Hospital Birds

Year 7
Surreal. Being awakened at 3 am in a hospital bed because the battery on your heart monitor has failed. As I slowly woke up I found myself looking up into the eyes of a nurse with a flashlight. The reason for the heart monitor and hospital, I have problems. Thursday afternoon I collapsed / blacked out while trail running (Oct. 14). After recovering enough while lying on the ground, with the help of a Good Samaritan I was able to hike slowly down to the Lester Playground parking lot. After an ambulance ride to hospital I am now in St. Mary’s (Duluth) having had many tests, with more tests on Monday. Heart surgery is almost a certainty in the near future. Posts will be few and far between for a while.
Shortly before my ill fated trail run, I took these images in my own yard. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker had been violently attacking another Red-Bellied all morning … defending my suet feeder.
This rare northern bird down from the Arctic also showed up to hunt songbirds … a Northern Shrike.

From three years ago exactly … saving Silver.

GPS Solar Array Bird Tracking

Year 7

The winter owling season approaches, and with that time of year many of us look forward to learning more about various owl species. Over the past several years Project Snowstorm has used small GPS Solar Array powered tracking bands to measure exactly where Snowy Owls go from their time in the northern United States to the Arctic for summer breeding. When a Snowy finally flies near a cell tower, even if months have passed, the owl phones home and its data is downloaded. Newer devices often communicate daily via satellite upload.

This winter we hope to put some of these high tech banding devices on Northern Hawk Owls (the owl on my banner). Are hawk owls breeding in Minnesota far from any roads deep in Bogs, or are our friends heading somewhere up in Canada (our best guess). The next question would be where are our winter owls breeding?

Here are some screenshots from eBird which track Snowy Owl reportings (not data downloads from Project Snowstorm). The screenshots demostrate how Snowies disappear from view during their migration … in the vast Canadian wilderness, but eventually reappear at which point their data tracks are downloaded.

October 2020 (Oct. 1 to 16 … essentially no owls)

October 2019 (entire month)

November 2019 (entire month)

Bluebirds and High Step Hiking!

Year 7
I had to drive down and back from Duluth to the Twin Cities yesterday for my eye treatment (all going well). On the way home I stopped as I often do at the Fish Lake Nature Trails in East Bethel for a “quick bird”. I love this spot, not just for the Red-Headed Woodpeckers, but for all the other birds I often see at this super savannah and prairie grass habitat. As Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz: “You’re not in Kansas anymore!” This is NOT the Boreal forest habitat where I live in northern Minnesota. Thus, different birds.
Anyhow, I totally lost count of the number of Bluebirds (150+) I saw yesterday afternoon. Given the strong winds, which seemed to be out of the WSW I suspect they will still be around this morning. The path from the parking lot to the lake trail was a favorite.
High Step Hiking!
It’s still 20 minutes before from sunrise, and I am already back from my first birding expedition of the day. I was out in the pitch dark wondering if my owl family would say hello. I was rewarded in Spades! After some “high step hiking” (in the dark you need to step highly to avoid stumbling over unseen roots and deadfall), I arrived on location. As if being cued by a Hollywood director, at least four of five owls starting their pre-dawn owl song for me. The parents were hooting their love back and forth (easily distinguishable due to the different pitch of their song), and at least two young were present … screeching and begging to be fed. It was hard to determine if all three triplet Great Horned Owl juveniles were around. I need the youngsters to beg at almost the same time . I triangulate the location of each bird by their calls, which assumes they don’t move. It was fun to say hello once again to the Amity Owls.  Quite frankly I am amazed the youngsters have not yet been kicked out of the territory by the parents. My only speculation is hunting at the edge of Duluth must be good.