Snow Buntings! This Arctic bird signals the end of the southern songbird migration for another year. While we will still have northern raptors which will migrate into and through NE Minnesota, for songbirds Snow Buntings represent the end.
I LOVE snow buntings. Do you have birds that for no particular reason are favorites? Welcome to the club! Some day I would be thrilled to see a snow bunting in its breeding plumage (almost pure white) up on the Arctic Ocean, but I suspect that day will never arrive. Here is this cute bird’s range map courtesy of Cornell’s All About Birds.
I am lucky to have discovered the leading edge of the Snow Bunting migration. Within a week the buntings will be flying through our area in large flocks, which are impossible to approach. One bird out of a 100+ flock will decide you are a threat, and boom … the entire flock flushes. Thankfully I found just two birds together and was very careful!
Snow Buntings are also one of the most difficult birds to photograph. Their winter plumage with shades of white, brown and black against dull golden brown grasses makes getting a good focus lock extremely difficult. Snow Buntings will also lead the charge back north in early February, long before winter’s end. Thankfully the buntings are a bit easier to photograph against a background of snow … assuming one can find them!
The last two days have been sunny, and warm. While most people understand that this time of year means get outside and enjoy Indian Summer with its beautiful foliage, here in northern Minnesota there is a second season of color. After the leaves fall, needles of Tamarack Pines turn brilliantly golden. Unlike most pines and evergreens, Tamarack needles will fall to the ground within a few weeks leaving the tree bare till next Spring.
During the first week or two of the “golden time”, the early morning or late afternoon sun increases the gold to an intensity which needs to be seen to be believe. Better yet, up here in the Northland the sun now does rise super high in the sky. Thus, light tends to not get washed out like midday in the summer. In fact, I consider November 1st to the end of January … 3 months … to be the eternal Golden Hour!
To get an idea of the Golden Time, watch these two videos. The first was taken during a walk in the Greenwood Creek Boreal Forest. The drive was a sample of Stoney River Forest Road … both late in the day yesterday afternoon.
Video’s embedded immediately below for readers of the blog
The Hike
The Drive
Now this is a blog about birds. Thus, here are a few samples (a lot of samples from my hikes and drives over the past two days). Yesterday I was in the Greenwood Boreal Forest. This morning I birded Sax-Zim Bog. The two areas are about 70 miles distance from each other, but my home is located at a central point to the two wilderness areas.
Bald Eagle Time!
Canada Jay (Gray Jay … Whiskey Jack … etc.)
Grouse Time (was always at sunrise but during ground fog)
Ruffed Grouse Courting his Lady Friend (in October??!)
And the mating dance video (video link for email subscribers)
And the other grouse … the Spruce Grouse. Believe it or not yesterday morning I saw 14 spruce grouse. There are images of males, females … and even up in a Tamarack Pine.
And to end this post and put icing on the cake, I found a somewhat rare … definitely hard to find Black-Backed Woodpecker near the Greenwood Bog during my hike yesterday afternoon. I first heard the woodpecker drilling, and I thought the rhythm of its tapping just did not sound like a Hairy, Downey or Pileated. Thus, I left the trail and bushwhacked. Better yet when I found this woodpecker, it was a male … which means the “golden spot of its head” How very appropriate for this post. I already knew I would do a golden theme blog post, and this bird really fit the billing!
It is worth noting these are all “local birds”. Our crazy warm weather w/o and North or Northwest winds has keep most of the migrating arctic birds still to our north.
Folks should know by now I love to spend time north of Two Harbors, which includes the Greenwood Boreal Bog and Bird Feeders. There are many reasons I love this region about 40 miles north of Two Harbors, but one HUGE reason is within minutes of leaving my home the drive has little traffic, and I get to enjoy scenery which starts with the pre-dawn light over Lake Superior. As I turn inland at Two Harbors traffic drops to almost zero as I drive north through the Boreal Forest.
Yesterday to my west I realized the full moon was both beautiful and setting into the wilderness. I quickly realize the moon would be perfectly situated low in the sky at a favorite vantage point of mine, the Langley River. Thirty minutes before sunrise I pulled over and enjoyed moonset!
Langley River Moonset
Langley River during other seasons! (Winter – Summer – Late Fall)
After enjoying the full moon I continued north where during the 15-20 minutes around sunrise, the Spruce Grouse came out onto Stoney River Forest Road to grit up. I saw six but this individual really let me get close!
Can you tell I am happy to be back out in the woods with a clean bill of health!
