One thing I like about visiting Sax-Zim Bog is immediately south of the bog are farms and meadows. This allow the visitor to enjoy both forest and grassland birds with minimal driving. Yesterday before I enjoyed watching the Great Gray Owl, I birded the grasslands just after sunrise. This year there is a special treat … Dickcissels. These pretty little birds are in an irruption year. Most years we do not see them in northern Minnesota. This year it seems like they are hanging out in any large meadow or farm field. Still, everyone has their favorite locations, including me. I spent an hour driving a very small stretch of Dart Road (just west of Cty 29), and Racek Road (leading east from Cty 29 … only a few hundred yards to the north). On these stretch of roads I see Bobolinks, an occasional Meadowlark, and not lots of Dickcissels. Later in the summer it is not unusual for me to find a Northern Harrier also hunting the fields (this raptor is a favorite of mine).

Finally, the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center is open this summer from 10 am to 3 pm. You’ll find the Welcome Center a bit north of where I was watching birds yesterday.

Dickcissel

Eastern Kingbird

Broad Winged Hawk

One final pic from my recent trip to Seattle. While Great Blue Herons are common in northern Minnesota, this individual let me get amazingly close.

In addition, this Pileated Woodpecker visits my yard most afternoons. I have been taking lots of hikes in an attempt to find its hole. The young should fledge soon. In addition to my bird feeders, my yard is woodpecker friendly. Unless a dead tree threatens my house, I never take down dead trees … woodpecker food and habitat.

I left the house a few minutes before 5 am this morning and drove to Sax-Zim Bog. Today is the longest day of the year in terms of sunlight, and I felt after yesterday’s ugly rain and cold, today’s sunlight should be enjoyed! Apparently I was not the only one with this idea as I found a Great Gray Owl exercising its hunting rights in the early morning sun. Given the owl could not have hunted yesterday (owls will not hunting in hard, driving rain), the bird was hungry, out after sunrise, and even willing to put up with the increasing northwest wind. However, I did notice all of its hunting perches were somewhat blocked from the wind … smart owl as it makes hearing mice and voles much easier. (owl hunting video link for email subscribers)

Okay … summer is still one month away, and last year we actually had snow during late May. Regardless, the summer bug eating birds have reappeared and are looking for mates. One of those birds is a Bobolink.

When I was a young boy in the 1960’s, bobolinks were one of the birds in my National Geographic Song and Garden Birds of North America book which I most wanted to see. However growing up in the Boreal Forest meant seeing a bobolink was a pipe dream. Although my parents liked birds, none of us knew about Sax-Zim Bog (only 35 minutes away). This book moved with me to prep school (Exeter), college (Dartmouth), my job in the Twin Cities (Honeywell), and finally back to Duluth! Some books are worth keeping! I think the combination of this book and our two bird feeders drove my interest in birds. What made you become interested in birding???

Make certain to read the comments to this post. Folks are starting to add how they became interested in birds!

Yesterday morning I had a grand time watching and listening to Bobolinks. Not many females are yet back in northern Minnesota, but the males were singing up a storm (email subscribers view / listen to this bobolink video). All the birds in this post were seen yesterday in the non Boreal portion of Sax-Zim Bog.

Bobolinks

Eastern Kingbird

The Sandhill Crane Family (wait for me!!!)