Category Archives: Year 8

My Paddle is Keen and Bright

Year 8

Childhood memories of days long ago up here in the Northland …

How many of you without thinking sometimes burst into song … a song taught to you many, many years ago? For over 65 years I have been visiting the Chippewa National Forest wilderness near the Canadian border. As a young boy I learned to sing this song … My Paddles is Keen and Bright (YouTube song link for email subscribers). This morning I found myself unexpectedly singing the song:

Northstar Lake is magical. The waters flow north to Hudson’s Bay, and last night I heard both a pack of timber wolves howling at the moon, and the loons yodeling through the darkness.

Here are two photographs of Common Loons from Northstar Lake taken early this morning … wolfpack fishing and on the nest. Places like this require song.

 

Merlin Sound ID

Background, Year 8

Just announced today … Merlin Sound ID from the Cornell School of Ornithology (eBird). I already use their Merlin Photo ID which works very well, particularly with birds where the plumage changes in different seasons. Even being a Dartmouth grad and having competed many times against that school, I have to give major credit to them for a job extremely well done. I have provide a few annotated screenshots below. I installed the new version of Merlin (including Sound ID) immediately and tested it with a robin which was singing just outside my home. Get this app. The price is right (free). Consider a donation to Cornell.

Here are my screenshots … from startup to first screen to sound ID and save.

More Bog Birds

Year 8

One thing I like about visiting Sax-Zim Bog is immediately south of the bog are farms and meadows. This allow the visitor to enjoy both forest and grassland birds with minimal driving. Yesterday before I enjoyed watching the Great Gray Owl, I birded the grasslands just after sunrise. This year there is a special treat … Dickcissels. These pretty little birds are in an irruption year. Most years we do not see them in northern Minnesota. This year it seems like they are hanging out in any large meadow or farm field. Still, everyone has their favorite locations, including me. I spent an hour driving a very small stretch of Dart Road (just west of Cty 29), and Racek Road (leading east from Cty 29 … only a few hundred yards to the north). On these stretch of roads I see Bobolinks, an occasional Meadowlark, and not lots of Dickcissels. Later in the summer it is not unusual for me to find a Northern Harrier also hunting the fields (this raptor is a favorite of mine).

Finally, the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center is open this summer from 10 am to 3 pm. You’ll find the Welcome Center a bit north of where I was watching birds yesterday.

Dickcissel

Eastern Kingbird

Broad Winged Hawk

One final pic from my recent trip to Seattle. While Great Blue Herons are common in northern Minnesota, this individual let me get amazingly close.

In addition, this Pileated Woodpecker visits my yard most afternoons. I have been taking lots of hikes in an attempt to find its hole. The young should fledge soon. In addition to my bird feeders, my yard is woodpecker friendly. Unless a dead tree threatens my house, I never take down dead trees … woodpecker food and habitat.