Category Archives: Big Birding Adventures

Donuts, Hawks, and a Lifer – A Great Day

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After yesterday’s hawk encounter, I got the bug to go birding for hawks this morning and I was secretly hoping to find a Snowy Owl. Plus I needed something to do with the kids to break up the day since Mom is at musical practice until later this afternoon.  Our first stop of the morning was Thompson’s Bakery in Atwater for the world’s best donuts.  The kids have to have sprinkles, but I got to the bakery too late (8:00 AM) and they were out.  So I grabbed us a mess of glazed donuts.  Sure enough, Evan balked, “What? You just bought me a bread donut?”  I told him they were my favorites and to just try it.  Grudgingly he put it to his lips, and then he couldn’t deny the deliciousness as his scowl turned to a grin and then laughter.  Not a crumb was wasted by either kid, and I ended up sharing my second donut.

Marin was excited for donuts and “bird hunting.”  About two minutes after her donut was consumed, however, she said, “I want to go home.”  There certainly wasn’t much birding action, and it was dull except for the scenery.  It was a beautiful, sunny morning with fresh, sparkling snow but nothing crossed our path as we traversed the barren landscapes.  On our zig-zag route home, I decided to swing by one of my favorite public hunting areas.  Boy, am I glad I did.  Right away we saw a rooster pheasant and before long we found a group of 5 roosters in a corn food plot.  They were spooked easily, but I got one decent shot of this one on the run to show you.  Look at those spurs!

Then I drove by a Waterfowl Production Area, and we hit the hawk jackpot.  First we found one Red-tailed Hawk high in a tree.  This bird was way out there (over 200 yards).  With that 200x digital zoom, I was able to reach out and get him.

As I was taking photos, Evan was screaming that there was another one in the tree right in front of us.  It flew away, but then flew back.  Look at its beak – building a nest, perhaps?

Then, this soaring bird landed right with the first one!  What a scene it was!  Of course, we were a scene too with our whooping and hollering and opening windows and climbing out of the car in 12 degree weather.  As you can see, they each took turns looking at us.

I actually saw these two hawks begin mating, but they quit soon.  I suppose they didn’t want an audience.  I wasn’t ready for the birds and bees discussion, so I kept this information to myself.  You can see the beautiful red tail below.

So, how do you top a rush like this?  You finish with a life bird – the Horned Lark!  These little guys were shy and spooked easily.  I couldn’t get within a tenth of a mile, so my photos are blurred.  But thanks to this camera, which doubles as my binoculars, we could make a positive ID.

What a day it was!  It is so satisfying to get our target bird of the morning, and a unique shot of two made it all the better.  Then to cap it off with a lifer made for a thrilling morning!

 

 

 

Brrrrrding Before School

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I love Mondays.  There, I said it.  The truth is, though, that I do not work most Mondays as my school is on a 4-day week.  It is on these Mondays that Evan can sleep in a little longer since I can drive him to school, and he does not have to wait at his school’s childcare.  Not only that, but Marin and I then usually have a “Daddy Day.”  Basically we just hang out, play some games, read books, watch movies, run errands, and so on.  Today we have a lunch date planned with Mom.

The added bonus of driving Evan to school is that we get a chance to do a little birding, which just means we look for birds on our short 5 mile trip to town.  This morning the sky was a vivid blue and the sun made the snow sparkle and everything dazzle with color.  It was the perfect morning for Ring-Necked Pheasants.  We kept an eye out, especially at “Pheasant Corner” – a nickname we’ve given to an intersection near our house that is a favorite haunt for pheasants.  Sure enough, we found some.

Do you see the pheasants in the picture below?

No? How about now?

Or now? These shots were taken through a dirty car window when I had the camera almost fully zoomed, so excuse the quality.  The temp was -3°.  Can you tell looking at these footballs?

Editor’s Note: The same camera, the Canon SX50, took both the photos of the kids in the car and these zoomed-in photos of pheasants with the same lense.  By the way, Marin’s owl hat was given to her before we became birders.  It fits her personality to a T.

Sundays are for the Birds

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And the birders.  Today was a beautiful winter day in Minnesota with a light snow falling, making everything quiet and white outside.  Our day started with going to the early church service so that we could come home, grab a bite to eat, and then head to Hutchinson to see their Middle School’s production of The Little Mermaid.  We went to see it because Melissa is directing the exact same musical in less than a month for Willmar Middle School, and my cousin’s wife is the director of Hutchinson’s show. Anyhow, when we got home after church and before we headed south, we sat down to eat lunch. I had just got done scolding the kids for leaving the table before they were finished eating, when I spied Mr. Northern Cardinal at the backyard feeder.  Now I had that brand new camera and an awesome bird to photograph, so I, too, left the table before I was finished.  So I won’t be winning any Father-of-the-Year awards, but I got some great shots!

Here he’s enjoying one of the few pieces of cracked corn in the feeder.

Check out the picture above.  Not only can you see him crack the sunflower seed, but you can see him nabbing the sunflower heart with his tongue!

Resting.  Look at all that red!

Prowling.  Until I got this camera, I had no idea how dark a cardinal’s back was.  The gradient of red is amazing.

So after this spontaneous photo-shoot, I finished my lunch and we were off to Hutchinson.  Since I go to work in the dark and get home really late in the evening, our birding opportunities are limited to the weekends.  I threw the camera in the car “just in case.”  After all, we were traveling 45 miles.  You never known what you are going to see.  Just over a mile down the road, we found 10 Ring-Necked Pheasants right in the ditch.  Oh, how I wanted to get a shot of them, but I couldn’t risk being late to the musical.

We thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Hutchinson’s students, and it was nice to visit for a bit with my cousin, Brett, and his family.  But they had a set to tear down, and we had to head home.  With plenty of daylight left for the return trip, I was excited for the possibilities.  In less than 15 minutes, here is the first major bird we saw.  This wild turkey was much closer to the road before I gave my family whiplash turning the vehicle around.  As I monkeyed with the vehicle and camera, he was disappearing deep into cover. However, with that camera I was able to reach out and touch him.  This tom is smart and ready for the spring turkey hunt – he kept his head out of view.  Look at the beard on this guy!

We got on our way, and I was excited to get back to a spot on the road where we had flushed a flock of Snow Buntings on the trip down.  Sure enough they were there.  Snow Buntings visit us in the winter only and prefer open fields and roads.  If you’ve traveled any country road in west-central Minnesota, then I’m sure you’ve seen large flocks of these white, tan, and black birds flush from the shoulder and swirl about in the air until they eventually land again.  These poor Snow Buntings were on a busy road and would get flushed by a car, fly about, land in the same spot, only to have a car come 5 seconds later.  This happened over and over.  I got a few shots, but I did not have much time so they are a bit blurry – you have to hold that camera super still when it is zoomed out so far.  I was excited to see these images because I’ve never seen these birds up close except for in field guides.

 Even my wife was amazed by these little guys and asked if there is a flight leader that directs their fast and furious cloud one way or the other.  I don’t think she minded this birding stop.  It helped that I didn’t pull any Gs and was able to bring the vehicle to a comfortable stop.

As we continued our journey home, we would have one more bird encounter.  I spotted a Bald Eagle flying high from left to right.  Again, I screeched to the shoulder and slammed on my brakes.  As my assistant – my wife – fumbled to get me the camera and get the sunroof open (Yes, it was only 15 degrees) so I could take the shot as it went to the right and after I got the camera on the sports setting and zoomed out, he was almost gone.  I got a couple of parting shots.  They were blurry, but I think you’ll recognize this bird.

What an eventful “birding” trip!  You have to take what you can get in Minnesota in the winter, and considering the limited time we have to bird, this was an excellent outing.  I think my wife might have even thought so….I caught her viewing the photos on the camera before she’d put it in the case for me.

Killing Two Birds With One Stone (Well, Not Really)

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This morning I thought I’d let my wife sleep in after a busy week by taking Evan, 5, and Marin, 2, out of the house. What would I do with them? Go birding, of course! When I asked who wanted to go birding, I was answered with two very enthusiastic “Me!!”s.

Since it was another day where the temperature was near zero, we birded by car. Our target bird was a Cedar Waxwing. Just two days earlier I had seen several with a bunch of American Robins in a couple of crab-apple trees in Willmar. Well, we got there and there was nothing. In fact, we struggled to see common species. Evan was getting crabby, but this was due to hunger and not lack of birds. After a quick stop at the McDonald’s drive-thru, everyone’s spirits were lifted and we were back to birding.

We drove on country roads to the north and west of Willmar seeing occasional common species, like House Sparrows and American Crows, but nothing exciting. Then I turned a corner and our luck started to change. I spotted a male Northern Cardinal fly across the road. The kids didn’t see it, but it pushed us to keep driving. We spotted a couple of crows in a ditch near some turkey barns – a sure sign of carrion. “What is it?!” Evan asked. When I told him it was a dead turkey, he shouted, “Cool! Can we turn around and go see it?”. So we did. I was 5 once too.

Later as we drove past a federal Waterfowl Production Area, I spotted a bird perched horizontally on a wire – the Northern Shrike! This time Evan saw it and got to add it to his life list. It was a treat to see this rare visitor again. It gave us a good look before flying from its perch. As we wound our way home we were traveling down a curvy, gravel road when I saw what looked like a half dozen filled Hefty bags on the road ahead – Wild Turkeys!! Marin even got excited to see them. I tried to get close enough to get a picture, but they dashed into the woods and then flushed. I had no idea they could run so fast. After this sighting, it was time to head home. Birding is fun, but after two hours, both kids were at their limits for patience.

I can’t wait until that new, super-zoom Canon gets here next week. We could have had some cool pictures today. I’m sure we will put more dust on the van when it gets here. Even though it’s super cold outside, there are cool birds out there that can be seen from a warm car. Plus, the company of two young birders is tough to beat.

Let’s Go Birding?

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Almost two weeks ago now, our family made the 265 mile trek to see both my wife’s family and my family who live 8 miles apart on the same gravel road in northern Minnesota.  After the flurry of having Christmas at our own house, packing up, and driving, we arrived Up North late at night on Saturday, the 22nd. The next day started out just as busy as we headed to town in the morning for church and then out to the house of some old family friends for lunch.  Finally we got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and Evan immediately said, “Let’s go birding!”  It was nearly zero outside, but Evan, my dad, and I all donned our outdoor gear and went out for a short walk in the woods.  It wasn’t too cold, and there was less than a half a foot of snow.  It should be a good time, right?

Black-Capped Chickadee

Well, we got into the woods which were eerily absent of life – there weren’t even our favorite friendly Black-Capped Chickadees fluttering about. We had walked about the equivalent of two city blocks when the chaotic pace of traveling and the Christmas season finally caught up to my buddy and caused him to crash.  There he was, knees in the snow and crying,  “I can’t walk any more!”  We were less than a quarter mile from the house and decided to head back.  That is to say, all of us but Evan.  He was still knees in the snow, head down, and pouting with his bottom lip stuck way out (as we say in our house, ‘a bird will poop on that thing.’).  So I had to take off my birding buddy hat and replace it with my Dad hat. In these moments of moodiness, Evan wouldn’t listen or comply with my instruction to keep walking back to the house.  He was not budging from his spot in the snow.  Too heavy to pick up and carry, I had to alternate between pulling him along by gripping his coat and walking ahead and waiting.  It was the birding outing that wasn’t.  Before I could let disappointment slip in, I remembered that he was 5 and that he chose this pasttime.  It was okay if he needed a break today.  After all, he had some new presents to play with and Grandma’s cookies to eat.

Apparently the break continued for awhile. Earlier that day when we were at our friends’ house, we watched their feeders and talked birds.  Our friend, Al, gave us a tip that they had a pair of Gray Jays show up every morning for just an hour or so on the suet feeder.  I’d never seen one, and I knew Evan hadn’t either.  What a great addition it would be to his Life List!  Nearly a week after the birding debacle in the woods and after the chaos of Christmas had settled down, I asked Evan if he wanted to go see those Jays.  Nope.  I asked him a couple more times before our visit Up North was over.  Nothing doing.  Was my little birder gone?  Fortunately I don’t think so.  I think he was just worn out from all of the recent activity of seeing so much family and being away from home for a week.  I know his birding spirit wasn’t completely gone.  On our drive home, I spotted a Bald Eagle perched near the road atop a dead pine tree.  Stunning.  When I told Evan there was an eagle, he shouted, “Where?!”  Nope, he’s not gone.  He just needs a rest and a bird spark.

Maybe you can help us with that spark.  What’s your favorite bird that visits your area?  Evan loves looking up birds on his Audobon Society Bird App on his iPod, and he’s developing a better sense of geography.  Who knows, maybe our travels will land us at your door someday to see your bird.

A Glowing Flame in the Treetops

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It’s cold outside, so there’s not a lot of birding going on with the Team.  We’re anxious for warm spring days with more hours of daylight where we can get out and add new birds to our life lists and see some of our familiar favorites again. For now, however, we can reflect on some of our adventures from last summer.

Last spring I purchased a Jayco pop-up camper so I could take my family on all kinds of camping trips.  For two teachers with young kids, there couldn’t be a better way to enjoy our summer vacation.  One of our camping trips landed us at Bear Head Lake State Park near Ely, MN.  With its pristine lakes and towering stands of white and red pines, it is no wonder that it was voted as America’s Favorite Park in a 2010 nationwide campaign sponsored by Coca-Cola.

Minnesota’s State Parks have a variety of programs and activities nearly every day.  Coincidentally, one of those programs when we were at Bear Head was a birding walk with a local birding expert.  Perfect.  So Evan and I woke up early to meet the tour guide and other birders at the visitor center for a 7 AM start.  That’s right, the early bird gets the…bird.  About twenty of us walked the paths and roads of the park just to see what we could see.  The group would stop whenever a bird was spotted or heard.  We observed a variety of birds including the Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Red-Eyed Vireo, Mourning Warbler, Chestnut-Sided Warbler, Ruffed Grouse, and several others.  As we walked, the guide educated us on the songs and habits of many of these birds. Birding is a visual and auditory experience.  I found the guide’s information on bird songs so helpful.  If you’ve never been in the woods in northern Minnesota in the summertime, then you don’t realize just how noisy it is with bird songs!  Armed with our new knowledge, however, Evan and I learned to easily discern the songs of the different species.  He is better at it than I am.

Toward the end of our walk, our guide spotted a Blackburnian Warbler.  She was watching it with her binoculars about 30 yards in front of us.  I strained to see it through my binoculars, but I just couldn’t pick it out.  I was frustrated because this was a bird I really wanted to see.  In his Field Guide to Birds of North America, Kenn Kaufman appropriately describes this bird as a “glowing flame of the tree tops.”  Still not seeing the bird, we moved on and finished up our tour.

Photo Credit: Chris Thomas

The next day Evan and I went for a walk on the same path that our tour went on the day before.  We were after one goal – to find the Blackburnian Warbler.  We got to the same place the guide had spotted one, a gravel road running through a mixed stand of white pines and aspen trees about 50-60 feet tall.  Evan and I had been listening to the Blackburnian’s song on the Audobon Society’s Bird Field Guide App the day before.  As we walked this road, we heard the song.  Instantly our eyes were scanning all around the tops of the trees as that is where these warblers tend to dwell.  Finally we saw a bird flitting about, but I could not make a positive ID through the binoculars, especially since branches and leaves obscured our ability to see him.  Evan hasn’t figured out how to master binoculars yet, so he was just using his naked eyesight.  I lost sight of the bird, but Evan picked it out.  This bird is about 4 in. long in the top of a 60 foot tree, and he spotted it with his naked eye! It just happened to be on a bare branch.  I put the glasses up and looked.  Sure enough, this gorgeous orange-headed bird popped against the bright green leaves of the trees.  What a treat it was to see!  If only Evan could have seen it up close and shared in this excitement.  This was a classic birding experience – seeing what we set out to find. We can’t wait to go out and find other fascinating birds this coming spring.

These amazing photos were taken by Chris Thomas, someone I met through Twitter.  Chris is from the UK and has photographed over 500 bird species in the UK and US.  He has graciously allowed me to use some of his photographs for this post.  I highly recommend visiting his website of bird pics: Christ Thomas American Bird Photography.

                                       Photo Credit: Chris Thomas