Tag Archives: MN North: Sax-Zim Bog

Birding via your Bicycle!

June 10, 2015Background, Year 2Birding Know How, MN North: Sax-Zim Bog, MN South: Medicine Lakerichardhoeg@gmail.com

I like to occasionally revisit this topic … birding by bicycle. Although a car gets one much faster to a desired location, taking a bike ride with camera gear in tow is a great way to exercise both the body and the mind. This morning I biked a little over 22 miles in the Sax-Zim Bog. Aside from a great ride through a beautiful rural landscape, I found two locations where I saw a bird I had never seen before in my life, a bobolink!

This was actually the second such bird biking trip I rode in the last seven days. This past weekend I biked the Luce Line Trail in suburban Minneapolis. This trail not accessible by car allowed me to find and photograph some bluebirds shortly after sunrise. Thus, birding by biking has another advantage … access to locations not available by car.

My final BIG birding while biking was my wife’s and my Spring North Tour. This spring we rode 1,500 miles through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri. My camera was always available and ready for bird photography.

Thus, do you bird and bike?

View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon images to view at full size)

My new lifer, a Bobolink by bike!

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The Bluebirds and Tree Swallows from last weekend’s ride

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Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers, and an “action” shot of me taken by my wife … same birds!

Boreal Chickadee (Yr. 2: Day 63)

March 27, 2015Year 2MN North: Sax-Zim Bogrichardhoeg@gmail.com

I spent 2 hours trying to find a great grey owl at sunset this evening up in Sax-Zim Bog. For about ten minutes I took a break and was watching some chickadees, somewhat zoning out when I suddenly realized one chickadee was not “black capped”, but a “boreal”!

View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon images to view at full size)

Raptor Roulette at Sax-Zim Bog (Yr. 2: Day 61)

March 23, 2015Year 2MN North: Sax-Zim Bogrichardhoeg@gmail.com

Any vole or mouse which ventured out of its burrow this morning into the fields of Sax-Zim Bog was playing Russian Roulette, or should I say Raptor Roulette. While the bog is known as the place to visit in the lower 48 to see Arctic birds that winter in northern Minnesota, and the “grey ghost” … the great grey owl, with the melting of the snow and warming temperatures the raptors are returning north. A trip through the bog this morning provided many opportunities to watch hawks and eagles hunting … quite often successfully.