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!)

Ryan Marshik and I go on a bird photography video trip to the prairie pothole region of North Dakota …specifically Kidder and Stutsman counties west of Jamestown. We use our floating blinds in some alkaline lakes and cattail marshes to photograph ducks, grebes, shorebirds, gulls and more. 

Sparky risks his Canon R5 by putting it only inches above the water line in the floating hide/floating blind.

From the blind/hide we witness Western Grebes doing their rushing display/dance, Franklin’s Gulls courting, Willet courtship, mating ritual of the American Avocet, Eared Grebes dancing, Northern Shoveler’s and Wilson’s Phalarope preening and much more.

We also find a Ferruginous Hawk nest.

What a great place…and only 7 hours from home!

During the icy grip of the February 2021 Polar Vortex cold snap, Sparky travels to the mostly frozen Mississippi River of southeast Minnesota and southwest Wisconsin to photograph Bald Eagles fishing open spots close to shore. He also looks for Golden Eagles inland in Houston and Winona Counties in Minnesota.

Bitter windchills means frozen toes and fingers, but the Canon R5 does an amazing job of autofocus while shooting super slow motion (4K 120fps) video of the eagles.

A trip to Old Frontenac Cemetery nets Sparky’s first photos and videos of Tufted Titmouse in Minnesota.

The trip ends at Crex Meadows near Grantsburg Wisconsin where an unexpected Gray Fox and Red Fox make a dusk appearance.

Parasitic Jaegers migrate through Lake Superior in spring and fall. We often see them harassing gulls in mid to late September off of Duluth, Minnesota’s Park Point and Wisconsin’s Wisconsin Point. Long-tailed, Pomarine and Parasitic can all be seen here, but Parasitic Jaeger is the most common by far. They will somehow single out an individual Ring-billed Gull that it feels has a crop full of food. I suppose they can see the full crop. Then they perform the bird equivalent of a aerial “dog fight” and scare the gull into coughing up its last meal. The jaeger can often catch the regurgitant in mid air!

You will see a successful “hunt” in this video. By the way, “jaeger” is “hunter” in German.

These attacks were filmed in mid September off Superior, Wisconsin’s Wisconsin Point with the Panasonic GH5 at 180 fps.