Tag Archives: MN South: Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge

Birds With Long Legs!

Year 5, , ,

Over the past three days I seem to have acquired the urge to watch birds with long legs! There has been some method to my madness as during the first two days of the period I was down in the Minneapolis area, and I wanted to see some Great Egrets … a bird which is quite rare in NE Minnesota. Thus, I focused upon wetlands at sunrise, and I was rewarded with being able to watch six different Great Egrets. Arriving at these wetlands before 6 am insures that even though I was birding in a major metropolitan area, I had the trails to myself. This fact insures other folks do not scare the birds I seek, and just maximizes my enjoyment. However, I have found even on urban trails, if one finds “non popular” trails you are rewarded with more bird sightings. Given herons and egrets spook easily, this rule is important. My two wetland areas were the “Plymouth Wetlands” (series of ponds in off Zachary Lane north of Schmidt Lake Road) and Wood Lake Nature Center.

I actually did visit the Plymouth wetlands again in mid afternoon. While the time of day is not great for photography, I was rewarded with watching this Great Egret fish.

On the way home to Duluth I swung up to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge … once again arriving around 6 am. It was interesting to visit earlier in the season as the marsh grass is not grown up yet. My major fun was watching some Sandhill Cranes from very close. Eventually I had to leave Wildlife Drive due to a prairie grass burn which was about to start that morning.

When I got home to Duluth I was amazed to find a temperature of 87F at my home. However, Lake Superior took over within a few hours and the winds shifted from the SW to blowing out of the NE off the big lake. In 45 minutes the temperature dropped from 87F to 45F! I figured no bird in their right mind would fight the strong wind and the migration northward would stop immediately. Thus I drove down to Park Point and found a lot of Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings dancing in the waves … trying to eat. These birds are on their way up to the Arctic, but stopped in Duluth right now. Here are a few of the Ruddy Turnstones. Thus my day ended with some short legged shore birds!

Sherburne National Wildlife Preserve: Cygnets!

Year 4,

Molly and I took a quick overnight trip down to the Twin Cities, which meant before sunrise yesterday I drove northwest to visit the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. This wildlife refuge / extensive wetlands is about 40 miles NW of Minneapolis, and has a “wildlife drive” which allows one great access. If you go, make certain to arrive at sunrise. You will have better viewing opportunities, and few people around.

Although I was at Sherburne for birding, I had to immediately stop and enjoy the gorgeous prairie grasses. Wild Lupine were in full bloom. This native lupine is smaller than the flower which is normally seen along roadsides in the Northland. The low light / golden hour meant I was presented with a sea of blue, gold and green! Birding had to wait!

After my prairie experience, it was on to birding. The most exciting discovery of the morning was a Trumpeter Swan with newly hatched chicks / cygnets. It was fun to enjoy the young birds enjoy the morning sun.

While watching the Trumpeter Swans, the surrounding reeds suddenly became inundated with new birds. Black Terns and Yellow Headed Blackbirds which I did not even know were present, irrupted into both song and flight. It was fantastic.

To top off the morning in another pond, I had fun watching this Great Blue Heron hunt for breakfast while a male Wood Duck looked on …

Finally two more “blossom” photos from my Saturday morning outing to the Roy Johnson Wetlands. I love this time of year!

Birding with Grandpa!

Year 4

My six year old grandson is taking over my blog today and posting the bird photographs HE TOOK while birding with me, Grandpa, yesterday morning at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge.

It is important to teach the younger generation a love for nature. From an early age all of my grandchildren (four to date) have enjoyed Grandpa’s bird feeders. When visiting, they enjoy seeing from a very short distance (our window seat) all kinds of brightly colored birds about which I am only to happy to point out and give quick mini lectures. Recently I was pleased to learn from my daughter that my oldest two grandchildren, ages 5 and 6, now often talk about birds around their own home. This discovery led me to take the oldest yesterday on a birding / photography expedition. Here are some of my “own ground rules” which I believe led to a very successful outing:

  • Wildlife Drive was a great location for our trip. It allowed us to use the car to see lots of birds, but still get out of the car often enough to “get the wiggles out”.
  • We arrived early, leaving the house at 6:30 am. This early arrival insured birds were active and almost no other cars had disturbed the birds. We often saw sandhill cranes and pheasants less than ten yards ahead of the car on the road.
  • A one way “slow” dirt road allowed Ben to sit up front when we arrived at Sherburne. I don’t think he had ever been allowed to sit “up front”!
  • I gave him a camera and pair of binoculars to use as he desired, with me providing minimal instruction. I wanted him to enjoy the experience w/o Grandpa turning it into a major instructional session.
  • I quickly learning that ducks were not the most interesting bird to Ben. He has seen many, many mallards in his life, and to him the different kinds of ducks were hard to differentiate.
  • Color is important in terms of bird enjoyment for young children. He really liked Bluebirds, Red-Winged Blackbirds and Meadowlarks.

In total we saw 21 different species of birds. Ben enjoyed keeping a list of the birds. Here are is photographs.