Fall Colors! Spruce Grouse

Year 11

Thankfully sunrise is now rather late, 7:05 am. This allowed me to head up to the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area before sunrise and still get back in time for church at 10:00 am. It was a fun morning with lots of fall colors, one Great Gray Owl and a number of Spruce Grouse.

Look carefully at this first image. I took this photograph last week smack dab in the middle of the burn area. While there are hundreds of acres which burned right down to the topsoil, there are also regions in the Greenwood Fire Burn Area where the fire shot through the region … burning the small trees and undergrowth but leaving the tall white pines undamaged and alive. In fact, the extreme heat causes the pines to drop their cones and start the next generation of forest. Wildlife loves these burn areas. Earlier last week I saw a huge Bull Moose right at the edge of the burn area. It was obviously munching on new growth trees (and perhaps looking for a female … it’s rutt season for moose)

This morning while the Great Gray Owl I found at sunup was ready to hide immediately from the bright sun coming up over the pines, I did find some cooperative female Spruce Grouse. Notice the fall colors in the background of the photographs.

Finally, I seem to never photograph Black-Capped Chickadees. I changed that trend this morning! The chickadee is perched on a tree killed by the fire.

Stony Point Peregrine Power

Year 11

Peregrine Falcon Power! I took these photographs a few days ago at Stony Point which is about 1/2 way between Duluth and Two Harbors. The weather overnight had been fine with a decent northwest wind. I knew this meant migration was most likely in progress.

Stony Point juts out into Lake Superior. Thus the North Shore which is a local migration highway sees lots of migrating songbirds. Raptors like this Peregrine time their migration to hunt those same migrating birds. This falcon was perched on the highest White Pine Tree in the vicinity, and it was hunting shortly after sunrise.

If you have a local migration highway (river, very large lake, decent sized hills, etc), head out birding during the Fall Migration after an overnight with a strong North or Northwest wind. Often the number of songbirds you see will be amazing, but also watch for raptors hunting those tweety birds!

If you maximize the first image, you will see the migration. The black smudges were blue jays way up high. The falcon was looking for easier, unsuspecting prey.

If you are near the North Shore, tonight’s weather and winds look like a strong burst of birds should migrate south overnight.

Birds Riding the North Wind

Year 11

For the past two days there has been a decent NW wind, which after all the south winds giving NE Minnesota unseasonably warm weather, meant that migration finally resumed. A NW wind is actually the best migration wind (opposed to a North wind). A strong NW blow pushes birds against Lake Superior, and then migration picks up down the North Shore (most birds do not want to head out over the big lake).

Over the past few days I have seen large flocks (50+ birds each) of Robins, Northern Flickers, and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. The first juncos are also appearing … a certain sign that the songbird migration will soon be in its finally phase. Snow Buntings seem to be the past songbird to come down from the Arctic.

Here are a few pics from the past two days …

A pair of Eagles guard Stoney Point

A Northern Flicker watches the local crows that harass many migration species.