Tag Archives: MN North: Canosia Wildlife Area

Steam Shovel Sally

Birds nest in unusual places, and “Steam Shovel Sally” is a prime example of that fact. Yesterday morning was “Birding with Grampa”, and Sally performed and exceeded  my expectations. When one takes young children birding (at their request) it is important to have fun, and not spend a long time in the field. I figured “Steam Shovel Sally” would appeal given the location of the nest (at the top of an antiquated old steam shovel). Ospreys are cool big birds, and Sally flew around for us several times … stooping into the nest. We topped off our birding excursion with breakfast at McDonalds and a Merlin landing only 30 feet from us while that falcon hunted at the mouth of the Lester River.

Right now I am waiting to hear sounds from my grandkids, then its off to look for our local beaver. I am including one more image of my young American Kestrel from one of last week’s birding trips. I finally had the opportunity to process the photograph.

Do you speak Great Blue Heron?

Google Translate is a great benefit for those of us with limited ability to speak additional languages, but sometimes what is being said is painfully obvious! As in yesterday, when I visited a Great Blue Heron Rookery, here is what was being said …

Breakfast Arriving!

Feed Me!

Say Please!

I also had some fun watching this Yellow-Shafted Flicker taking a dust bath (movie link)

Birding Never Stops!

Eventually you’ll see some nice images from the Great Blue Heron rookery I visited this morning. Standing in a swamp for 2 hours helps one gain an immense appreciation for bug repellent! However, this post is about the topic “Never Stop Birding!” On the way home from the rookery, I needed to stop for gasoline. My fuel station of choice was the Kwik Trip on Rice Lake Road in Duluth. While pumping gas along with 20 of my closest friends, I heard a killdeer. Who cares that a highway ditch along a busy highway may not be my chosen birding location. Thankfully, I always have my super zoom camera in the car. I parked my car away from the pumps and proceeded to bird Kwik Trip.

This image resulted. The location looks like a meadow in the middle of nowhere, but looks are deceiving. I already gave you the location. Do you always have an ear tuned to bird song, and your brain always registering birds even when you are not birding? I do!

I was actually crawling around on the gas station’s lawn trying to take this photograph. I’m sure other patrons thought I was crazy, and could not figure what I thought was so interesting. My goal was to capture the lupine and the killdeer in the same photo. Crawling was required such that I would not scare the bird.

Killdeer and Lupine … Rice Lake Road in Duluth

Killdeer on Nest (Cloverland, Wisconsin)