Tag Archives: MN North: French River

56,038 Blue Jays Can’t Be Wrong!

Year 8,

Last year on September 22nd I wrote a post titled, 48,056 Blue Jays Can’t Be Wrong! This was the official count from Hawk Ridge, which is near my house. In fact, it was a record year for jays. Well, 2021 has now outdone 2020. The count as of this morning, September 26th is 56,038. If you like the color blue, you should be happy. It is a Blue Jay Bonanza.

Even though my yard has Blue Jays present all the time, I went birding yesterday afternoon to find Blue Jays (I know, sounds stupid). Not too surprisingly I was successful. My two stops were Stoney Point (a location that sticks out into Lake Superior near Knife River, Minnesota … a good migration stop) and the new public feeders at my church, French River Lutheran Church.

These first three images are taken at a small patch of sunflowers I found near the intersection of Alseth and Stoney Point Drive.

A Close-Up

Student Body

A Red-Breasted Nuthatch insisted on having its photograph taken. The bird reminded me of question I was asked by a young child while I was doing a public bird book reading at the library … “Why do nuthatches walk upside down?” I did not know the answer, but you can “bet your sweet bippy” I learned that fact immediately. The answer is by walking upside down on the trunk of a tree, nuthatches gain a perspective of finding bugs not seen by other birds. Very intelligent!

Next Birding Seminar: Sunday Evening, November 3rd

Background

Snowy Owls and More … Birding the Northland this Winter! (free talk)

Ever wanted to view a Snowy Owl at close quarters in the Port Cities? Or watch a Great Gray Owl hunting on the Northshore?  Or see colorful winter finches and waxwings? If you answered yes to any of these questions, come to French River Lutheran Church on Sunday evening, November 3rd at 6:30 PM. Rich Hoeg, a volunteer naturalist at the Sax-Zim Bog winter birding wilderness 40 miles NW of Duluth will give a free birding talk on finding our feathered friends in the Northland this winter. With Q &A the talk will be 60 minutes in length.

There is no fee or advance registration to attend this event. Just show up! Light refreshments will be served.

Note: French River Lutheran Church is located between the Two Harbors Expressway and Scenic 61 on Ryan Road, which is two miles past McQuade Harbor coming from Duluth.

Friends Don’t Let Birds Fly Drunk!

Year 5, ,

It is the season for drunk birds. We’ve had cold weather including snow and significantly sub freezing temperatures. The end result is the Mountain Ash berries when birds eat them tend to ferment in their gullets. As a young boy I would watch drunk Evening Grosbeaks in our yard. Today I found drunk Robins. Hundreds, if not thousands of Robins were migrating down the North Shore of Lake Superior. At the mouth of the French River there was an extremely popular Mountain Ash tree. Here are a few images:

Underneath the tree I found this Swainson’s Thrush. As first I thought it was picking up sloppy seconds (berries knocked off the tree by all the Robins). However the thrush proved me wrong by finding a nice juicy grub.

My morning actually started up at Sax-Zim Bog. While the Tamarack Pine needles were golden, the birds were not in evidence except these few wild turkeys.

McDavitt Crossing

Wild Turkeys

The rest of the “fall color” photographs are from my own yard and were taken yesterday afternoon. It was a gloomy day, but I finally got some bright clouds.

Blue Jay … White Throated Sparrow … White Crowned Sparrow … Dark Eyed Junco … Fox Sparrow