Tag Archives: MN North: Two Harbors

North Shore Reprise!

Year 7,

As you’ve heard me say (write?!) many times, find the food in the winter … find the birds. Exactly 24 hours later I refound my Ruffed Grouse and Red-Tailed Hawk in the same exact trees. The grouse will continue to use the this berry tree till the fruit is gone, and the hawk must have found good hunting. Even with raptors, winter will find them hunting from the same spots as long as prey holds out. The key is birds do not want to use any extra energy during cold winter days.

One interesting observation, unlike songbirds which tend to grab berries and pluck the entire piece of fruit off a tree, grouse pick the fruit off a tree where the stem attaches to the branch. Thus, grouse grab the stem, pluck, and then must flip the fruit into their mouth.

A bonus was finding a cooperative Rough Legged Hawk … in a secret location (LOL!)

There is a neat project that tracks Rough Legged Hawks via GPS devices. This relatively new banding technology really helps us understand birds and their breeding / migration patterns. Our hope is to band some Northern Hawk Owls us at Sax-Zim Bog with this technology this winter.

One bird’s paths over three years … It is amazing how far this hawk ranged through the Arctic.

More Cemetery Birds

Year 7

My daughter took me birding shortly after sunrise this morning. I was hoping to find winter finches between Duluth and Two Harbors, but this long, beautiful stretch of warm calm weather has not encouraged many “Canadians” to push south. We have reached 70F with south winds the past two days … unheard of for November 8th (last year in mid November temperatures plunged well below zero and a huge blizzard snowed us for over three days). I checked almost every fruit tree around, but scored zero on the winter finch count. I know they are up the shore in some numbers, but 100 miles up the shore.

Be careful what you wish for … the wind swings around tomorrow. Rain and them temperatures will peak in the mid 30’s. Maybe my finches will arrive if we put snow on the ground. My own bird feeders only have locals at this point. Other migrants have pushed south.

As I’ve noted before, I love to bird cemeteries. In the Two Harbors plot I found seven Wilson Snipe and one cooperative Pileated Woodpecker. Thus, it was still a fun time.

Amity Creek Sunrise

Year 7,

This morning I watched one of the best sunrises in my life. While there have been more brilliant displays of color, this movement of the colors and clouds through the pre-dawn sky were very awe inspiring to me. The vantage point is my own stairs 25 minutes before actual sunup.

Later in the morning my youngest son took me for a drive up the shore and some birding. I found a small flock of Wilson’s Snipes foraging in Two Harbors.

I am working on the promised bird feeder review. My concentration level is still sub-par. Stay tuned.

Video: Wilson Snipe Foraging (video link for email subscribers)

Video: Hoot Hiding from Crows (video link for email subscribers)
Found this video from late August I had taken and never processed

An update on me … my body hurts and I crave sleep / rest. Food is beginning to taste good again, but I have a long recovery road ahead. My wife took this photo of me just before dinner last night holding my two fingers full glass of Chardonnay (all I am allowed). I was four days post second heart surgery when this pic was taken last night, and nine days post open heart surgery.