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

Sparky makes a March 8 excursion into the boreal forest of Minnesota’s Superior National Forest. He finds a gorgeous male Spruce Grouse in a beautiful snowfall. Boreal Chickadees and a flock of Redpolls enliven the mostly quiet woods. 

Snowshoeing down a remote creek, Sparky breaks through the ice…Fortunately it’s only a couple feet deep! Will he survive?! Oh wait, I’m the one writing this, so I guess I did get out of that icy situation.

Animal tracking was awesome with the 2 inches of new snow—Moose, Lynx, Snowhoe Hare, Pine Marten, River Otter all left signs of their recent passing.

Sparky also stops for a cross-country ski a loop at the Flathorn-Gogek trails.

Our final stop is at Rich Hoeg’s feeders near Greenwood Creek where we find a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches investigating a possible nest cavity.

A surprise Boreal Owl is the Superstar Bird of the Day!

Mid-Trip Pivot to BIRDING Minnesota’s Big Bog Wildlife PHOTOGRAPHY

February 7-8

The prairies of northwest Minnesota’s Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge is a vast prairie restoration project…and in midwinter it can be a bit bleak. 

Sparky encounters a few cool species including Sharp-tailed Grouse and Northern Shrike but decides to do a MID-TRIP pivot and go to Big Bog Boardwalk even farther north. The mile-long boardwalk in Big Bog State Recreation Area is the longest of its kind. 

Sparky has to snowshoe to get there but finds MANY White-winged Crossbills feasting on Black Spruce cones, a Canada Jay gathering nesting material and he plays hide-and-seek with a Snowshoe Hare. 

But the fun doesn’t stop there as he finds a couple “Hoary” Redpolls and a very focused Pine Marten allows Sparky to join in in his hunt!

Then as a BONUS, Sparky stumbles upon a Great Gray Owl hunting in interesting backlight.

Side trips include birding a GHOST TOWN, finding a historic French Canadian settlement and cemetery, and “relaxing” in Key West.

Sparky takes an early December spin around the Sax-Zim Bog to see what he can find. Redpolls and White-winged Crossbills seem to be everywhere! But he has to bushwhack in to the bog to find a very trusting Black-backed Woodpecker. Canada Jays are curious and give Sparky a close up look. A lingering American Tree Sparrow is also encountered.

Sparky updates all on Tiny Bird Art 2025, BRRRRdathon 2025, the new LIVE Bird Feeder Cam at the Welcome Center and much more.

[**I apologize to all my subscribers…I sometimes forget to post to my thephotonaturalist.com blog. Lately I’ve been posting everything to Facebook, Instagram and other social media, but forget to post here! This is one example. The Polar Vortex has moved on (about TWELVE days being below zero…only a few hours above zero during that entire time!) but I’m just getting around to putting Virtually Live 15 up here. So I promise to pay more attention to this blog in the upcoming year. Thanks!]

Put another log on the fire and enjoy this bitterly cool “Polar Vortex” episode of Virtually Live from Sax-Zim Bog!

Filmed over several days including the morning of February 11 with a record cold Minus-46F start to the day. Yikes!

How do our boreal birds survive this brutal weather? Sparky shares some physiological tricks our feathered fluffballs employ.

Then we flashback to warmer days and snowshoe with Sparky in Yellow-bellied Bog where he discovers an avian excavation. He then flashesback within the flashback to tell the tale of his wolf encounter in the woods.

We also visit the Welcome Center, Admiral Road feeders, Auggie’s Bogwalk at Fringed Gentian to see what birds and mammals are out and about in the below zero temps. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

Cameos by Boreal Chickadees, Pine Grosbeaks, Northern Hawk Owl, Evening Grosbeak, redpolls and even an Ermine.

WHITE ON BLUE
On a sunny but very cold day in late February, I traveled out to western Carlton County in search of a Snowy Owl that had been reported there earlier in the month. I live in the NE corner of Carlton County just south of Duluth, Minnesota. I knew the odds of finding the owl were not in my favor but it was an excuse to see a part of the county I don’t usually traverse. The theme seemed to be “white on blue” with many white birds showing themselves (and a white church!), all on a backdrop of white snow, blue sky and deep blue shadows.

A beautiful Rough-legged Hawk flew up from a field along Finn Road.
It was likely hunting voles, their favorite meal. Though they are nearly as large as a Red-tailed Hawk, they have much smaller talons and a relatively tiny beak for grabbing and eating small rodents. Red-tails on the other hand, can easily take large prey such as cottontail rabbits and so need the larger “equipment.”
This individual’s incomplete belly band tells me that this is an adult male…Females and immatures have a broad black belly band.
They nest in the arctic but move south in winter in search of daylight and small rodents. Minnesota is their “Arctic Riviera.”

A DRIFT OF SNOW BUNTINGS
Another visitor from the arctic tundra that makes the northern states its winter home is the Snow Bunting. Flocks of these “snowbirds” feed on weed seeds along roads and railroad tracks and in farm fields. This flock was foraging actively but flew every time I tried to get close. This, unfortunately for the photographer, is the norm for this species.

HOARY SURPRISE
Surprising was a lone Hoary Redpoll feeding with a flock of Common Redpolls along a country road. Hoaries and Commons are two more species that breed in the north of Canada and Alaska but winter in northern Minnesota. They are an irruptive species (like the Rough-leg above) which means that they move south in varying numbers from year to year depending on the supply of food in the north…Alder catkins and birch seeds for redpolls, and voles for Rough-legged Hawks. We are thrilled to have so many redpolls this year!
Hoaries are much rarer, averaging 1 for every 100 Commons. Note her (males would have a pinkish breast) very frosty white coloration and tiny cone-shaped bill (compared to the longer sharper bill on the Common behind her.)

SUOMALAINEN KIRKKO
This old Finnish Lutheran church (Suomalainen Kirkko = Finnish Church) from 1915 was saved after its doors were closed. It was moved to this location near Hwy 73 and turned into a cultural center. I love the stark white and simple lines of this vernacular architectural gem.

I drove 95 miles and had a great time.
P.S. I did not find the Snowy Owl