Sparky makes two visits (April 21 and April 26) to find out. Highlights include a huge flock of ducks, a late Rough-legged Hawk, 8 species of ducks, Sandhill Cranes. We look for a Canada Jay nest, listen to overhead displaying Snipe and walk the Bob Russell Bogwalk. Sparky also shares about the Sax-Zim Bog connection to a new book about Dutchman Arjan Dwarshuis’s World Big Year record in 2016.

Plus, we find out about the new boardwalk and trail planned for Sax-Zim in 2023.

Churchill Manitoba on Hudson Bay is a premiere destination for bird photography and birding. It is one of the most accessible tundra habitats in North America. Home to Arctic Hare, Willow Ptarmigan, Short-billed Dowitcher, Tundra Swan, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Nelson’s Sparrow, Common Redpoll, Common Eider, Pacific Loon, Red-throated Loon, Hudsonian Godwit, Beluga Whale, Harbor Seal and more.

Cape Merry is an awesome spot to watch the hundreds of Beluga Whales feast on Capelin fish in the Churchill River. Many Red-throated Loons are flying by at eye level!

In part 2 of my June 2022 trip, I take you along on a birding and bird photography trip; Halfway Point, Fox Drive, Twin Lakes Road, Goose Creek Road, Coast Road. We also do some bushwhacking out on the wet tundra looking for birds and nests.

I get a little too close (accidentally) to a Parasitic Jaeger nest. I also takes you along on a zodiac tour of the Churchill River with James of Sea North where we get up close and personal with dozens of Beluga Whales.

(Yes, this was June of 2022…and it has taken me 10 months to finish this part 2 video!)

Is it possible to get into the heart of a Western Grebe colony and witness the amazing and complex courtship of these water birds? It certainly is….if you use a floating blind/floating hide. In this episode of Shooting with Sparky he and Ryan take you out to central North Dakota’s prairie pothole region where spring bird courtship was in full swing! Western Grebes were the star of the show, performing their courtship rituals right in front of us including the “weed-dance,” “dip-shaking,” and of course, “rushing.”

Bird photography/Bird video from a floating blind is not an easy thing…but the Canon R5 makes it MUCH more possible. The animal-eye tracking works wonderfully when shooting at water level.

Other birds encountered included Eared Grebes, Red-necked Grebes, courting Forster’s Terns, American Avocets, Dunlin, and we visit an old friend at their nest, the Ferruginous Hawk.

http://www.thephotonaturalist.com

http://www.sparkyphotos.com

Join Sparky Stensaas in southeast Arizona in July for some birding and bird photography. Mount Lemmon, Box Canyon, Madera Canyon. Highlights include Elegant Trogon, Five-striped Sparrow, Varied Bunting, Lucifer Hummingbird, Botteri’s Sparrow, Hooded Oriole and much more.

The BRRRRdathon—World’s Coldest Birdathon episode of Virtually Live. The BRRRRdathon is an annual fundraiser for my non-profit, Friends of Sax-Zim Bog.

This week we are birding in Grand Marais, Minnesota on Lake Superior just south of the Canadian Border. Sparky is participating in the Wintergreen non-motorized division. We go along with his fat bike birding. But he takes an early morning detour inland into the Superior National Forest where he finds an amorous bull and cow Moose! During the BRRRRdathon we see Long-tailed Ducks, White-winged Crossbills and more. Find out who won this year’s event.

July 27-28, 2020

I visit a great Salt Lake on the Minnesota-South Dakota border (“great” with a small g!) where I kayak out to see Red-necked and Wilson’s Phalaropes, 532 Franklin’s Gulls, Eared Grebes and many other interesting birds. Next stop is Yellow Medicine County and a cooperative pair of Western Kingbirds. Then on to camp and explore Blue Mounds State Park on the Coteau de Prairie where we find Blue Grosbeaks, Upland Sandpipers, booming Nighthawks and groups of close Turkey Vultures. Also a side trip to Touch the Sky Prairie NWR and many fascinating prairie wildflowers.

This August 2020 episode explores Northern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog in late summer. In this episode we go birding in the “slow” time of year. But a couple cooperative LeConte’s Sparrows in a flower-filled field steal the show. We also stop by Nichols Lake/Lake Nichols and bird the bog stretch of Admiral Road where we find Boreal Chickadees, Palm Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Canada jays and more.

Sparky also shows us the new platform and bench on Gray Jay Way trail north of the Welcome Center. And we go on a kayak journey on the Whiteface River where a pair of shy River Otters briefly make an appearance. Stunning emerald green and black Ebony Jewelwing damselflies perch along the riverbank.

A LONG 500-mile day trip birding in west central Minnesota. Join me on this “Armchair birding tour” as I photograph American Avocets at the North Ottawa Impoundment (find a rare Snowy Egret), get super slow-motion video of Chimney Swifts in flight in downtown Osakis, shoot Western Grebes on Lake Osakis, and visit a Great Egret/Black-crowned Night-Heron/Double-crested Cormorant colony at Adam’s Park/Grotto Lake in Fergus Falls.

I also discover that a NASA astronaut was born and raised in tiny Vining, Minnesota (pop. 63), which is also the home of the world’s largest clothespin.

Slow-motion video with the Panasonic GH5 and Sigma 50-500mm lens.

Virtually Live 4 Birding Field Trip to Sax-Zim Bog May 4, 2020

The day starts out promising with sunny skies, calm winds and a very cooperative drake Wood Duck, and then it gets even better with some RARE BIRDS for Sax-Zim: the Meadowlark of the prairies, a sparrow not normally found in northeast Minnesota, a surprising warbler on territory, and a pair of grassland-loving shorebirds (Thanks to FOSZB Head Naturalist Clinton and his eagle-eyed wife Kristina!). A very FAT and cooperative “quill pig” is the “Superstar Mammal of the Day,” but what will be the Superstar Bird? Stick around for the surprise procreative ending to Sparky’s Virtually Live field trip!

Tuesday, April 28, 2020.
Join Executive Director Sparky Stensaas on a 5 hour birding, photography, video tour in northeastern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog. We visit Nichols Lake, the Warren Woessner Bog Boardwalk, Admiral Road willow flats and the Welcome Center. Wild Turkeys in full display, slow motion video of Wilson’s Snipe doing their aerial courtship display, Porcupine eating willow catkins.

NOTE: If you view in highest possible format, you can actually see the stiff outer tail feathers of the Wilson’s Snipe vibrating. The air rushing through these specially adapted feathers is what creates the “winnowing” aerial courtship display sound.