Tag Archives: MN North: Two Harbors

The Northern Birds (way north) are Coming!

Year 8

The sun finally arrived back at the Head of the Lakes, and even though the wind was not optimal for migration, after two weeks of blaaah birds decided to migrate. While working the North Shore of Lake Superior I saw hundreds of hawks and vultures trying to catch an updraft near Silver Cliffs. Upon getting back to Two Harbors, I decided to visit the Lakeview Cemetery. This cemetery is very near the lake and tends to be visiting by a significant numbers of migrating birds. As we near completion of migration here in northeastern Minnesota, there are a number of songbird flocks that migrate through the area in large numbers. These birds are:

  • Horned Larks
  • Lapland Longspurs
  • Slate-Colored Juncos
  • Snow Buntings

These species tend to be our last migrants before the arrival of birds that will actually winter in the Northland (a few juncos and buntings will stay the winter in our area). At the cemetery this morning, Horned Larks were very much in evidence. Staying in ones car and inching forward is required. Getting near the larks on foot is impossible.

A few pics from this morning … horned larks are a favorite of mine.

Cemeteries and Septic Ponds: Ross’s Goose

Year 1,

Yup, I like to hang out at Cemeteries and Septic Ponds (Sewage Treatment Ponds). Yesterday afternoon I struck paydirt at the LakeView Cemetery in Two Harbors when I saw a rare northeastern Minnesota migrant, a Ross’s Goose.

This Ross’s Goose was hanging out with about 1,000+ of its Canadian buddies yesterday afternoon at the cemetery. While Ross’s and Snow Geese might be a common sight in the western Minnesota border region with the Dakotas, it is rare in NE Minnesota. If you wondered how I was able to get close to the goose with so many birds around, the answer is to NEVER walk directly towards a bird. I spent ten minutes walking in oblique, non direct lines towards the geese. They would look at me, but decide I was not a threat. I made sure to stop every few feet.

Later this morning I plan on driving up to the Castle Danger Sewage Treatment Ponds. I generally hike / bird the area outside the fenced in ponds. It is at Castle Dangle four years ago when I found / rescued Silver the Snowy Owl while hiking.

Even with my propensity to hang out at these aforementioned unusual locations, I was “bog bound” two mornings ago. The combination of heavy ground fog overnight, plus light winds in the first two hours after dawn led me to believe my favorite Great Gray Owl would be out hunting after sunrise as the fog cleared. I was not disappointed. It was beautiful to watch the owl hunt with all the fall colors around.

North Shore Reprise!

Year 7,

As you’ve heard me say (write?!) many times, find the food in the winter … find the birds. Exactly 24 hours later I refound my Ruffed Grouse and Red-Tailed Hawk in the same exact trees. The grouse will continue to use the this berry tree till the fruit is gone, and the hawk must have found good hunting. Even with raptors, winter will find them hunting from the same spots as long as prey holds out. The key is birds do not want to use any extra energy during cold winter days.

One interesting observation, unlike songbirds which tend to grab berries and pluck the entire piece of fruit off a tree, grouse pick the fruit off a tree where the stem attaches to the branch. Thus, grouse grab the stem, pluck, and then must flip the fruit into their mouth.

A bonus was finding a cooperative Rough Legged Hawk … in a secret location (LOL!)

There is a neat project that tracks Rough Legged Hawks via GPS devices. This relatively new banding technology really helps us understand birds and their breeding / migration patterns. Our hope is to band some Northern Hawk Owls us at Sax-Zim Bog with this technology this winter.

One bird’s paths over three years … It is amazing how far this hawk ranged through the Arctic.