God was shining “night lights” over Northstar Lake. Starting 15 minutes before sunset yesterday evening the family was treated to watching the last thunderheads move off to the east.
Then I got up at 1:30 am and caught these night lights shining over our small northwoods cabin … and there were NO mosquitoes while I was taking photographs down on the dock.
Happy 4th of July … Nature’s Fireworks!
The Pagami Creek Wildfire was back in 2011 … 13 years ago. One may reach part of the burn area via Tomahawk Road. 17 miles of driving a dirt road brings you to a beautiful old wooden bridge right at the Island River BWCA Entry Point, and in the middle of the burn area. I love this spot, and now so do the birds. Shortly after the wildfire I saw my first ever Black-Backed Woodpecker at this birding spot. Remember, Black-Backs love recently burned trees. These days the woodpeckers are not as much in evidence, but other song birds love the area near the bridge. The combination of burned out trees and new growth next to the wetlands makes birds happy. A few days ago when I birded this area I also very much liked the fact that the open terrain plus sunshine meant zero mosquitoes!
Back in 2016 I spent a fantastic night watching the Northern Lights at this remote spot. I titled the post “A Northern Night to Remember!” Here is one photograph from that night taken from the wooden bridge. 
For my excitement this week it was having a Common Yellowthroat, a bird normally heard but not often seen, spend significant time on a dead tree near the road.
Common Yellowthroat
In addition, the birding spot was crawling with Wilson’s Snipes calling out their territories. Learn more about birding Pagami Creek not to far from Ely, Minnesota and other Northern MInnesota birding areas … my web site’s index of birding spots.
We all need lazy mornings! It has been pouring rain off and on since midnight. It is now 11:00 am. Most mornings I awake around 5 am, and am gone within 30 minutes on a birding expedition. However the present weather dictated I might as well hang out in PJ’s well into the morning. In short, it is an excellent time for satellite birding!
The logical question is … “what the heck is satellite birding”?! Simply put the “smart birder” explores back roads and habitat by Google Maps in Satellite Mode. While I am out birding by car, bike or foot I come across dead-end backroads without time to explore same. However, I often wonder what these roads are like. Is there good birding habitat? While neither Google nor eBird will not answer these questions, satellite birding can help answer your queries. Remote areas rarely get birded … let alone eBirded.
Enter logic and Google Satellite Mode and the probability of experiencing future good birding increases dramatically. Here is what I consider:
In mid April I wondered about an unnamed dirt road near where I was birding on Stony River Forest Road which has a nice Boreal Forest Bog. I had watched a Great Gray Owl female get fed by its mate over a number of days … a sure sign of nesting coming soon and nearby). Take a look at the map I provided immediately below. Inspection of Google in “satellite mode” convinced me to make the side trip. I did in fact discover one mile along the unnamed dirt road a large wetlands area and creek. This habitat was obvious when I zoomed in via Google Satellite Mode.
Now the bummer … Stony River Forest Road is closed because of a huge number of washouts. However, once the mosquito plague calms down a bit, I intend to take my gravel bike and ride! In just a few weeks it will be time for Great Gray Owlets to start exploring away from their nests. By bicycle I intend to be looking for the “gray ghosts of the forest”. Anyone else willing to invest some sweat equity, I will let you know that Great Gray Owls are likely nesting this year 2.6 and 4.9 miles north of Stony River Forest Road. My plan had been to hike the forest (bushwhack) looking for their nests, but the amount of water in the remote bogs combined with mosquitoes immediately stopped that plan this year.
Last week we had a 7+ inch rainstorm in this region. Take another look at the map provided above. In the lower left hand corner of the map there is a lake named “Sullivan Lake”, or at least ten days ago there was a lake with this name. Apparently the lake was formed back around 1905 when an earthen logging dam was built. This structure blew out and thus the lake disappeared last week. I visited the boat launch … such that it is / was yesterday morning a bit after sunrise. The temperature was 38F at 6:20 am. Welcome to my world!
Just remember Google only “remaps” their service with new satellite imagery on an occasional basis, particularly in remote areas.
Sullivan Lake Boat Launch Blow Out (what remains of the lake is hundreds of yards distant … most of the land seen via this image was under 5 to 15 feet of water two weeks ago)