Molly and arrived home from Costa Rica at noon on Tuesday, and only 60 minutes later I was back in the car driving to Greenwood Creek in the Superior National Forest. One might ask why someone would get back on the road only one hour after spending a day getting home from Costa Rica (flying and driving). The answer is simple, this region of Northeastern Minnesota is special.

Most of the land near my birdfeeders is owned by The Nature Conservancy, and is part of Sand Lake / Seven Beavers Project. I invite you to follow the link in the prior sentence and learn about what makes this land special, and a significant initiative for The Nature Conservancy (learn more about The N.C. Minnesota Chapter). More importantly there is a HUGE parcel of land near Greenwood Creek that The Nature Conservancy is working towards the purchase. I am obviously both a supporter of this local initiative, and also a donor. The Conservancy is using some of my photographs and trailcam videos for their Seven Beavers fundraising efforts (obviously w/o charge from me). Browse back to this post of mine to see some of the video snippets, and better yet … donate to the Sand Lake / Seven Beavers land purchase!

As I mentioned, I immediately visited this jewel of a location … leaving only one hour after returning home from Costa Rica. The birds welcomed me back, including this pair of Black-Backed Woodpeckers that were foraging within a couple of hundreds yards of the feeders. One needs to recognize Black-Backs by their distinctive tapping as they forage This species of woodpeckers never visits bird feeders.

Black-Backed Woodpecker (male)

Female (note … no yellow patch on head)

The Movie (middle 8 seconds in slow motion)(video link for email subscribers)

Sparky, who is both a friend and and the Executive Director of the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog visited my Greenwood Creek Bird Feeders a few days ago. Sparky has has a video series named “Shooting with Sparky”. While a large number of his videos focus upon Minnesota birding, he has both visited and documented birding excursions from the Rio Grande River to Hudson’s Bay. (Links to Sparky’s Blog  and YouTube Channel)

His latest effort was a late winter birding trip into the Superior National Forest, which included a stop at my very remote feeders. Folks should watch his latest video (video link for email subscribers)

While I didn’t cross paths with Sparky at my feeders, I’ve also went up to Greenwood a few days ago. While it may seem like Spring because of the warm weather in the rest of Minnesota, deep in the boreal forest of northeastern Minnesota winter still rules! Here are some photographs I took of Common Redpolls. While my feeders were only a few feet away from these small finches which were working their way back north into Canada, the birds chose ignore my feeders and feast upon natural food that was becoming plentiful on the forest floor due to melting snow.

Common Redpolls (last image is a female)

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

In closing I think most folks know I have been a volunteer at Sax-Zim Bog for over ten years. While many people may think of the Bog only as a birding area, the primary focus of the Friends organization has been habitat preservation and research. Under Sparky’s leadership the Friends organization has purchased and saved for future generations thousands of acres of critical habitat. The research insures we understand how to keep nature available for our children.

On a lighter note, I have actually known Sparky’s family for much longer than the time I have been a volunteer at Sax-Zim Bog. I first met Sparky’s parents through our mutual Lutheran church. His parents made sure I did not “mess up” when I volunteered / worked at our annual lutefisk dinner!!! In addition Sparky’s Mom, Connie, always made certain my children got first chance to watch any new VeggieTales video that arrived in the church library. Uff Dah … who needs birds to define a friendship when one already has a relationship built upon children’s videos and lutefisk?!