Winter / Spring Stony River Forest Road Boreal Forest Birding

Year 13

I have spent the last two mornings starting at sunrise on Stony River Forest Road (or real near by).  Please review the Google Maps satellite image shown below. By using “satellite view” it became obvious that I needed to focus more upon this area because of both the stream and bog. (GPS link to the steam crossing on the side road).

The pin is exactly 2.5 miles distant from where Stony River Forest Road begins at its southern end, and the stream crossing on the side road is exactly 1/2 mile from Stony River Forest Road. Take another look at the Google Maps Satellite View. This habitat screams wildlife including birds. It doesn’t hurt that when I collected Trailcam video’s yesterday morning after only a few days in place I already had evidence of Moose and Canada Lynx. In fact this morning I doubled down via my technology. I increased trailcams from 1 to 3, and birdsong listening stations from 1 to 2. Yes, my techie background comes through!

As a final fyi before the regular blog post content … the weather varied dramatically between the two days … yesterday 28F (-2.2 C), new snow on the ground, dark clouds, high winds and snow flurries … today 25F (-3.88 C), sunny and calm winds. Reminder … the dates were May 6th and 7th. Our normal high is around 59F (+15.0C).

Photographs are bellow the videos …

Hello from Stony River Forest Road (video link for blog subscribers)

Hello from Forest Road #811 (video link for blog subscribers)

Canada Lynx Trailcam Video (video link for blog subscribers)

Moose Trailcam Video (video link for blog subscribers)

And some images from this morning when the sun was brilliant. All the photographs were taken within two hours of sunrise … often within a few minutes of the golden orb appearing.

Wood Duck Reflections (unnamed stream)

The wood duck photographs would have been impossible at any other time of the day but sunrise. Wood ducks spook very easily, but with me between the “low sun” and the birds, even though I was only 30 yards away the ducks could not see me.

Broad-Winged Hawk

Ruffed Grouse Breakfast (eating Aspen buds)

Barred Owl Fight Under the Full Moon!

Year 13

Apparently my cabin is the territorial dividing line between two pairs of Barred Owls. Via my Birdnet-Pi I had learned the owls were present. However nothing prepared me for what happened at 4 am. Via the light of the full moon in the Boreal forest of northern Minnesota, two pairs of Barred Owls at first just hooted like crazy directly over where I was standing (two locations 100 yards apart). I then noticed the shadow of one owl flying and it went straight to the location of the other pair. This started 15 minutes of the most crazy hooting with short flights directly at each other. I was outside for 30 minutes, but my BirdNET-Pi  shows this hoot fest fight went on for almost two hours.

After coming back inside the cabin I did research via Cornell’s Birds of the World. I wanted to confirm that Barred Owl couples actual  fight, and the answer is definitely yes … and much more during mating / nesting season. As a f.y.i. my cabin is way north in Minnesota, and ice out on the lake was only 7 days ago. It is unlikely that the Barred Owls have nested yet, or if they have … only within the past few days.

It was an amazing experience!!!

Here is a screenshot I took from of my BirdNET-Pi shortly before 5 am. You will note the box ID’d the owls 429 times during the hoot fight fest. I do have a 15 minute audio file from the experience. I was dumbfounded when I first went outside around  4 am. I was hoping to track a single owl, but as the calls kept coming from different locations, I started to realize something special was happening.

Pre-Dawn Over Northstar Lake … Hudson Bay Watershed in Northern Minnesota. Image taken around 5:30 am this morning … 40 minutes before sunrise and about 50 minutes after the Barred Owl “hootfest” ended at 4:40 am. The Owls were still occasionally calling but the fight was over.

Great Horned Owlets at Sunrise (Mom too!)

Year 13

The golden orb finally returned this morning, and I was waiting … visited the Great Horned Owl family only moments after sunrise. Quite frankly, the owls were tired and by 20 minutes post sunrise everyone was sleeping, but before ….

Great Horned Owl Family Minutes After Sunrise

  • Mom protects!
  • Owlets chill!

The Big Snooze Starts and I Leave! (video link for blog email subscribers)