Missing the Obvious

Year 13

Sometimes a person just misses the obvious! In the past three days two bird species have let me know that I need to pay closer attention to habitat and my local environment. My first example involves a family of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers. This couple is drilling a nest hole within a few feet of the end of my driveway. Okay, cool, but it is obvious that the same species of birds used the exact same tree for nesting last year. Thus, the question, how could I have not heard all the drilling during construction, and then demands of the young woodpeckers?

Now we move on to the Barred Owl family featured in today’s post. In spite of the heavy fog and mist I went birding this morning. For years I have been trying to find a Barred Owl nest in the Duluth area (tree cavity or broken snag top). I think this morning I finally figured out a great spot for further research. The clue was spotting a Barred Owl hunting three hours after sunrise which screams owlets near by. When the owl finally disappeared into a grove of trees after 20 minutes, I realized it was in perfect habitat. While, I had searched very near this location, I had previously dismissed the spot “the owl chose”. Now I need to redouble my efforts before the leaves pop out.

Barred Owl on its Late Morning Hunt

The Birding Gourmet

Year 13

SPAM! I like SPAM and I definitely need to try the new roller dog, SPAM Dog! This could make for one of my ultimate birding excursions. Here is a link to a prior post from 3 years ago while I was birding in Hawaii where SPAM is loved. The pic of me is from that birding event.

Sherburne Northern Saw-Whet Owlet!

Year 13

I had a medical appointment in the Twin Cities yesterday (all fine), but I had heard there was a Northern Saw-Whet owl family hanging out in a dead tree at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. While the refuge is definitely not on the direct route south from Duluth to Minneapolis, neither is it horribly out of the way. Thus, I made certain I was on the road shortly after 5 am for my planned detour.

Thankfully, one of the owlets made an appearance after I had waited patiently for one hour. While I understand that “the owlet” is the attraction, these three images demonstrate things to consider for photography:

  1. While everyone “wants the close-up”. I actually think the close-up image is the most boring photograph. Habitat makes a photograph much more interesting.
  2. Given the Northern Saw-whet’s plumage and the tree’s bark (light grays and browns), I chose to underexpose my images by “one stop”. At a fyi, I underexpose most photographs for birds with lighter plumage in direct sunlight to avoid washouts
  3. The final two photographs include habitat, and are much preferred by me.