The PhotoNaturalist

Northern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog is home to 19 species of breeding warblers (20 if we include the “wild card” Cape May Warbler). And in Warbler-palooza III Sparky tries to film as many of them as he can.

First surprise of the day is a singing male Brewster’s Warbler! (hybrid between Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warbler). Thanks to Dave Bartkey for pointing this out!!

Spoiler Alert! He films 16 of the 19 regular species…and gets some amazing opportunities for close-ups. Sparky only hears Magnolia but totally dips on Northern Waterthrush and Canada Warbler.

Warbler Number 3 provides a surprise that will be revealed at the end of the video. Stay tuned!

We go to Nichols Lake Road (Mourning, Golden-winged, Northern Parula), Owl Avenue (Connecticut, Yellowthroat), Admiral Road (Northern Yellow, Black-and-white, Chestnut-sided, Nashville), St. Louis River at Zim Road (Blackburnian), Norway Ridge Road (Pine), Pine Road (Black-throated Green).

A Save-the-Date reminder of the 15-year Friends of Sax-Zim Bog October 25th party is also included.

Sparky heads back to western Minnesota with his kayak in hopes of duplicating his success at Salt Lake last June. But strong winds and gray skies make Day One challenging to say the least! But he finds the rare but continuing Black-necked Stilt at Lac Qui Parle County’s Hantho WMA along with dozens of Hudsonian Godwits!

A quick drive along the unexpectedly burned Big Stone NWR Auto Loop turns up a wary flock of American Golden-Plovers and a couple Black-bellied Plovers.

Day Two dawns clear and calm so Sparky races to Salt Lake to launch his kayak. Winds are already increasing and high water has covered last year’s fruitful sandspit. But one sandy point remains and it yields a flock of Franklin’s Gulls, one Forster’s Tern and a smattering of shorebirds. An “offshore” Marbled Godwit also poses.

And as usual, the shorebirds pay little attention to the human in the red boat pulled up on “their” shore. A Sanderling bathes just feet away…A lone Ruddy Turnstone walks past me several times.

A grand total of EIGHTEEN species of shorebirds were seen (and most photographed) even though this wasn’t the goal of the trip.

When northern Minnesota is still a snowy, slushy and muddy mess, why not head to south Florida?!

The 70-mile boat trip to Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida is a MUST for birders, bird lovers, snorkelers, photographers and anybody who loves history and nature. Tickets on the Yankee Freedom cost $240 (as of 2026) and must be made months in advance. The boat trip is about 2 1/2 hours each way, which gives you 4 1/2 hours on the island.

There are big breeding colonies of birds that are not found anywhere else in the Lower 48 including Brown Noddy, Masked Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird and Sooty Tern (only a couple other nesting locations in U.S.). And the shear number of birds nesting on Bush Key is overwhelming. Up to 100,000 birds!

But Dry Tortugas Garden Key (where the boat lands) is also a resting and recovery spot for tired migrants heading north in spring. On this trip we find dozens of Palm Warblers, several Northern Parulas, Prairie Warblers, Merlin, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and more.

Sparky’s lifers were “Caribbean” Osprey (subspecies from Cuba, Bahamas), Bridled Tern (ABA lifer #679), and Uber-rare Cuban Pewee! (only a dozen North American records and Sparky ABA Lifer #680).

And since this area has amazingly clear water and healthy coral reefs, Sparky tries snorkeling. He finds colorful fish including Cocoa Damselfish, Sergeant Major, Yellow Jacks, Blue-striped & French Grunts and even swims with a Great Barracuda!

Other aquatic highlights include a Loggerhead Turtle and some type of shark.

Dry Tortugas is one of the smallest National Parks from a land surface area, but does encompass a huge area of ocean. Fort Jefferson on Garden Key is the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere. It was built for U.S. defense in the mid 1800s but is most famous for jailing Dr. Mudd, a conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the person who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.

Sparky wanders around Sax-Zim Bog in early spring (which is late April in northern Minnesota) to see what birds have returned. A very chill Wilson’s Snipe allows for fairly close photos/video, a hover-hunting Roughleg finds a vole, and Common Loons are vying for territory on Stone Lake.

Northern Flickers are back in force and we witness some rollicking “Wicka bouts” (I am going to coin the phrase “Wicka Wars”) between two females. Soon after a pair of gorgeous Common Mergansers float by on the lake.

We also check in on the spring highway clean up to see who found the best piece of roadside junk. Will Board Member Julie retain her crown? 

And a rarely seen “bird” appears in the skies over Sax-Zim…A “gashawk”!

Seven inches of “Easter snow” motivates Sparky to get out to western parts of his home county…Carlton County, Minnesota…to find out how the migrant birds are handling this cold spring day.

Loads of Rough-legged Hawks are migrating back north to nest on the Canadian tundra. They winter in open areas of northern U.S and southern Canada where snow cover allows them to see voles. Snows are usually too deep in northern Minnesota for them to spend the whole winter. Mostly males are found today.

Early migrants like American Kestrels, Hooded Mergansers, Mallards and Canada Geese are used to dealing with spring snows, but a surprise group of 3 Killdeer are less equipped to handle it. But they seem in good spirits as they forage along snow-covered roads.

Multiple Ring-necked Pheasants are a surprise at Firebird WMA. Are they being stocked? This was formerly a stronghold of Sharp-tailed Grouse.

The most fascinating find of the day was an industrious pair of Sandhill Cranes using their beaks to “shovel” snow and probe in the softer spots of ground under a grove of oaks to find acorns! Omnivorous and opportunistic, cranes aren’t too bothered by a little snow.

The two-hour excursion ends with a stop at TJ’s in Mahtowa for a bratwurst….Their brats are de “wurst”!

Sparky sleeps in a bit but spends this late March day wandering around Northeast Minnesota in search of birds, and he finds some good ones! The day starts off with a noisy mixed flock of Trumpeter Swans and Canada Geese at the open water on the St. Louis River only minutes from his home. The cacophony of sound is in itself worth the trip. It is only 13º F but the birds don’t care.

Moving north to the Superior National Forest, Sparky seeks out Spruce Grouse and Canada Lynx…but neither can be found. One of his favorite forest roads is still clogged with snow so inaccessible. But he finds a migrating meadowlark feeding along the paved road (the only snow-free spot around). After examining some still photos he believes it is a Western Meadowlark. The only other migrant (or bird of any kind) is a newly-arrived Red-tailed Hawk.

Then Sparky remembers that he has not yet gone to find the Black-backed Woodpecker “party” in the burn from the previous spring’s big Camp House forest fire near Brimson, Minnesota. Two of his birding friends tallied 49(!!) Black-backeds in the massive burn a couple months ago, then another friend found 10 only the week before.

On the third stop in burned pines, both a male and female are found. They are so busy searching out beetle grubs that they allow close approach. A few miles on near the intersection of Hyppo Creek Rd and Indian Creek Road there are FOUR more Black-backeds! Three males and one female. A below-eye-level male obligingly pulls out several huge juicy longhorned beetle grubs from the burned pines. You can see the extraction process in all its glory in 4x slow motion.

Both a Ruffed Grouse and American Woodcock are flushed from the snowy woods.

Last stop is Agate Bay in Two Harbors on Lake Superior where there has been reports of a White-winged Scoter. And after only a few minutes of scanning the female duck is found. The scoter is not a super-rarity but not a common bird either. I see one maybe every third year in northern Minnesota.

Lastly a River Otter makes a brief appearance as it swims to shore off of Lake Superior.

And, most importantly, Sparky makes it home for dinner!

In August 2025 Sparky and his friend Paul joined birding legend Paul Lehman and the Buena Vista Audubon group on a pelagic birding trip out of San Diego. It was a beautiful day out on the Pacific with many cool birds and a few sea mammals.

Sparky avoids seasickness again with the pre-trip use of Dramamine and the day-of ingestion of ginger pills and ginger ale. He also uses pressure-point wrist straps. Who really knows if any of this works since he’s never actually been seasick.

Highlights included Flesh-footed Shearwater, Townsend’s Storm-Petrel, Long-tailed Jaeger, Cocos Booby, Sabine’s Gull, Arctic Tern, Marbled Godwit, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Black-vented Shearwater and much more.

In between birds, Sparky meets many interesting fellow birders and photographers. A great day on the high seas!

After dropping Birk off at the Minneapolis airport for his senior trip to Washington DC, I decide to take a detour on my way home to northern Minnesota. This is my favorite “long cut” to Wrenshall, and avoids a couple hours of freeway driving.

Crex Meadows is one of Wisconsin’s premiere State Wildlife Areas, and is most famous for being a major staging area for Sandhill Cranes in late fall.

It was too early for returning cranes since the marshy lakes were still frozen, but that doesn’t deter Trumpeter Swans! They return crazy early just to get the best nesting spots.

And that is what stopped me along a dirt road in the refuge. A pair of Trumpeters on a snowy point surrounded by slushy blue ice in perfect light. And as I was photographing them, an adult Bald Eagle flew right at me and landed a hundred feet away. That doesn’t happen every day!

The Eagle “caught” (really plucked) a couple dead winter-kill Bullheads from the slush. Interestingly, it seemed to prefer the skin of the fish, and stripped that first. That is one of the fattier and more nutrient-rich parts of any fish.

Other bird highlights included a small flock of Redpolls, American Tree Sparrow, Ring-necked Pheasant and Wild Turkeys.

A near-miss possible lowlight was almost getting stuck in the mucky, muddy roads THREE times! But I barely made it out.

A Serendipitous day of birding and bird photography!

January 17, 2026

Birding Newfoundland Canada in midwinter is not a picnic. High winds, driving rain, below freezing temps and even colder windchills should be expected. But the birds are amazing! After getting EIGHT Lifers in three days, I decided to do a little more leisurely “sightseeing” by driving the 187-mile Irish Loop.

Newfoundland’s Irish Loop winds around the rugged tundra of the massive Avalon Wilderness Reserve. It starts and ends in St. John’s but in between it goes through about every coastal town. I saw far more birds than people or cars on this January day.

The scenery along the coast was spectacular with massive 15-foot waves pounding the beaches. Not great for birding, but made for a memorable experience.

Bird highlights included a very confiding Long-tailed Duck, a large flock of Redpolls (with a few “Hoarys” mixed in), a very close Black Guillemot, Great Black-backed Gulls, adult Glaucous Gull, Northern Harrier, and my first ever winter-plumaged Willow Ptarmigan(!) (which I first thought was yet another patch of lingering snow).

As far as mammals, I finally found a small band of Woodland Caribou, but they were far off on the tundra. I stumbled a quarter mile in the half frozen hummocks of moss and Caribou Lichen against a 35-45mph headwind, but my wet feet and frozen face sent me back to the shelter of the car.

All in all, a great way to end my four days of “Birding the Rock”!

***If you need a guide, or a custom birding itinerary, I highly recommend Jared Clarke of birdtherock.com

Yowza! What a difference a year makes. Last winter I did this same route and had the opposite results. In “Sucky to Super 2025” I had ZERO luck in northwest Minnesota’s Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, but amazing success in the Big Bog: Pine Marten, White-winged Crossbills, Snowshoe Hare.

But this winter it was the complete opposite. ZERO birds or critters along the Big Bog boardwalk, but Glacial Ridge and prairie/aspen parkland surroundings really came through!

FORTY-SIX Gray Partridge in seven coveys was unbelievable! And I was able to photograph one group up close by hiding behind my van.

Other highlights included multiple Rough-legged Hawks, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater Prairie-Chickens, American Goshawk, Great Horned Owl, and a Northern Shrike retrieving a cache of food!

February 1-2, 2026