Tag Archives: MN North: Duluth

Spark Birds and Winter Gloves

Year 9

This post is a potpourri of stuff. While driving north back to Minnesota, Molly and I often listened to podcasts. Our favorites tended to be How I Built This and This American Life. Yesterday afternoon I learned about “Spark Birds” via This American Life. I was not familiar with the term, but basically a Spark Bird is the bird that helped you personally get hooked on bird. A Spark Bird need not be exotic. What bird was your Spark Bird?

For me the bird was a Blue Jay. While hiking in the woods as a young child I heard a noise which I could not even identify as even being a bird. The sound was not a typical “jay song”; perhaps it was the “musical queedle-queddle” described by my IBird Pro app… Regardless, the sound made this young boy hike deep into a thicket where I discovered the source of the song, a Blue Jay. I was now hooked on birding.

My Spark Bird: The Blue Jay

In the Spark Bird episode of This American Life, the famous birder Noah Strycker, talks about his Spark Bird … a 13 minute interview about his love of Black Vultures! The National Wildlife Federation also has a neat article from late last Summer about folks and their Spark Birds.

Now the other part of this post … finding warm winter gloves. A number of you suggested battery powered heated gloves which I tried a few years ago. When the heating system failed on a cold day, I vowed to only use natural materials. I may be overly cautious. I’m sure these types of gloves have improved.

I also received an email from Robert H. who recommended I read a recent post by Bryan Hansel about Winter gloves. Somehow I had missed Bryan’s recent post n gloves, but interestingly enough I already have a pair of gloves on order which are reviewed by Bryan. If you don’t know Bryan Hansel, he is a fantastic photographer who lives up in the Grand Marais area. Should you ever want to increase your photography skills, Bryan teaches both “in person” and “online” photography seminars. Check out his web site.

Finally, like myself, Bryan lives in northeastern Minnesota. He understands severely cold weather. Most of the reviews for products on Amazon and other websites are well intentioned, but from people who don’t truly experience super cold weather. In NE Minnesota it is likely that at some point in the winter the mercury will plunge to -30F or worse (not including chill factor).

Once again, What was your Spark Bird and Why? Leave a comment.

Bog Birding! (Great Gray Owl and more …)

Year 1, ,

What a great way to start a fantastic day! I watched by myself this Great Gray Owl hunt right at sunrise yesterday morning. Our fun ended about twenty minutes later when a Bald Eagle arrived on the scene … scaring the owl into the deep woods. My day only got better and better.

My next stop was the Welcome Center for some training and birding. I needed a refresher on procedures and the locations of all our materials at the Center. My first attempt at volunteering was snowed out about one week ago. I then proceeded to hike Gray Jay Way. While I did not find my desired Boreal Chickadees, I saw Evening Grosbeaks, Gray Jays (of course), Redpolls, and this female Pine Grosbeak (and even more bird species). The weather was glorious. The temperature hovered around freezing, and nary a breath of wind stirred in the woods as the bright sun shone down of the beautiful white snowscape.

I took one more hike at the South Logging Trail hoping I might find a Northern Hawk Owl back away from McDavitt Road, but no luck. On my way out of the Bog I stopped at Winterberry Bog to do some volunteering and check to see if the Ermine was enjoying the deer carcass (not yesterday afternoon).

Rather than going directly home, given the temperature was approaching 40F (crazy warm), and there still was not an ounce of wind, I drove straight to Superior. My hope was the non existent wind and warm weather would result in my finding a Snowy Owl out long before sunset … enjoying the nice conditions. I was not disappointed!

When you have an itch on top of your head!

The claw!

Just hanging out … being weird … or a normal Snowy Owl! 

Finally, if you are still with me, and you are worried about rising food prices … particularly the cost of your holiday Turkey. I know where you may find a wild bird!

Some commentary … while it is true that you may run into crowds at some of the more popular locations (Hwy 7, Admiral Road, etc) while trying to find the Gray Ghost of the Forest (Great Gray Owl), Sax-Zim Bog is huge. I rarely saw other people yesterday except at the Welcome Center and Winterberry Bog. My private time with the owl resulted because I invested the time and effort to find a bird in the less popular locations. One may easily enjoy peace and solitude in the Bog.

Glensheen Christmas!

Background, Year 8

Earlier this week I attended Glensheen’s Photoshoot. This is another of my off topic posts, but if you are birding northeast Minnesota this holiday season, a visit to Duluth’s Downton Abbey should be on your agenda. Most of this post’s text is from a blog entry dated two years ago, but the images are from both years. However, for those of you who want birds, stay tuned. I spent quality time with Pine Grosbeaks and crabapples this afternoon! Post coming.

In the early 1900’s Duluth was home to one of the largest concentrations per capita of millionaires in the United States. Between the Mining, Railroad and Lumber Barons, this town was a hopping place where fortunes were made (and occasionally lost!). On the shores of Lake Superior in Duluth you will find the mansion of one of these magnates, Glensheen (now owned by the University of Minnesota Duluth). Chester Congdon was the owner of this beautiful home on the shores of Lake Superior. A small creek, Tischer Creek, runs through the estate grounds, but as a boy growing up in Duluth I only knew the stream by its local name, Congdon Creek.

While everyone from out of town seems to know about Duluth’s HUGE harborfront holiday lights display named Bentleyville, Glensheen now hosts an equally impressive Christmas display including Park Point resident’s Marsha Hale’s famous white lights. Unlike at Bentleyville, while at Glensheen when you get cold outside, you may then go inside and enjoy Glensheen’s indoor decorations! The mansion is truly decked out for the holidays both inside and out.

One final note, growing up both my wife and I always wanted to live down on the shores of Gitche Gumee just like Chester Congdon. Now older, and a few years wiser, we like our home 800 yards inland on Amity Creek across from the The Deeps waterfall. We are somewhat protected from the lake’s cruel winds!  🙂

Christmas Lights at Glensheen

Outside

Inside

Molly and Rich … on the grounds