**OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS I WILL BE POSTING 10 “TOP TEN” POSTS OF MY FAVORITE WILDLIFE & LANDSCAPE PHOTOS FROM 2021: Bird Portraits, Black-and-white Wildlife, Mammals, Humor, Animals in the Landscape, Creative Wildlife, Insects, Landscapes, Flora and Bird Behavior. (PSSST…Here’s a secret…I have a hard time narrowing down photos to actually my top 10…so there may be more than that in each post!)

What a year! So good to have top-of-the-line equipment again! Thanks to a donation from a good friend, I am now shooting with the Canon R5 and a 100-500mm lens. Over the last couple years I’ve been mainly shooting video…and you can get away with inferior quality lenses when shooting moving pictures vs stills. So my bird photography suffered. But now with new equipment I am thrilled to be “back in the saddle” and shooting sharp birds.

Below are my favorite bird portraits from 2021. By my definition a bird portrait is one where the bird is the main focus of the image, and it is usually in good front light and not exhibiting any extraordinary behavior (that is for the “Behavior” category!). This is not my favorite style of shooting these days, but I do love it when I get a classic portrait of a species I don’t already have photos of. In fact, I have now photographed over 510 bird species in North America. You can see them all at sparkyphotos.com

Probably one of the most exotic looking American birds, the Elegant Trogon is only found in a few wooded canyons in southeast Arizona. And Madera Canyon is where many folks find their lifer. I heard this guy’s hoarse grunts while walking up the canyon. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/500 second at f7.1; ISO 1250; 0 EV; handheld]

Surprisingly the female Wilson’s Phalarope is more colorful than the male. This is the opposite of most birds. And the reason may surprise you…She acts more like a male bird and has several mates. She then lays eggs in multiple nests which the males tend! You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f7.1; ISO 400; +0.33 EV; on tripod head in floating blind]

My old camera could NEVER have got this shot! It was before dawn when I ran into a flock of about 6 Spruce Grouse in far northern Minnesota. I always have the camera set to “Auto ISO” and in these dark conditions it ran all the way up to ISO 12,800! [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 430mm; 1/250 second at f7.1; ISO 12,800; +0.33 EV; handheld]

The whole family was in exile in Pinedale, Wyoming after we totaled our car by hitting a deer at 60mph. We were just fine, but it meant an extra 4 days in Pinedale on the edge of the Wind River Range. I went for a walk along the river that flows right through town and found this cooperative male Red-naped Sapsucker…a species closely related to our Yellow-bellied Sapsucker but only found in the intermountain west. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 328mm; 1/2000 second at f6.3; ISO 2500; +0.33 EV; handheld]

I had heard the Trumpeters trumpeting before I ever saw them. The trail at this location goes below the level of the berm of this mitigation cattail marsh. I was able to sneak up to the edge of the pond and shoot through the cattails to get this portrait. I blew out the whites to create this high key image that shows the intricate detail in the bill. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1000 second at f7.1; ISO 1000; +0.33 EV; handheld]

I was leading a field trip for my organization Friends of Sax-Zim Bog when we spotted some photographers on McDavitt Road looking at something. Of course we stopped and then saw the Great Gray hunting voles along the roadside. The field trip was called “Things that Go Buzz, Croak, Hoot & Bump in the Night” but this owl made no sounds…and neither did the participants as we watched this huge owl in silence. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/640 second at f8; ISO 12,800; -0.33 EV; handheld]

Acorn Woodpeckers are personality-plus birds. This one had just finished “stealing” sugar water from the hummingbirds by hanging from the edge of a hummingbird feeder. They also have a crazy loud (and annoying?) call. Acorns, as you might suspect, are their favorite food, and they stash hundreds to thousands of acorns in shallow holes they drill in certain “granary trees.” You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/640 second at f8; ISO 4000; 0 EV; handheld]

Some birders don’t care much for shorebirds; “They all look the same and are hard to identify,” they say. But check out these two beauties! The Ruddy Turnstone (right) has a harlequin face, and the Red Knot is, well, red! The Red Knot is an unusual visitor to the Duluth/North Shore area in spring. It is much more common on the East Coast. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/2500 second at f7.1; ISO 1000; -0.33 EV; handheld while laying on the beach]

Not “ears” at all, the golden feather tufts of the Eared Grebe give it its common name. I was chest deep in the lake when I took this photo from my floating blind. I wish I would have focused on the front bird instead of the back bird. I did set my camera to f13 to try and get both in focus, but it wasn’t enough. Oh well, I still like the image. I also LOVE their red eyes. You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f13; ISO 2000; +0.33 EV; handheld]

Not your everyday Junco! This is the southern cousin to our Dark-eyed Junco…and like its name implies, it has the opposite of dark eyes. The Yellow-eyed Junco is only found in extreme SE Arizona and SW New Mexico where it just reaches into the U.S. from its main range in the mountains of Mexico. They are very trusting birds and this guy performed for me high up on Mount Lemmon near Phoenix. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/640 second at f8; ISO 1000; +0.33 EV; handheld]

The day was “blaah” but I had to make the most of it since I drove all the way to Wisconsin’s Crex Meadows from my house an hour and a half away. I got low for this shot and I like the shallow depth of field and muted colors of this Sandhill Crane. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1000 second at f7.1; ISO 1250; +0.33 EV; handheld]

Sagebrush Sparrow on Sagebrush….what more do you need to say? Well, for one thing, I really like the background sage blurring into the lovely blue sky. I also was really into sparrows this summer and this one was a surprise. During our exile in Pinedale, Wyoming (read about it in the caption of the Red-naped Sapsucker above) I took an early morning excursion out to “The Mesa” south of Pinedale. It is a vast area of sagebrush where this species along with other sage specialists thrive—Sage Grouse, Brewer’s Sparrow and Sage Thrasher. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1000 second at f7.1; ISO 200; 0 EV; handheld]

I didn’t think much of this photo when I took it, but it came to life on the computer screen. The R5 and RF 100-500 lens creates incredibly sharp images, and I love the subtle rich colors of this Rivoli’s Hummingbird in the shade. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f8; ISO 2000; 0 EV; handheld]

A spring trip to western Minnesota has to be timed perfectly…The massive goose flocks move through quickly and you have to be there when it happens. I timed it well this year and I was thrilled to get this rare-for-Minnesota photo of 3 Ross’s Geese in flight formation. They are not a common species in the state. You can join me on this trip via my YouTube video called Goose-a-palooza. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 300mm; 1/1250 second at f8; ISO 200; 0 EV; handheld]

My fingers ache simply from seeing this image! It was minus-25F WCF when I was laying in the snow shooting eagles plucking fish out of some open water on the Mississippi River. Most of the river was frozen and the few pockets that remained open concentrated the eagles. I was thrilled how well the Canon R5 did with autofocusing on the flying eagles in both stills and video mode. You can feel my pain virtually by watching this ice cold video from the comfort of your living room chair Ice Eagles of the Mississippi. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 451mm; 1/1600 second at f7.1; ISO 250; 0 EV; handheld]

Laying in the snow again produced a pretty neat photo of a pretty neat bird—male Pine Grosbeak. I love their coloration…Is it red? Or pink? Or burgundy? Or a combination of all three? [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/800 second at f7.1; ISO 320; 0 EV; handheld]

Some birds hold special appeal to me, simply because I have dreamt of seeing them for so long that they become mythical. The Ferruginous Hawk is one such creature. Ryan and I found this stunning male out in the prairie potholes of North Dakota. You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 300mm; 1/1250 second at f5.6; ISO 160; -0.33 EV; handheld]

I know Broad-billed Hummingbirds are dirt common in SE Arizona…and that they can be bullies at a feeder…but c’mon! How gorgeous are they! Never get tired of them. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 254mm; 1/1600 second at f5.6; ISO 2500; 0 EV; handheld]

This brute of a jaeger had just flown a circle around me, coming within 15 feet of me to attack a gull on the beach of Wisconsin Point. That is how jaegers (“hunter” in German) make a living on Lake Superior during migration; they harass gulls until they cough up their last meal. The jaeger then scoops up the partially digested meal. It’s not pretty, but it’s pretty fascinating! [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1600 second at f8; ISO 4000; +1 EV; handheld]

A major North American nemesis bird for me has been the Lewis’s Woodpecker. I had looked in over 6 western states over the last 30 years but only had glimpses in Utah and Colorado. So it is ironic that I got my best views of this western species in central Minnesota! It was coming to a feeder of a friend of mine and he was gracious enough to allow birders to come and see his high-profile guest. And what a dandy! Iridescent green back, rosy breast and red and silvery gray throat…Wow! [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1000 second at f8; ISO 2000; 0 EV; handheld]

The floating blind makes you invisible…well, kind of. Canada Geese are hard to fool…and Trumpeter Swans (and Loons) seem very curious. This guy came withing 15 feet of my blind. I like this eye-level monochromatic peek through the cattail stalks. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 343mm; 1/2500 second at f5.6; ISO 400; -0.66 EV; on tripod head in floating blind]

Western Grebes are just simply a funky bird. You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 428mm; 1/1250 second at f6.3; ISO 320; +0.33 EV; on tripod head in floating blind]

Maybe one of our most drab sparrows in America, but even the Botteri’s can look stunning on a Mesquite branch in early-morning light. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 343mm; 1/640 second at f7.1; ISO 500; 0 EV; handheld]

You just simply could not get this shot without a floating blind. Since the Avocet doesn’t recognize the blob as a human, it can relax, and even sleep. You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f7.1; ISO 800; +0.33 EV; on tripod head in floating blind]

Thankfully you can’t tell that I took this photo off the deck of a mountain cabin in Wyoming. I put out a hummingbird feeder and this Broad-tailed found it within 24 hours. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f8; ISO 1250; 0 EV; handheld]

Just a nice portrait of a beautiful raptor. The prairies and grasslands of the Great Plains are home to the Swainson’s Hawk. Ryan and I stumbled on this on in Kidder County, North Dakota. You can virtually join me on this trip via my YouTube video of the experience here: I’m Invisible! Floating Blind on the Prairie Potholes of North Dakota [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/640 second at f9; ISO 100; -0.33 EV; handheld]

Startled by a large Carpenter Bee, this Ash-throated Flycatcher threw open its wings to take off. I like the bit of motion in the wings (unplanned) and also the dreamy look of this image. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/1250 second at f8; ISO 800; 0 EV; handheld]

I find myself shooting wider and wider each year. This allows a bit of the bird’s habitat to show, and makes a better story. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1.

Like woodpeckers, Elegant Trogons nest in tree cavities, but unlike woodpeckers, they do not excavate their own nest. Instead they use natural cavities, especially those in Sycamores where branches have fallen off leaving a nice cavity. You can see the video of this birding trip on YouTube here SE Arizona Birding & Photography Part 1. [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/400 second at f7.1; ISO 320; 0 EV; handheld]

A little bit of sidelighting helped this Pine Grosbeak photo push into the top ten (top thirty really). [Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens at 500mm; 1/320 second at f7.1; ISO 400; 0 EV; handheld]

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!

[May 29 & 30, 2019]

Okay, okay…I must admit that I chose this “click bait” title for the Youtube upload of this video. Bad Sparky!

But will it work? Will I get more views compared to the original title…”EVENING AT NECEDAH: Whooping Cranes, Trumpeter Swans and more”? Probably, but I will never really know for sure since you cannot upload duplicate content to Youtube.

Regardless of all that nonsense, this was a MAGICAL two evenings at southern Wisconsin’s Necedah National Wildlife Refuge. I filmed 90 percent of this from the observation tower at the south end of the refuge. It was a dead calm and quiet evening.

A Whooping Crane was feeding along the marshy shoreline in the company of two Sandhill Cranes. Peaceful for a while, but then the MUCH LARGER Whooping Crane got too close to the intimidated Sandhills. Not really a “battle” per say, but the Sandhills definitely freaked out as the Whooper got close.

HISTORY—The world population of Whooping Cranes was down to 15 birds by 1941. Intense conservation efforts slowly allowed the population to build. The original group winters near Aransas NWR in south Texas and breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada (a permanent non-migratory group spends the year near Kissimmee, Florida).

But biologists felt that they had “too many eggs in one basket” and that a winter oil spill in the Gulf could wipe out the entire migratory population. They started searching for a new place to establish a migratory flock. Enter Necedah.

The Necedah flock was established in 2001 with a handful of cranes that were famously taught to migrate south to Florida by following a glider. The bold experiment worked and today there are 79 adults making the round trip migration from Florida to Wisconsin each year. By the way, Florida was chosen over Texas as another way to spread the risk of a natural disaster killing off ALL the Whoopers.

Whooping Cranes have NEVER been common in North America. Even before white Europeans arrived on the continent the population was estimated to be only 15,000 to 20,000 birds. And they only lay 1-3 eggs but usually two and often only one survives.

Black Flies have caused many nest failures and mortalities at Necedah. Nesting in late April and May is at the peak of Black Fly emergence so incubating females are so tormented by the tiny flies that they abandon the nest. So a new method called “forced re-nesting” has been implemented by biologists to counteract this. They remove the eggs from the first nest of the season, which forces the Whoopers to renest at a later date after the peak of Black Flies. Success rates and fledgings have increased using this method.

The world population is now up to 800 birds as of 2021.

I also got to see and film two other species that I rarely see in the North Woods…the most lovely Red-headed Woodpecker and the caterpillar-feasting Yellow-billed Cuckoo. A real treat!

[Shot with Panasonic GH5 and Canon 400mm f5.6 lens on tripod]

Even 25 degree temps in late May couldn’t put a damper on the breeding warblers of Sax-Zim Bog. Sparky sees Canada’s, Magnolias, Ovenbirds, Blackburnians, Nashvilles, Black-and-whites and several other warbler species. 

On May 28 he goes birding with Warren Woessner and Iris Freeman who made our boardwalk at the Warren Nelson Bog possible. They tell you about a warbler that we didn’t see, but heard very well…the premiere warbler of Sax-Zim.

We also eavesdrop on one of Head Naturalist Clinton’s school field trips, learn about an upcoming pollinator garden expansion, do some chores around the Welcome Center and tally the final numbers from our NINE Warbler Wednesday/Saturday field trips, including photos of the most rare species found on those excursions.

Every spring for the last 10 years or so, a flock of between 30 and 120 American White Pelicans have stopped over along the St. Louis River near Fond du Lac Duluth, Minnesota. A great vantage point is Chamber’s Grove Park. The pelicans are probably on their way to large breeding colonies in the far north of Minnesota or possibly Manitoba.

I made these short videos a couple years ago, but am finally getting them out into the “webosphere.”

They are fascinating creatures to just sit and watch…Enjoy!

Watch an American White Pelican swallow a very large fish in slow motion.

This one is filmed entirely with a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone…Note how the pelicans completely ignore it.

NEW SEASON OF VIRTUALLY LIVE FROM SAX-ZIM BOG!

Virtually Live 16: Sax-Zim Bog in early Spring: Birding—S2E1 April 2021

Birding in the Sax-Zim Bog in April can often mean birding in snow…and we had snow on both mornings of shooting…April 14 & 19….but the birds are returning! In Virtually Live 16 (Season 2, Episode 1)  we search for Sandhill Cranes in the hopes of capturing video of them performing their courtship dance. Sparky finds a cooperative and cute Porcupine along Nichols Lake Road, Ring-necked Ducks on Nichols Lake, and he shares some very cool sightings from this past winter and early April—Great Gray Owl, Porcupine, River Otter, Mink.

It has been a standing joke with my Uncle Howard about my lack of luck with the Lewis’s Woodpecker. You see, Howard lives at elevation near Durango, Colorado, and the Lewis’s is practically a backyard bird for him. Even on a visit to Howard and Judy’s with the family a few years ago, my jinx aura followed me and we only had one distant and poor look at a Lewis’s.

And each holiday season Howard sends us a DVD of his beautiful wildlife and landscape videos set to music. We always look forward to it and watch it as a family. But it seemed to me that there was always a cameo of a Lewis’s Woodpecker amongst the videos. I’m sure he wouldn’t do that just to rub it in 🙂

Rewind to the 1990s and early 2000s: I was birding around the country quite a bit then (pre-wife, pre-kids) and searched in FIVE western states before finding two Lewis’s in Utah. But it was a distant and poor look…and I did not get any photos.

Now fast forward back to January 2021. A Lewis’s Woodpecker shows up at a lake cabin in Morrison County, Minnesota. This is only the SEVENTH record ever for Minnesota. It’s normal range is the Rocky Mountain West with an outpost in the Black Hills of South Dakota…so this is exciting bird news in Minnesota. The bird was “discovered” (by white people) by Lewis & Clark on their 1804 expedition. Its common name honors Meriwether Lewis.

It is a larger woodpecker that is bigger than a Hairy or Red-bellied Woodpecker, but smaller than a Flicker. the pinkish-red belly contrasts beautifully with the glossy green-blue-black back, blue-gray “scarf” and red face and throat.

Unbelievably, the Lewis’s was visiting the suet feeders of a friend of mine, a regular visitor and donor to the Sax-Zim Bog. He is a professor at a local college and brings his students to the Bog each year.

I have photographed over 500 species of birds in the U.S and only have one really bad image of a Lewis’s, but life is busy and I didn’t make the time to drive the 5-hour round trip to see this Minnesota bird. Bridget and my sons, Birk & Bjorn, kept urging me to go. I assumed it was gone already, but I emailed Dr. Bill and found out that it was still there! So on Tuesday of this week (Feb 23) I made the trek.

There were two cars there when I pulled into his wooded oasis on a hill overlooking a lake…But the bird was there too, but flew off before I got my camera out. I only had an hour to watch the feeders before my appointment. The other folks left, and I got the prime spot. Dr. Bill asks that folks stay in their car since disturbing the bird would not be good.

I enjoyed the visiting Red-breasted Nuthatches, Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Blue Jays and even a Pileated Woodpecker for about 45 minutes. But my meeting was coming up, so I was crossing my fingers that it would show up soon. Finally at the last possible moment it appeared in the huge oaks above. It gave me a really nice show, even stopping on a tree trunk at nearly eye-level (a much better photo than on a suet feeder or old deer rib cage!). I had kept the car turned off and the windows down to eliminate any “heat haze” created by shooting out of a warm car into 20 degree air. The Canon R5 and Canon RF 100-500mm lens did its job and I was thrilled!

Lewis’s Woodpecker jinx broken! Maybe I’ll make a holiday DVD for Howard and Judy this Christmas…and maybe, just maybe, there will be a short clip of this Lewis’s Woodpecker included 🙂

[Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm lens]

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.

[**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.

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.