Tag Archives: MN North: Sax-Zim Bog

Northland Life at -20F (-29C)

Year 6

It is -21F at 6:15 am as I type out this post. My yard birds, Mr. and Mrs. Great Horned Owls are hooting out their love. They will soon nest. While many of you may think life stops at temperatures this cold, we Northlanders take it all in stride, but make minor adjustments. Lake Superior is freezing over on the Duluth end of the big lake, and when the ice sheet forms completely Duluth will stop being an island of warmth (-38 in the Bog right now). For instance … yesterday I still took a workout and went Nordic skiing. However I waited till the mercury rose to -4F before skiing. My workout clothes had an extra layer of thermal protection.

This week I will be covering two fantastic area sporting events. Even I wonder how the participants survive their races. Today I will photograph the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race, which will see the mushers and dogs race up the shore from Duluth to Grand Portage. Monday and Tuesday I will be covering the Arrowhead 135 for the Lake Country Journal. These hardy athletes race 135 miles in an ultra marathon from International Falls to Vermilion Lake. Both races keep the participants out on the courses over night … at -40F (-40C). I get to sleep in a motel room and venture out at times to various spots in the forest to take photographs. Uff dah!

Oh yes, I still go birding at these temperatures, but I sometimes wait till it warms up a touch. My friend, Greg, and I drove over to Sax-Zim Bog on Friday afternoon. I wanted to introduce Greg to Fluffy! We also saw some some cool birds, among others our sightings included the Northern Hawk Owl, this Ruffed Grouse and Boreal Chickadee. The real question most people should want to answer … Do Boreal Chickadees prefer Jif or Skippy Peanut Butter?!

Another image of Fluffy!

Rabbits Beware! Snowy and Fluffy are Looking for You!

Year 6,

It was a great day in Sax-Zim Bog. While I had not been planning on making the 60 minute drive over to the Bog, when I reviewed the weather forecast and saw the mercury would be dipping down towards the -25F mark for the next week, and yesterday was a balmy 12F with no wind, I was Bog bound. Like all mornings I refilled my own bird feeders first … scaring aware the rabbit featured at the end of the post. Two weeks ago, I was scaring off three rabbits every morning, now only one. I suspect some of my bunnies may have fallen prey to my two yard birds (Mr. and Mrs. Great Horned Owl).

The rabbits in the bog have an equally difficult task, and I found two hunters yesterday afternoon … Fluffy the Bobcat and a Snowy Owl. First I had a private experience watching this Snowy Owl hunt. Most folks when they visit Sax-Zim Bog want to find Great Gray Owls, but for me having a private hunt with a Snowy Owl in a natural location was truly special.

After watching Snowy hunt, I met Fluffy! Do not mess with this Bobcat! 

Finally, while both hunters will take other prey, rabbits are a perfectly good meal!
(photograph taken through the window at 6 am … in the dark under flood lights)

Sax-Zim Bog Sunrise Owls (Snowy and Gray)

Year 6

The temperature was only -15F in Sax-Zim Bog this morning. Thus, I decided to take a walk at sunrise. I think the other birders who drove by me as I strolled down McDavitt Road may have thought I was crazy. Actually, when walking I can spot birds much more easily than from a moving car, but everyone thought it was a touch cool for a morning hike!

While I did not find anything on McDavitt, I did find (along with several other people) a new Snowy Owl which has appeared in the north part of the Bog. It’s a beauty! Here are two images I took not long after sunrise:

After some time with “Sleepy Snowy”, someone said there was a Great Gray Owl near by. I joined the exodous and by 8:30 was looking at my second owl of the morning (sunrise was 7:55 am).

Through the course of the day I kept returning to Snowy. I wondered if he might wake up and hunt. Nope. However, I did decide the owl presented the perfect opportunity to test the digital zoom on my new Canon SX70 camera. Said owl was way out in the field. From a strictly photography vantage point take a close look at the first image. I am using my the SX70 (released in early December) with digital zoom turned on. In the past with my Canon SX60 I never used digital zoom because the image quality really suffered.

With the SX70 on a bright day I have now found the results are pretty darn good … particularly if one considers the mobility I have with this camera. The optical zoom is 65x, and digital zoom doubles that reach to 130x (or 2730 mm which would be a HUGE lens). I did try taking some photos with digital zoom turned on when it was cloudy. Ugh. I did not like the results. I really needed the bright skies so I could shorten up the exposure. The “zoomed” image given above was taken at 1/1250th of a second at ISO 100.

While the SX60 had similar optics, the new camera has a new processor and operating system. Here is an image taken at the same time with digital zoom turned off.

Should you wish to see my other reviews of the Canon SX70, please follow this link.