Sometimes when the social life gets a bit dull and we find ourselves stuck in the rut of being hunkered down like hermits, the best remedy for breaking up the funk is to have someone over for dinner-someone who’ll liven things up a bit. Or in our case, since we remain stubbornly grounded in our ruts, it took someone inviting himself over for dinner. Except we didn’t have to cook. Getting home from church today, Evan took one look out the window and asked, “What’s that?!”
The better question to ask was, “What bird was that Sharp-shinned Hawk eating?” Being a typical 7-year-old, Evan wanted to chase away the hawk so he could investigate the remains. Shoot, I wanted to see too, but I told him to wait and at least let the hawk finish its meal. So after a short time, the Sharpie flew away and Evan and I raced out there. Nothing but feathers. Not a carcass, not a wing, nothing. Thankfully there were no red feathers. I assume the feathers were those of a House Sparrow, which if true, this hawk is welcome to drop in unannounced for dinner anytime.
Beyond the exciting ordeal in the yard, birding has been pretty dead. Steve and I went out for a bit today on another hopeless hunt for wintering Long-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owls. I guess a FOY Northern Shrike (for me, not Steve) was some sort of consolation prize.
We’re putting in our time, we keep telling ourselves. But even as we do so, the peripheral birding is abysmal if not non-existent. There is a shortage on birds of the barren field variety this winter – Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs, and Snow Buntings are largely MIA. Their presence at least adds a little life to the countryside. We did run into a couple small flocks of the Larks today, and we did turn up a solitary SNBU for Steve’s FOY. Still it wasn’t much, and it is otherwise a dead zone everywhere.
Even this winter’s saving grace, the influx of several accommodating, local Snowy Owls, seems to be officially over, for now anyway. It has been over a week now since I have seen a Snowy. At least Wilma was kind enough to make a final showing on one of our sunny days.
Oddly, though, I have been finding record numbers (for me anyway) of Great Horned Owls as I go to and fro. So far in 2015 I have found three in the county and four in all. Maybe some day I’ll see one close and in good light.
So as the sun sets on each winter day with minimal birding activity, thoughts drift more and more to spring migration and planned spring trips to Arizona and Montana, when the bird life will be overwhelming in new and old birds alike.
In the meantime, though, hopefully we’ll have more drop-in dinner company. Sparrow anyone?
With cravings for goodies and grosbeaks satisfied, it was hard to complain about getting whooped by Grandma in Farkle. We left with full bellies and content hearts, satisfied yet already yearning for the next visit. It was a great day in the northwoods with its birds and people!
Fun fact from Gullion’s book: It is well-known that Ruffed Grouse completely burrow into powdery snow to keep warm on cold winter days. However, what is not well known is that the Great Gray Owl is the only known predator that can hear the grouse in their burrows and pluck them out of the snow! How cool is that?! Here I thought Great Grays just ate small rodents. As Gullion says, it’s fortunate for Ruffed Grouse that Great Gray Owls are not very numerous in northern Minnesota. If I ever witnessed such predation, I might have to hang up my binoculars and camera because it just wouldn’t get any better than that. Fortunately, Evelyn’s grouse doesn’t have to worry about such things yet with low snow totals. But he sure looks plump for the pickin’.
Last week we enjoyed an extra-long weekend due to fall break, so we made the 265-mile trek home to northern Minnesota to visit our families and enjoy the beautiful northwoods. Going up north is always a delight, but doing so in the fall is special treat. The stunning colors, the perfect temps, and the sweet smell of decaying Aspen leaves all remind us of this great land in which my wife and I grew up. Let’s not forget the birds, though. Northern Minnesota has its own species of interest that are not found in most of the state or the country for that matter. To that end, I had been coveting some recent pictures in my Facebook feed of Great Gray Owls in Tamarack trees in the Sax-Zim Bog. The Bog is only 45 minutes south of my parents’ place, so I usually try to hit it up each time I go home.
I remember when I first got into birding and being shocked that this cool bird could be found in Minnesota since I had never seen one in my life up to that point. They are known to frequent the Sax-Zim Bog. In fact, the Bog is the furthest location to the east where this species breeds. I have seen them in the Bog and in northwestern Minnesota, but I was astounded to find them so close to where I grew up. It was hands-down the best find of the trip.
This particular warbler has class, choosing the nicest, tallest White Pine right by those government buildings to call his home.
I spent a lot of time with this warbler observing and photographing it. When there is no pressure to find a life bird, I really enjoy spending time watching and photographing a particular species that I enjoy. It was fun to watch this guy as he sang his heart out constantly, shaking his whole body with each song. I really like their trilling song which is a higher, sweeter version of a Chipping Sparrow’s song.
And then I noticed a third warbler, the Yellow-rumped! Though none of these warblers were terribly exciting, it was a thrill to have them invade our very own trees. I wondered what else was with this mini warbler wave, but we had to get to scout camp.
I wanted to keep photographing this bird, but it gave me the slip while I was checking on Hercules.
Though not as much fun as playing with dead wood, I photographed a couple of the more common warblers.
As we drove on, Evan spied his own pair of Wood Ducks in a marshy little puddle on his side of the road. The kids and I watched them for quite a while as they tried to evade us in the thin cover. These two were more in sync with each other than the previous pair as they were at least heading the same direction in life.
Once we got home, the kids hopped out of the car to go play with the neighbor girl. As I was unloading my things I heard an awful noise, like a cat being murdered. It had been nearly a year, but I knew the sound and I can assure you that, indeed, a cat was not losing its life. It was the disturbingly cool croaking sound of a Yellow-headed Blackbird! In the yard no less. It didn’t take me long to locate it at the top of one of the trees.
On the way home from Uncle Larry’s we were driving along when I spotted a suspicious-looking white egret all hunched up in our 35-degree weather. I had to turn around to see if it was a Snowy Egret or a Cattle Egret, both of which are rare but regular birds to our area. Nope, it was just the common Great Egret.
Wow, what a find! This species was introduced to the United States and is actually an invasive species in certain areas that threatens the comeback of the Trumpeter Swan. Nevertheless, not a lot of them show up in Minnesota. In fact, the one we found this evening is a Renville County first record! It was truly an exciting find and one that made me fumble with my phone trying to put out a lightning-fast post on the listserv so other interested birders could see it too.
I found the wild birds much more entertaining. I absolutely love American Wigeon. This was my chance to properly photograph one. Forgive the scuzzy flamingo water and just look at this drake’s beauty.
Later on we saw the gallinule in another part of the zoo acting suspicious. 
