Category Archives: Year 6

Sax-Zim Bog Magic | Great Gray Owl Videos

Year 6

I experienced the magic of Sax-Zim Bog this morning. For over an hour by myself while hiking along a remote road I watched a Great Gray Owl hunt. Not a single car drove by during this entire period, and at times … owl’s choice … the Great Gray Owl would fly over and perch on a tree less than 15 yards distant from me. Once I convinced the owl I would be silent, my presence was ignored. I even learned NOT to walk on the gravel, but rather hike on the grass next to the road’s edge as this method was much quieter. The owl taught me to walk in this manner. When my hiking shoes crunched on gravel the Great Gray gave me dirty looks! Remember, Great Grays hunt successfully by hearing and triangulating their prey.

Today was a perfect morning for owling. The forecast came through as expected … lighter winds and dark skies which encourages owls to hunt past sunrise. While the golden orb would have felt nice on my body during my hike, in that case it is unlikely I would have had the same experience. I hope you enjoy these images and videos … in total I took over 800 photographs this morning. Why so many you may ask? 1. It was dark, and I knew lots of images would be blurry. 2. Sixty minutes is a lot of hunting which needed to be captured!

The photographs follow the four videos.

Great Gray Owl Eating Breakfast 1 (video link for email subscribers)

Great Gray Owl Eating Breakfast 2 (video link for email subscribers)

Great Gray Owl Hunting 1 (video link for email subscribers)

Great Gray Owl Hunting 2 (video link for email subscribers)

Sax-Zim Bog Great Gray Owl … Hunting & Eating

Sax-Zim Bog Great Gray Owl … Eating Breakfast

Sax-Zim Bog Great Gray Owl … Hunting

Sax-Zim Bog Great Gray Owl … Next to the Road

Finchless Forecast

Background, Year 6,

Winter 2019-2020 is shaping up to be a season where the Northwoods will not be filled with very many of our favorite birds. Apparently the available food even further north in the Boreal Forests of Canada is excellent … with huge pine cone crops and lots of Mountain Ash berries. Briefly stated, there is very little reason for the winter finches to push down into northern Minnesota in significant numbers. Normally by this point in November, I have started to see Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, and Bohemian Waxwings. Zippo, and my experience is not unusual. Last weekend while in Grand Marais (100 miles up the North Shore of Lake Superior) I did not see a single bird in the huge number of Mountain Ash trees present in that town. Here is some Cornell eBird data from November 2018, and this year. Although it is only the 17th of November, the sightings are way low.

Common Redpolls (November 2018 … then November 2019 data)

Pine Grosbeaks (November 2018 … then November 2019 data)

Bohemian Waxwings (November 2018 … then November 2019 data)

While my migrant sights are way down, I am still seeing some nice birds, including this Canada Jay and Ruffed Grouse (Sax-Zim Bog two days ago)