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| American Three-toed Woodpecker |
In my last post, I outlined my birding trip to northern Minnesota, including giving a description of both the Sax-Zim Bog and the Superior National Forest. Now, let's look at some of the birds I saw there.
Canada Jay
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| Canada Jay AKA Camp Robber AKA Whiskey Jack |
Canada Jays are hearty birds that often perch high in trees, but also like to frequent feeders. Formerly called the Gray Jay and nicknamed Camp Robber (for stealing food from humans) or Whiskey Jack (an anglicized version of the Native American name, Wisakedjak), the Canada Jay is found in boreal forests of North America north to the tree line and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico and Arizona (we see them often in high elevations in the Rockies).
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| Uncharacteristically in lower branches |
Canada Jays live year-round on permanent territories in coniferous forests, surviving in winter months on cached food. The Jay caches food by using its mouth to form a ball coated with sticky saliva and then storing the ball in bark crevices, lichen or among conifer needles. A single Canada Jay can hide thousands of pieces of food in a season and later recover them by memory. They must live in climate with sufficiently cold temperatures to keep food from decaying and with trees with sufficiently pliable bark to wedge food in.
Omnivores, Canada Jays eat arthropods, small mammals including rodents, nestling and small birds, carrion, fungi, fruits such as chokecherry and seeds.
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| Enjoying a Bog feeder |
Several bird species prey on Canada Jays, including Great Grey Owls and Northern Hawk Owls. They are classified as least concern, having stable populations over a very large area of boreal and subalpine habitats only lightly occupied by humans.
Northern Shrike
If you see a bird perching high, high in a tree, hanging on for dear life regardless of how windy it is, it is probably a Northern Shrike.
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| Easy to spot because they like bare trees |
Northern Shrikes are predatory songbirds that eat spiders, beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, lizards, small vertebrates and small birds, such as Black-capped Chickadees, Finches, Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and Pine Siskins. They perch precariously at the top of very tiny tree branches surveying for food and sometimes even hunt at bird feeders.
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| A formidable hunter |
In the cold, the Shrikes puff themselves ip, giving them a cute, cuddly appearance that belies their aggressive predatory skills.
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| Isn't it cute? |
Crossbills
A bird that I really wanted to photograph was a Crossbill. Yes, we have them in Colorado, but I had only ever seen one – and it was moving at lightning speed. This trip delivered. We saw both types that live in the U.S.: Red Crossbills, male ...
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| Male Red Crossbill |
... and female ...
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| Female Crossbills are olive and yellow, compared to the males' red |
... and White-winged Crossbills, male ...
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| Male White-winged Crossbill |
... and female ...
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| Female White-winged Crossbill |
Even, sometimes, both types together ...
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| The two types of Crossbills with some Pine Siskins |
So, the White-winged was a lifer for me ...
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| Female White-winged Crossbill |
A “winter” finch, the Crossbill is characterized by the mandibles with crossed tips that are used to extract seeds from conifer cones. They are typically found in higher northern hemisphere latitudes and altitudes, where their food sources grow.
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| Red Crossbills feeding on conifer cones |
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| Look at that bill! |
The Crossbill feeds by inserting its bill between the conifer cone scales. Then, it twists its lower mandible towards the side to which its bill crosses, extracting the seed at the bottom of the pinecone scale with its tongue.
We saw large numbers of Red Crossbills feeding on the ample pinecones growing in Minnesota.
We also saw a number picking up gravel off the road (along with some Pine Siskins). They do this to fill their gizzards with sharp stones that break down the hard seeds they eat.
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| Filling their gizzards with gravel to help digest pine cone seeds |
Redpolls
I had hoped to see both kinds of Redpolls commonly found in Minnesota in winter, but we saw only Common Redpolls and no Hoary Redpolls. Still, that’s another lifer!
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| Common Redpolls |
The Redpolls we saw were at the one of farthest north parts of our journey far out in the forest. They are northern woodland birds, so Minnesota is often as far south as they go in a typical year (during irruptions they can go much further south). Also finches, they are named for the red patch on their forehead. Redpolls are primarily seed-eaters, and often feed acrobatically. The ones we saw were actively working a Tamarack tree.
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| A beautiful male feeding on Tamarack buds |
Woodpeckers
There are a number of different raptors in northern Minnesota and that was my primary interest. We saw one Rough-Legged Hawk (I didn’t get a photo) and a number of Bald Eagles.
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| Bald Eagle on the lookout |
The three best (in my opinion) birds we saw in the Bog were Northern Goshawks, Northern Hawk Owls and Great Gray Owls. All three had different “posing profiles.”
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| Northern Hawk Owl |
Northern Goshawks (another lifer) are fast and not-inclined to perch. As a result, despite seeing several, I never even got close to getting a photo. I did get a so-so look at two and a great look at one the flew alongside the car for maybe 30 seconds. It breaks my heart that I didn’t get a photo. Northern Goshawk is on my “REALLY WANT” list.
Northern Hawk Owl
I did, however, get great photos of Northern Hawk Owls on several occasions.
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Northern Hawk Owl with its typical judgmental expression
That's because, like Northern Shrikes, they like to perch at the top trees ...
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| Tree-top Owl |
… and sometimes wires …
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| Owl on a wire |
... for long periods of time.
Unlike a lot of other birds, Northern Hawk Owls seem pretty confident. They don't tend to fly off if you are careful approaching them.
We saw seven or eight Northern Hawk Owls and were lucky enough to encounter one twice when it was sunny and not air-bendingly cold.
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| This one was very cooperative |
Northern Hawk Owls perch atop tall trees and hunt in the daytime. Most Owls hunt at night or dusk and dawn.
They got their name because their Hawk-like hunting habits and their long tails that look more like a Hawk's than an Owl's.
They live in boreal forests across Canada and Alaska, wintering only as far south as the continental United States’ northernmost areas (such as Minnesota).
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| Late afternoon encounter |
I have seen Northern Hawk Owls in Alaska, where I believe they are the most common owl. They are the only living species in their genus and are not in the same genus as other "hawk owls."
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| Northern Hawk Owl portrait |
Male Northern Hawk Owls are generally 14-16½ inches long and weigh about 11 oz. Females are slightly bigger with a length of 14½ -17½ inches and a weight of about 12 oz. Both male and female have similar wingspans of about 18 inches.
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| Much smaller than a Great Gray or Great Horned Owl |
Mainly found in open coniferous forests or coniferous forests mixed with deciduous species such as larch, birch, poplar and willow, they generally avoid dense spruce-fir forests.
The Northern Hawk Owl feeds on a variety of prey, including small rodents, rabbits, squirrels and other small mammals and a variety of birds, including same as large as grouse.
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| Preening |
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| And sleeping |
The type of prey the Northern Hawk Owl catches determines its eating strategy. For mammals, the Owl eviscerates its prey, eats the head first, then eats the rest. If the mammal is large, it eats the head and organs and often caches the rest. With smaller prey, it simply swallows the body whole. Then, the bones, fur and/or feathers are expelled in pellets.
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| Launching from the treetop |
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| Enjoying late afternoon sun |
Due to its low-density occurrence, sporadic fluctuations and remote breeding locations, the Northern Hawk Owl is one of the least studied and poorly understood birds in North America. As a result, it is almost impossible to properly estimate its numbers.
The North American population is thought to between 10,000 and 50,000 pairs.
In North America, over 50 percent of the Northern Hawk Owls’ breeding territory is in non-commercial boreal forests.
As long as nothing threatens their northern habitats, no known factors challenge their existence. Fire suppression by humans is believed to negatively affect Northern Hawk Owl populations by reducing open areas for hunting and dead wood to nest in. Their conservation status is Sensitive.
Great Gray Owl
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| A nice profile |
But the BEST lifer was, by far, the Great Gray Owl.
The first one we saw was after dark. I got a good look in Alex’s scope, but the pictures were just good enough to prove what it was.
Later, we saw another that flew before I could get a shot.
So, I was relieved when we finally encountered one that stayed still long enough for me to get some OK photos.
Well, it was still-ish; it did move from tree to tree, making us think it was going to fly away each time it moved. I got a few in-flight shots before it got too dark to even try.
Just after that Owl disappeared in the trees, we briefly saw another that we knew was in the area fly by.
The Great Gray Owl is the world's largest species of owl by length. However, it is not the heaviest and its body isn’t nearly as large as it appears. This Owl has lots and lots of feathers to keep it warm in the northern climates where it lives.
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| This is our first Great Gray Owl |
Like most Owls, the female is slightly larger than the male. The Great Gray Owl’s length ranges from 24 to 33 inches, averaging 28 inches for females and 26 inches for males. The wingspan can exceed 5 feet, but averages but 4 feet 8 inches for females and 4 feet 7 inches for males.
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| Massive wingspan |
The adult weight ranges from 1.28 to 4.19 lbs., averaging 2.8 lbs. for females and 2.2 lbs. for males. Adults have the largest facial disc of any raptor. The Great Gray Owl's throat markings look like a cute little white "bow tie" just below the beak.
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| The bow tie really stands out |
Distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, the Great Gray Owl is the only species in its genus found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In some areas it is also called Phantom of the North, Cinereous Owl, Spectral Owl, Lapland Owl, Spruce Owl, Bearded Owl and Sooty Owl. The European Great Gray Owl is a different subspecies than the North American.
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| A real beauty |
In northern areas, their breeding habitat is often the dense coniferous forests of the taiga, near open areas, such as meadows or bogs. They are permanent residents, although northerly populations may move south and southeast when food is scarce.
These birds wait, listen and watch for prey, then swoop down to grab it. They also may fly low through open areas in search of prey. They frequently hunt from a low listening post such as a stump, low tree limb, fence post or road sign. Their large facial disks, also known as "ruffs," focus sound, and the asymmetrical placement of their ears assists them in locating prey, because of the lack of light during the late and early hours in which they hunt.
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| The facial disk focuses sound |
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| This one had been hunting before we arrived |
On the nesting grounds, they mainly hunt at night and near dawn and dusk; at other times, they are active mostly during the night.
That’s one reason they are tricky to see: they sleep deep in the woods during the day, coming out at dusk to open areas to hunt.
The one I photographed was seen hunting by other birders before Alex and I got there. I am sorry we missed that (although it was too dark to get good action shots).
Another reason they are hard to photograph is that they don’t tend to return to a perch after they fly away. If you miss ‘em, they ain’t comin’ back.
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| And, off it goes! |
They have excellent hearing and can detect prey moving beneath snow up to 2 feet deep. They capture the prey by plunging, talons first, into the snow up to a depth roughly equal to their own body size. They are the only Owl known to routinely "snow-plunge" for prey, a habit that is thought to require superb hearing not possessed by all types of owls.
Alex told me that most photos of Great Grey Owls coming directly toward the shooter with talons out are a result of baiting. This can be a problem if the bait is non-indigenous prey.
Unlike the more versatile Great Horned Owls and Northern Hawk Owls, Great Gray Owls rely almost fully upon small rodents for food.
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| Perching in a tree for a brief moment |
What kind of rodents they eat depends on which small mammals are most abundant and available.
And, it's always good (for photographers, not the Owls) when voles that live in forests are depleted, forcing the Owls to move to open fields where they are much, much easier to see.
In mated pairs, the male is the primary hunter. He provides food for the entire family while the female guards and broods the eggs, nestlings and flightless fledglings.
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| They blend in well |
The harvest of timber from Great Gray Owl habitat is the greatest threat to this species. Intensified timber management typically reduces live and dead large-diameter trees used for nesting, leaning trees used by juveniles for roosting before they can fly and dense canopy closures in stands used by juveniles for cover and protection.
If perches are not left in clear-cuts, Great Gray Owls cannot readily hunt. Although Great Gray Owls sometimes use human-made structures constructed specifically for them, they much prefer areas protected from logging. Other dangers to Great Gray Owls include rodenticides, collisions with vehicles and West Nile Virus, which is likely to become more prevalent with climate change.
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| Launching from a branch |
With their size, Great Gray Owls have few natural predators. Great Horned Owls, some small carnivores and Black Bears have been documented preying on young, but rarely threaten adults.
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| The largest Owl in North America |
The Great Gray Owl is not as aggressive as most other alpha predators. They are less likely to attack each other to protect nesting territory, they tend to move away instead of attacking potential threats and they don’t defend hunting territories through aggression.
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| Photo: Alex Sundvall |
But, they can be fierce. Great Gray Owls have been known to fend off animals as large as Black Bears when defending their young.
This lack of territorial aggressiveness is another reason it is hard to find Great Gray Owls. They ignore played calls and they don’t flush every time a human approaches or drives past. The Great Grey Owl often remains still even if a human is nearby and therefore is easily overlooked.
The Great Grey Owl is the provincial bird of Manitoba.
I am excited I got see some. I wish we had seen them in better light. We tried and tried to find some in the morning, but never did.
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| I had to be satisfied with my dusk shots |
Other Owls Oh, we also looked for Snowy Owls, even venturing into Superior, Wisconsin. No luck in cheese-land, but we did see one very early in the morning in the Bog. It was far, far away and I was shocked that Alex spotted it as we sped down the highway. But, there you are.
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| Our only Snowy Owl was far away and early in the morning |
If this had been my first Snowy owl, I would have been disappointed in the distance. But, I have seen them during an irruption in Colorado and in their regular habitat in Alaska.
We hoped to see a Boreal Owl (a bird I have seen and photographed at a banding, but never come across in the wild). It’s a rare sighting and we failed. But, Alex got a gorgeous picture of one the week after my tour.
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| Alex took got this Boreal Owl about a week later! I am so jealous; Photo; Alex Sundvall |
Grouse
Another target group of birds for me for this trip was Grouse, And, we saw two types, both lifers for me: Ruffed Grouse ...
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| Ruffed Grouse |
... and Sharp-tailed Grouse ...
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| Sharp-tailed Grouse |
Most were in the Bog, although we looked for them in multiple places.
I think of Grouse as living almost exclusively on the ground. But, we saw them almost exclusively eating buds in Tamarack trees – very, very sticky trees that made getting a good photo difficult (that seems to be the theme of this trip: great birds, bad photos).
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| Photography nightmare |
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| Eating in a tree |
It is true that they forage mostly on the ground, but the snow cover was deep. So, into the trees they must go to eat. They will burrow into the snow for warmth and may suddenly burst out of the snow when approached too closely.
Inhabitants of temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Grouse are heavily built chicken-like birds.
The Ruffed Grouse is a non-migratory medium-sized Grouse that lives in forests from the Appalachian Mountains across Canada to Alaska. It is often incorrectly called a Partridge, Pheasant or Prairie Chicken, all of which are properly applied to other birds. Nicknames include drummer or thunder-chicken.
Measuring 16-20 inches long, they weigh 1-1.65 lbs. and have a 20-25-inch wingspan. And, yes, they do fly. I saw some flying (as I did Sharp-Tailed Grouse, as well).
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| Testing its wings |
Their name comes from the ruffs on the sides of the neck in both sexes. They also have a crest on top of their head, which sometimes lies flat. Both genders are similarly marked and sized, making them difficult to tell apart.
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| The crest is easier to see than the ruffs |
Minnesota is the top Ruffed Grouse-producing state in the U.S., but it’s the state bird of Pennsylvania.
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| Ruffed Grouse |
The Ruffed Grouse differs from other Grouse species in its courtship display. Unlike other species, the Ruffed Grouse relies entirely on a non-vocal acoustic display, known as drumming. The drumming itself is a rapid, wing-beating display that creates a low frequency sound, starting slow and speeding up. Even in thick woods this can be heard for a quarter of a mile.
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| Ruffed Grouse |
The Sharp-tailed Grouse, another medium-sized Grouse, is named for its two central square-tipped tail feathers that extend slightly farther than its lighter, outer tail feathers. Males weigh an average slightly over 2 lbs. and females slightly under.
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| You can see the tail feathers |
Sharp-tailed Grouse live in number of different types of habitat but are less widely dispersed than Ruffed Grouse. They historically occupied eight Canadian provinces and 21 U.S. states pre-European settlement, but now have a smaller range that still includes most of Canada, the northeastern U.S. extending down the Appalachian Mountains, the upper Midwest and the Northwest.
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| A small display |
Sharp-tailed Grouse are a “lekking” bird species, which means that the mating ritual involves male birds displaying in open assembly areas where animals carry on display and courtship behavior.
This takes place in the spring, so all we saw them do is eat – and a little bit of displaying in a tree.
Sharp-tailed Grouse hatch with their eyes open, are self-reliant and do not require the mother to feed them. Shortly after hatching, the chicks and mother leave the nest site in search of cover and food. In the winter, they tend to move into denser foliage for thermal insulation.
Small flocks often join together to form larger packs in severe weather. Fire suppression, tree plantings, limiting logging practices and an increase of invasive woody species have led to habitat fragmentation, one of factors driving the decline of all subspecies of Sharp-tailed Grouse across its entire range throughout North America.
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| The spend a lot of winter in trees |
The Sharp-tailed Grouse is the provincial bird of Saskatchewan.
Other Birds
Two birds we hoped to see were Pine Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings. We got one and, unfortunately, it was the one I had seen before. We saw a solitary female Pine Grosbeak and no Waxwings. Alex said that most winters there are flocks of both birds everywhere. I sure hope they were enjoying Canada.
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| Female Pine Grosbeak (not as pretty as the bright red male of the species) |
We saw American Goldfinches, in their non-Breeding plumage, so they looked a bit different than I am used to seeing. It is amazing that all these tiny birds can withstand such cold temperature, the only concession seeming to be their puffed-up appearance.
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| American Goldfinches on a very cold day |
One bird that did show up in force was the Pine Siskin.
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| Pine Siskins can be identified by the yellow on their tails and wings |
We saw large flocks of them throughout the forests, picking gravel off the ground, singing in the trees and flying in their distinctive up-and-down fashion.
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| A small part of a large flock |
We saw one female Purple Finch, also a new bird for me. She posed for just a second before flitting off again, never to return ...
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| Purple Finch |
And, Black-capped Chickadees were fairly common, although we never saw their cousin, the Boreal Chickadee (I have seen those in Alaska).
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| Black-capped Chickadee |
Animals
A few deer crossed our path and we saw a number of Porcupines, always in trees, except this one that we saw climb down a tree and disappear in the woods ...
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| Heading into the woods |
Most just looked like big spiky balls ...
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| Typical Porcupine pose |
Sadly, we saw no Bobcats, Ermines (there had been one at the Sax-Zim Visitor Center, but it didn’t show the days I was there), Moose or Wolves.
The most common animal was the feisty – and often noisy – Red Squirrel ...
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| Red Squirrel |
Whew! That was a lot, so let's break here. In my next post, I'll talk a little bit about the two towns we visited (and the birds we saw there) plus some final thoughts on the trip.
Trip date: January13-22, 2020
