I rose long before sunrise yesterday morning, which is a challenge because the sun rises at 5:15 am. However, I wanted to catch the early morning golden hour in my search for Black-Billed Cuckoos. Yesterday morning’s light was perfect given the fact all the rain over the past few days (3 inches in NE Minnesota) had knocked the forest fire smoke out of the air, and the day had dawned clear as a bell.

Cuckoo Quest 2023 was a smashing success. Not only did I find lots of cuckoos, but my camera even captured a Black Bear! (plus a Baltimore Oriole, Purple Finches, an American Kestrel and an Upland Sandpiper). It is a time of plenty in the Northland for birds if you know where to look!

First, birding equals location, location, location. While I had documented an amazing number for Black-Billed Cuckoo eBird sightings in my earlier post, I actually skipped all but one of the of the earlier sighting spots due to various things I did not like about those locations. However the location on Hessey Road was wunderbar! (see my screenshot of location and Google Maps link). This spot is stupendous. There is an old white pine (65% dead) that is by itself way out in the open and every bird loved landing on that same tree early in the morning … including some of the multiple cuckoos I heard calling. The old white pine in combination with forest on one side of Hessey Road and farmland / pasture on the other side of the road was perfect for birds. In my 90 minutes of birding on the dirt road, zero cars drove by me!

• Google Maps Link for Location

Now … here are photographs that I took all from near the old white pine on Hessey Road.

The first star of the morning, a Black Bear

Black-Billed Cuckoos

American Kestrel

Baltimore Oriole

Purple Finch

Two short videos of the famous cuckoos (links for email subscribers: One | Two)

On the the way home I watched this Upland Sandpiper

Now it’s off to Lake Vermilion for a week at its very remote NW corner! I also intend to spend some time up at Crane Lake and the border region … only 40 minutes from our Lake Vermilion cabin.