Tag Archives: MN North: Hawk Ridge

Superior Sunrise Biking and Birding

Year 5, ,

A sunrise on Lake Superior is fantastic. A better sunrise on Lake Superior is one experienced on a bicycle while birding. This morning I left my home at 6:30 intent on getting some exercise while at the same time keeping an eye out for wildlife.

My path was to bike up Scenic 61. On an early Saturday morning the highway is essentially a big bike path. A car might come by every ten minutes. Thus, wildlife viewing opportunities can be numerous. In addition to a large number of deer, I spied this red fox hanging out in some purple lupine, and then down on the rocks.

When I returned to the mouth of the Lester River, I hiked down into the ravine and found this Common Merganser family busily at work finding breakfast.

It was a great morning to bike and bird!

Morning on the Ridge!

Year 5

Yesterday I started to head to my favorite wetlands in Wisconsin, but when I reached Lake Superior (only 600 yards from my house) and looked across the lake, it looked like fog had socked in NW Wisconsin. Not wanting to leave my beautiful clear blue sky area, I quickly adjusted. For ten minutes I watched six Common Mergansers at the Mouth of the Lester River, and then headed up to Hawk Ridge.

Early Morning Mergansers

While Hawk Ridge is known for its raptor migration, in the Summer it is a great place for songbirds. Two birds which rarely come out of the deep cover, were kind enough to pose for my camera. Both birds first attracted my presence by their early morning song.

Common Yellowthroat

Catbird

My good luck continued this morning during a trip to Sax-Zim Bog. While I have no photographs, I saw my first ever Black Fox. I did not even know this coloration of a red fox existed. I needed to talk within someone who had more knowledge that me to confirm what I had seen with my eyes. I measured exactly the distance to a particular landmark such that I have this foxes territory now defined! Cool!

The Season of Song!

Year 5

After the extreme quiet that pervades the forest in the winter, the sound and song in the woods is fantastic on this Summer Solstice Day! This morning up at Hawk Ridge (2 miles from my house) this Song Sparrow demanded I take its photograph, and not an image of the Chestnut Sided Warbler which was also sharing the pine. I agreed!

Upon getting home, I birded my own forest using my ears once again. A squawking easily caught my attention and I was rewarded with watching two Yellow-Shafted Flickers attack a crow. Given the intensity of the attack, I knew their nest hole had to be nearby. Thus, I quietly waited and watched. Ten minutes later I was rewarded and discovered their home. The chicks have obviously hatched, but are not yet big enough to look out the hole and demand food. That day will come. This nest hole means I am now monitoring two woodpecker holes (also a Red-Bellied Woodpecker pair) within 150 yards of my front door. Now if I could find the Pileated Woodpecker hole!

Are enjoying the Season of Sound? The best birding right now involves hiking to new locations and then stopping to listen for extended periods of time. The birds will tell you where they are if you are willing to listen!