Tag Archives: WI North: Richard Bong Airport

American Three-Toed Woodpecker (times two!)

Year 5,

In bird speak, today’s bird was lifer. However, what is better than finding one new bird for the first time in your life? Two! Yes, after slogging through the deep snow in the Boreal Bog, stopping frequently to let my ears be my guide, I finally heard a the telltale tapping. Following the the route indicated by my ears I struck pay dirt. After watching one American Three-Toed Woodpecker for about ten minutes, I suddenly realized another bird was tapping away about 15 yards behind me. Number two!

I found these two birds about 400 yards in from Blue Spruce Road in a dead-fall area (Warren Nelson Bog) … directly in from the logged trees. I originally used the snowshoe trail but saw nada, Bushwhacking north eventually found me my goal. About 20 minutes later a local guide arrived with his group. He had followed the same snowshoe path and then a Black Backed Woodpecker into the dead-fall area. His group had 10+ people from California and Texas. I made polite conversation and commented about how warm it was outside (22F). They did not believe I was serious about its being warm outside. LOL!

My other stops yielded some nice birds. The Sharp-Tailed Grouse LEK on Racek Road was full of birds at 8:45 am. These grouse are already starting to think love in the dead of winter. Here is an image I took of a Sharpie I found feeding near-bye about an hour later.

The Sharp-Tailed Grouse was not my only “chicken like’ bird find. While exiting the bog I almost drove over this Ruffed Grouse. Dumb bird! Move off the road!

Finally, while I was not looking for Great Gray Owls, and was actually driving too fast to normally spot these owls (30 mph) as I moved between birding locations, my friendly neighborhood owls insisted I could not ignore them! Here is a photo of one of the two GGO’s found this morning.

Oh yes, yesterday afternoon I decided to go and look for Snowy Owls in Superior, Wisconsin. I only found one during nice light, but when 4 pm rolled around and the sun ducked behind some clouds, the Snowies came out. In total I saw five! I took this photo just before some crows chased this owl away.

Snowy Owl in a Snow Storm!

Year 5,

A winter storm hit the Duluth area this morning. Wind driven snow is being blown out of the Northwest at 29 mph. Now most people might think these are lousy conditions for birding, but for me it just increases the challenge. Since in Duluth photographing a polar bear in a blizzard is impossible, I looked for the next best thing … a Snowy Owl. I will admit a bit of luck was involved in capturing this image. The wind and snow abated a touch for a few minutes, and during this respite the owl I was watching telegraphed to me it was about to take off. The strong wind meant of was able to take quite a few photographs as the bird had to flap its wings quite a few times to get moving forward.

Before the storm hit last night I went up the shore a bit and found this Great Gray Owl hunting at sunset. Although the light conditions were very dark due to the heavy clouds and light freezing rain, I was still able to get some neat images. Don’t be afraid to run the ISO up on your camera. These owl photographs were taken with an ISO of 3,200. In both the flight shot for each owls, the wings are a bit blurry. This adds to the impression of motion, but it is important to still have image focused correctly … in this case the eyes.

Car 54, Where Are You?

Year 5

Hunting along the shores of Traverse Bay, Michigan! Yup, Snowy Owl #25 has been found this past Christmas two years after it spent the winter in the Northland, mainly over in Superior, Wisconsin. The good folks of the Traverse Bay area got smart and when Snowy #25 was first found by Gerry Erickson, these birders did a reverse Google image search (at least I assume that is how they found me). I in turn made certain that this information was passed along to the person who bands Snowy Owls in the Duluth area.

Unlike many birds, Snowy Owls are nomads. These owls breed up near the Arctic Ocean, but their nests may be hundreds of miles apart in subsequent summers. Somehow the Snowies learn where there are lemmings, their primary food up north, and nest in the vicinity. Thus, when it is time to head south for the winter, these same owls can end up in dramatically different locations. Two years ago Snowy #25 was at the Head of the Lakes on Lake Superior. This winter the same owl is wintering 348 air miles away over on Lake Michigan.  If you would like to learn more about Snowy Owl research, please visit Project Snow Storm.

Finally, many of you will not remember the TV sitcom, Car 54, Where Are You. It was in reruns even when I was a young boy, and that was a long time ago! To further your TV education, here are two links about Car 54 … Wikipedia and an Episode via YouTube.

Snowy Owl #25 … my thanks for Michael Jorae for having contacted me, and Gerry Erickson who originally found the owl.

  • My post from two years ago: Spectre and two images (pre banded and banded). I know it is the same bird because of markings and it was using the same exact fence down to the pole for a perch.
  • eBird Report from the Traverse Bay area on Dec. 24, 2017 (Snowy Owl #25).