Category Archives: Year 11

The Young Birds of Summer! (Fledglings)

Year 11, ,

Yesterday morning I spent 30 minutes with Steam Shovel Sam and Sally’s kids. The juvenile osprey can now fly, but prefer to stay perched near the nest and beg. I watched the two youngsters screaming / begging for a long time, and when they got excited I knew food had to be in the “delivery mode”! Quite frankly I could not see a parent osprey, but if your eyesight is capable to seeing fish under water, the ospreys could obviously see their parents coming back from a fishing trip long before I was able to see anything which leads me to this comment. When birding learn the birds! Birds will let you know by their actions when there will be a change in the environment. Such was the case with the Osprey Fledglings, which then made a quick, fast flight back to the nest. Apparently feedings at this point still happen only at the nest, not out on dead snags.

The Dead Snag … two youngsters

Osprey Fledgling #1

Osprey Fledgling #2

Parent Bring Fish (youngsters are hiding in nest)

Before a bunch more “youngster / fledglings” photographs, this Cedar Waxwing did pose nicely for me on McDavitt Road in Sax-Zim Bog yesterday morning. The ground fog had just burned off, and I was listening for juvenile Great Gray Owls (none heard). As a fyi this is the time of year to get out in the woods or grasslands and look for juvenile raptors. They beg a lot and are lousy hunters.

And the other “young of year” images … all taken north of Duluth in Sax-Zim Bog or what I call the South Bog.

Trumpeter Swan Family

Sandhill Crane Family

Wild Turkey Family

Ruffed Grouse Family

Sandhill Crane Adults near Floodwood Bog (newly mown grasslands ALWAYS attract birds. The much shorter grasses make insects much easier prey)

Birding Trapper Jim’s Corner via Fiero Truck Trail and Toomey Williams Forest Road

Year 11

I took my favorite birding excursion this morning, west of Big Falls, Minnesota. In the middle of the Pine Island State Forest near the Canadian border there is amazing Borest forest habitat including lots of bogs (also bugs!). This route once you turn on Toomey-Williams Forest Road does not pass a single structure, let alone a cabin or home. It is true wilderness. It is not a bad idea to have a “bow saw” in the trunk of your car should you encounter a downed tree. During the two hours I spent on this bird outing, I never saw another vehicle or human. My two hours also included a one mile hike directly oppositive the intersection of Pine Island Road and Fiero Truck Trail. When I state this is my favorite spot to bird in the Minnesota Boreal Forest, that is not an overstatement.

Today’s prize find was an American Woodcock, a rarely seen bird except during after sundown mating flights in the late spring!

Here is a map along with GPS points for my birding outing

  • Toomey-Williams Forest Forest Road: Start
  • Toomey-Williams Forest Forest Road: End (at Pine Island Forest Road … turn right)
  • Intersection of Pine Island Forest Road and Fiero Truck Trail
  • Trapper Jim’s Corner on Fiero Truck Trail (3.5 miles north of  intersection)

I turn around at Trapper Jim’s Corner. The habitat is not as good past this point, and I prefer to drive back to Big Falls … either once again via Toomey-Williams or via taking Pine Island all the way to where County 30 starts (Gates Corner). Do NOT drive past Gates Corner where the paved road, County 30 starts. The road goes nowhere and deteriorates fast.

Here are some photos I took with my cell phone back in June when I also made this drive. It will show you all the snags, forest, water next to road, etc. I not only love this route because of its habitat, but also what I have seen over the years. Expect this birding drive to take two hours … round trip from Big Falls. Toomey-Williams is not plowed in the winter, and if Pine Island and Fiero Roads are plowed during winter, expect logging trucks.