Tag Archives: MN North: Stony Point

Meet Me at Lester River!

Year 9,

Lester River has finally turned on! Our huge snowfalls and rains meant the river flow has been extremely high this spring / summer, but with August approaching the current speed has finally fallen to late summer velocities. The end result is food may finally be more easily found within the river … for fishing and bug eating birds. This morning when the sun rose high enough in the sky to start kissing the ravine’s river bottom (about 7:30 am), feeding got real busy.

One wants to bird on the “non lake” side … not the mouth of the river on the Lake Superior side of the highway. If traffic is difficult, use the Lakewalk tunnel to safely pass under the road. Your birding should be two fold. First use the overlooks and viewpoints next to the ravine to scope things out. I quickly determined three young kingfisher chicks were demanding to be fed, and the local cedar waxwing population was ambusing bugs from tree tops and branches. Activity slowed down by 9 am.

Cedar Waxwing’s

Belted Kingfisher

Hooded Merganser (female w/o much of a hood … perhaps a juvenile)

A Merlin Surveys the Area and Scouts for Breakfast at Stoney Point

Winter’s Last Gasps – Fluff Watch

Year 9,

This morning I am awaiting a new winter storm which will dominate our region for the next two days … rain, sleet, snow and ice plus 40+ mph winds. Yesterday afternoon when it was just plain windy (32 mph winds), I hiked over to visit Amy, the Great Horned Owl Mom. Each year, I start my official “fluff watch” on March 23rd. The owlets may have already hatched, but for the first seven plus days the youngsters will be under mom 100% of the time. Here are a few seconds of windblown Mom (video link for email subscribers)

I did stop and watch The Deeps waterfall on Amity Creek during my afternoon hike. It lost much of its ice cap yesterday (video link for email subscriber). The footbridge seen in the video is 225 yards from the end of my driveway.

Meanwhile about 800 yards down at the lakeshore, the blow was apparent. I was very surprised to see three trumpeter swans fighting their way north into the wind. Getting to breeding grounds first and choosing a choice territory is a powerful incentive for the male birds. In the fall, one would never see migrating birds fightings such strong winds.

56,038 Blue Jays Can’t Be Wrong!

Year 8,

Last year on September 22nd I wrote a post titled, 48,056 Blue Jays Can’t Be Wrong! This was the official count from Hawk Ridge, which is near my house. In fact, it was a record year for jays. Well, 2021 has now outdone 2020. The count as of this morning, September 26th is 56,038. If you like the color blue, you should be happy. It is a Blue Jay Bonanza.

Even though my yard has Blue Jays present all the time, I went birding yesterday afternoon to find Blue Jays (I know, sounds stupid). Not too surprisingly I was successful. My two stops were Stoney Point (a location that sticks out into Lake Superior near Knife River, Minnesota … a good migration stop) and the new public feeders at my church, French River Lutheran Church.

These first three images are taken at a small patch of sunflowers I found near the intersection of Alseth and Stoney Point Drive.

A Close-Up

Student Body

A Red-Breasted Nuthatch insisted on having its photograph taken. The bird reminded me of question I was asked by a young child while I was doing a public bird book reading at the library … “Why do nuthatches walk upside down?” I did not know the answer, but you can “bet your sweet bippy” I learned that fact immediately. The answer is by walking upside down on the trunk of a tree, nuthatches gain a perspective of finding bugs not seen by other birds. Very intelligent!