantastic … calm winds and +4F temperatures

Pileated Woodpecker … expressing its opinion about all these owl photographs

Northern Hawk Owl on the Hunt

Great Gray Owl on the Hunt

And a Talon Shot

Owl Poopers & Bloopers (3 Species!)

January 4, 2018Year 5MN North: Sax-Zim Bog, MN North: Two Harbors Highlandsrichardhoeg@gmail.com

If you’ve noticed, like most wildlife photographers, I only publish “great images”. Well, guess what … in the real world I take lots of horrible photographs, some even comical. Thus, I bring you my first in a series of “Owl Poopers and Bloopers” … with lots of butt shots!

Great Gray Owl Pooping
Thought this bird was going to fly when I pressed the shutter … Not!