Mini Vacation to Northern Minnesota

Since I didn't have to work this weekend, I convinced Mr. Johnson that he would love to spend hours in a car on a drive up to the Sax-Zim Bog for a winter birding adventure. Stoked up on coffee & some delicious Perkins muffins, we headed out early Saturday morning for the 255 mile trip. I knew it was going to be a good birding day when three Pileated Woodpeckers flew over us on our first pit stop north of the Twin Cities. Even with unexpected snow, slippery highways and plenty of overturned vehicles in the ditch, we continued northward on our quest to see awesome birds. And we weren't disappointed!

Here's a pictorial review of our incredible birding mini vacation. This review will start and end with what were birding highlights for me, and all the good things in between.

We were heading out Admiral Road and McDavitt Road to finish up our drive through the Sax-Zim Bog birding area. Up ahead on McDavitt Road, we spotted some parked cars and people out with cameras and tripods. Thinking this might have been the Black-Backed Woodpecker reported earlier in the week, we stopped so I could get a chance to see it too. I wasn't the least bit disappointed to see a Great Gray Owl instead of a Black-Backed Woodpecker!

After only a minute or so, this beautiful owl decided to fly over to another dead evergreen snag nearby, and I was there to capture the short flight!

Wow! (I'm sure I had the dopiest smile on my face while I was taking these pictures!)

The owl spent quite a bit of time looking at the ground. I'm sure it was trying to locate something tasty to eat.

Good-bye beautiful owl! Thanks for making my day so special!

I saw my FOY Red-Breasted Nuthatch (they haven't visited my birdfeeders in SE Minnesota this winter).

We also enjoyed seeing and hearing Common Ravens.

Along Admiral Road and McDavitt Road, some folks have set up a couple of bird feeding stations. These are good places to stop and see lots of birds taking advantage of the unexpected bounty. Black-Capped Chickadees were the most plentiful birdies at these feeding stations. It was not unusual to see at least 8 at a time! I also got a great look at a Boreal Chickadee, but it flew away before I even had the camera turned on.

Through the windshield I snapped this really awful photo of a pair of grouse. We ran into some Rochester birding friends (who were also having a mini vacation at Sax-Zim) and they said these looked like Sharp-Tailed Grouse.

Sophie got to ride along with us for the trip. There were a couple of places where we were able to let her out of the car to just run around.

Even though she's an elderly doggeh now, she still thoroughly enjoys trips in the car and finding new scents wherever she happens to be (no matter how deep the snow is!)

Do you like Northern Shrikes? We saw a total of three of them during our drive through the Sax-Zim Bog birding area.

We do have them in SE Minnesota, but again, not commonly seen at any time of year.

Here are a couple of Pine Grosbeaks and a Common Redpoll at the top of an evergreen.

Very pretty birds! Want to see them closer? Here's the Common Redpoll. This is a male. During an irruption year, I have seen them dining on thistle seed at my birdfeeders, but none so far this year.

Here's are 2 female Pine Grosbeaks at one of the feeding stations on Admiral Road.

(See her peeking out from behind the bucket on the left side of the photo? I didn't even notice her until I was editing this photo!)

Here's another beautiful female perched on a branch.

Here's a male Pine Grosbeak perched on a branch above me. They're actually a pretty large bird at 9" -- about the same size as a Northern Cardinal -- so they're really easy to spot.

While I was watching the Pine Grosbeaks, I also noticed a large bird sitting in the top of a tree just up the road. It definitely wasn't an eagle, crow, or raven, but I couldn't tell for sure what it was except that it was a raptor of some sort (judging by the head and beak size/shape).

After walking a little bit closer, this bird decided it had had enough of my scrutiny and decided to fly away. Fortunately, I had my camera ready and was lucky enough to get this shot which confirmed its identity -- Rough-Legged Hawk.

(See the nice black wing tips and dark elbow spots? A beautiful raptor!)

We never saw the Evening Grosbeak, Northern Hawk Owl, or Gray Jays, but I was really happy with all the birds we had seen during our visit. However, the most exciting sight of the day for me took place just a short distance from our turning on to the main road and heading for home. Even though this is a really poor picture, can you tell that it's a Black-Billed Magpie?

This bird was perched in a tree near the road, but as soon as we stopped the car it flew away. I started snapping pictures hoping that at least one of them would turn out, and this picture turned out the best (of the other worse ones!) I've only seen Magpies once before in Minnesota and it's been at least 20 years. I loves me some Corvids!

As we were departing the Sax-Zim Bog birding area, the skies started to clear and we enjoyed what turned out to be a beautiful sunset heralding the end of a lovely birding day in Northern Minnesota.

For any of you who have thought about attending the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival, I urge you to strongly consider this festival for next February. I'll see you there!


Oh yeah, one more thing......I made good progress on this new shawl I started and knitted on during the 500+ miles spent riding in the car yesterday!

Bird Adaptations Class

Since the new year started and it's not as busy at work anymore, I have switched back to my 4-day-a-week schedule. It was sure nice to sleep in a little longer this morning! Plus I was able to add some time to my Master Naturalist volunteer hours log by participating as an assistant in the Bird Adaptations Class held for Rochester public school 3rd graders. I got to Quarry Hill Nature Center around 9:15 to meet with Carrie (the class leader) and find out what my duties would be with this class. Shortly before the class was due to start, Carrie got a phone call from the school saying there wouldn't be any students this morning as no arrangements for transport to Quarry Hill had been made with the bus company. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.... However, as long as the mist net was up and one of the other naturalists at Quarry Hill was doing bird banding this morning, we decided to continue catching some birds. I was thankful that Carrie had time to work with me as I definitely need more experience getting birds out of the mist net.

We caught a really good variety of birds this morning. Here's a little White-Breasted Nuthatch I was able to release from the net myself. Experienced bird banders are probably cringing as they see the grip I have on this poor little nuthatch, and that's exactly why I really need to get more experience at the nets. I love working with the birds though because it's such an amazing experience to hold these tiny feathered creatures in my hand.

Here's Carrie holding the female Cardinal she retrieved from the net. Mrs. Cardinal was extremely verbal in voicing her displeasure while being removed from the net. Fortunately, Carrie's a very experienced bird bander and was able to avoid any abuse from Mrs. Cardinal's strong beak. Isn't she a beautiful bird though?

We also caught a male Hairy Woodpecker in the net. This is the first time I've ever been able to see one of these guys up close. His head feathers look a little ruffled and I'm not sure if that's from having the net removed from his head or just his annoyance at being held by Carrie.

And last of all, I decided to have a little fun with the stuff Great Horned Owl that was on display as part of the Bird Adaptations Class. Check out that wingspan! It looked really intimidating to me just standing there and holding it......can you imagine what a cottontail thinks as it sees this owl swooping down toward it?

Resolution for the new year

I finally had a chance to get caught up on some of my blog reading today and was particularly interested in the post my friend Deb had concerning her philosophy on New Year's resolutions. This year Deb has resolved to do something joyful every day and for her that involves playing a musical instrument. As I was thinking about something joyful I could do every day, I decided that spending some time knitting was definitely a resolution I wouldn't have any trouble keeping. And in that spirit, here's an update on the sweater I first showed you in my December 26th post. As you can see, I made a major color revision, but I like it much better now. Both sleeves have been completed and about 6 inches of the body. Progress will be a bit slower now until I get to the colorwork on the yoke, but it will be some mindless knitting to work on during my daily commute. My goal will be to have this sweater completed in time to wear to the Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival in February.

This sweater pattern is called "Shades of Grey" and is from a Patons pattern book called Weekend Retreat, published in 1998. As you can see my sweater is in shades of brown, and even though this pattern book was published over 10 years ago, I still love all the sweaters in it and am looking forward to trying some of the other patterns someday.

Since so many of you (including myself) wondered why the Great Horned Owl only ate the head of that bunny in my backyard, I decided to consult with the best raptor experts I know: Susan K Williams and Dave Dorsey. (That's the coolest thing about blogging and Facebook -- I have almost immediate access to experts who have the answers to my most vexing bird and nature questions.) Anyway, according to my experts, when an owl kills prey that's too large for it to carry away, it will eat part of the prey first. And apparently owls will eat the head first in an effort to get at the chest cavity of the prey. If food supplies are plentiful, the owl will just eat what it wants and leave the rest behind. In leaner times, the owl will take the remaining prey and cache it for a future meal. Dave told me that when the Snowy Owl or Great Horned Owl at his Alaska Bird Treatment & Learning Center eat only the head they're eating too good and it's time to cut back a little. So now we know! Thanks Susan and Dave for your help!

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year Everyone. So far it's been a pretty typical Minnesota New Year's weekend. Here's what the thermometer told us at 8:00 this morning.Today we're not expecting to get above zero, but that's OK because we have plenty of warm clothes, lots of wood for the fireplace and we don't have to shovel cold! Plus the sun has been shining all day so at least it looks a bit warmer than it actually is outside! Sounds like the rest of the week isn't going to be quite as cold -- at least our daytime highs are predicted to be above zero!

Sophie's getting a lot of use from her sweater during these cold days. I can tell she doesn't mind wearing it outside because she's very cooperative when it's time to put it on her. She used to growl when I put her paws through the armholes, but now when I get her dressed, she actually lifts her paw for me to put the sweater on. Good Doggeh! (I'd knit her some socks too if I could figure out a way to keep them on her feet!)
Here's a picture of the one clever starling that's figured out how to get suet from the log feeder. The bird scoots up inside the cage and puts one foot on the cage and one foot on the log to eat its fill of suet. It's really awkward looking, but very effective for the starling......and so far, this is the only starling who's managed to do this.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO AHEAD!

This morning when I was out filling birdfeeders, I came across something very interesting in the backyard......something I haven't seen here for quite a few years......and something so exciting that I ran back to the house and yelled for Mr. Johnson to run and get me my camera really fast! "What could possibly be that exciting for her?" you're asking yourself. Well, here's what it was -- a decapitated rabbit!To the best of my knowledge, there's only 1 predator that would leave a decapitated rabbit and that's a Great-Horned Owl. I know there are GHOWs in the neighborhood even though we haven't heard them hooting lately. Several years ago, I found a number of decapitated rabbits in my backyard and at that time, I had to ask someone what was going on because I had no idea what animal would do that.

We have an overabundance of bunnies in the backyard again this winter, so hopefully the owl will remember and visit my backyard bunny buffet again soon. I only wish I had been able to see the owl with this bunny last night because this took place about 20 yards outside my back door!

Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival

Can you believe it's only 2 weeks until December 1st? I've been ignoring all those holiday ads on TV lately, but realized this morning after my every-other-Tuesday meeting at work that our next meeting will be in December. Yikes! where does the time go?

So what that really means is that we're that much closer to 2010 and the third annual Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival.......where you'll get the chance to see really cool birds like this Great Gray Owl!

(Photo taken by my Sissy!)

If you plan on attending this year's festival, you'll almost certainly see a Northern Hawk Owl as there are quite a number of them showing up in northern Minnesota already this year. (this is another photo taken by my Sissy)

The 2010 Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival will begin on Friday, February 12th and run through Sunday, February 14th. This year's festival will be limited to 150 participants and you can find out more information about the festival by clicking on this link.

I attended the first festival 2 years ago with my dear blogging friend Lynne (of Hasty Brook). Lynne and I had a great time at that festival and that was the only year I managed to check off EVERY woodpecker species on my Minnesota checklist when I saw the Black-Backed Woodpecker and this Three-Toed Woodpecker (both lifers!)

This year's program is a veritable "who's who" of well-known Minnesota birders including my friend John Hockema. The excellent selection of stops during the field trips will guarantee that you'll have a chance to see these beautiful (and declining) Evening Grosbeaks.

Not to mention Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and if you're really lucky, a Hoary Redpoll or two.

It looks like this year's festival is going to be the best yet. Great speakers, awesome meals, incredible birding, friends, and fun. Don't let the thought of February in Minnesota intimidate you......just dress in layers like us smart Minnesotans do (you won't be forced to stand outside all day anyway and the buses will be kept running for those folks who need a warm-up).

I'm hoping that I'll be able to attend the festival with Lynne again this year and you can help me -- just go to my Etsy shop in my sidebar link and make a purchase for yourself or a gift -- all purchases will help subsidize my trip to the 2010 Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival (hey, I'm not above a little shameless self-promotion to achieve my birding goals!)

Trail Camera Check

We went out to the woods tonight again to check and move the trail cameras. In an effort to boost deer activity near the cameras, Mr. Johnson also sprayed some of the magic "C'Mere Deer" elixir on the ground and nearby vegetation. That stuff is irresistible to deer so we had quite a few more pictures of deer than last week (like this doe and her 2 fawns).

And this is the first buck we've gotten a picture of for 2008. His antlers are still covered in velvet.

We hiked down into the woods to check the StealthCam. After the warm weather and a little rain we had earlier in the week, the vegetation is still very thick and the woods are still looking very summer-like.

Due to a battery malfunction, there weren't any pictures from the StealthCam. We moved both of the cameras to new locations and set up a "mock scrape" with the doe pee scent dripper in front of one of the cameras. We'll go back on Monday for another check and maybe I'll have some new pictures to share with you then.

We saw plenty of other interesting things on our hike in and out of the woods. Do you know what bird this feather is from?

Here's an example of the damage hungry raccoons can do to a farmer's corn crop. This is just a small area but last year this farmer lost almost the first 8 perimeter rows of corn along the edge of the woods due to raccoons and deer. At $8/bushel, you can see why most farmers around here are usually pretty willing to let people deer hunt on their property.

I was happy about the good deer pictures we got on our camera, but while we were setting up the camera in a new location, I was even more excited about a pair of barred owls "hootin' it up" in the woods nearby. Turn up the volume for this short video clip.