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!

Owen and Quentin Reiser are a couple of interesting dudes who did a U.S. Big Year of birding via Kia Minivan in 2024. If you haven’t seen their LISTERS movie, you must do it now! Over TWO MILLION people already have! And don’t forget to pick up Quentin’s hilarious book about their Big Year.

They first contacted me in late 2023 to do a Zoom call so they could ask me questions about birding and doing a Big Year. I got a taste of their unique world view when their last question was, “How many Canada Geese could you take in a fight if you only had a jean jacket.” Well, the obvious answer is six or seven!

But we ended up birding together in Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog twice, and once in Texas. They helped me find a Groove-billed Ani in San Benito…a bird I hadn’t seen in decades! I helped them find the Black-backed Woodpecker in Sax-Zim Bog.

Their resulting movie on YouTube (LISTERS: A Glimpse into Extreme Birdwatching) has really struck a chord with millions of birders and NON-Birders. Let’s spend some time with these guys now out in the field and find out a little bit more about them.

After dropping my youngest son off at his aunt & uncles in Madison, WI in early June, I spend two partial days at Necedah NWR,  one of my favorite National Wildlife Refuges. And it does not disappoint!

I capture the mechanism for Common Nighthawk booming in slow motion video. Crazy stuff!

A pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers entertain me with their bold antics. I share my early memories of this species at my grandparents farm in South Dakota (including the world’s best photo of this species that I took at age 14:)

I stumble across a couple species that I never see in the North Woods including a Willow Flycatcher (“FITZ-bew”) and a cooperative and beautiful Blue-winged Warbler.

And I can’t forget the rare butterfly that makes Necedah its home….the “Karner” Melissa Blue butterfly. I spend some quality time with this beauty amongst the native Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis).

An evening atop the Observation Tower is always peaceful, and this time I spot a pair of Whooping Cranes feeding on the far side.

Finally, I stop in to the very well done Nature Center. A great place in a great refuge!

Birding Northern California Part 4—Pine Flat Road, Titlow Mountain Road, Golden Gate Park. Bird Highlights include booming Sooty Grouse, Red-breasted Sapsucker nest, Mountain Quail covey, California Thrasher, Cassin’s Vireo, Bell’s Sparrow. And Sparky squeeks in a Bobcat to within 20 feet!

Lots of positive and exciting things going on in Sax-Zim Bog! Sparky spends some time with the Evening Grosbeak researchers David and Mallory as they track the birds with satellite transmitters.

We also enjoy one last look at the beautiful white male Snowy Owl that graced Sax-Zim with its presence for a few weeks before being hit and killed by a train.

Sparky interviews young brothers Ari & Asher from Tennessee about their trip, and also runs across Big Year birders Owen & Quentin whom share in a close Black-backed Woodpecker sighting.

And how about some hockey at the Zim Rec rink?

Evening Grosbeaks Galore! Winter Finches Arrive Sax-Zim Bog 

Winter finches have arrived in the Sax-Zim Bog! Evening Grosbeaks are abundant with lesser amounts of Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls. Sparky goes on an early winter jaunt in the snowy Sax-Zim Bog in search of winter birds. A junco is an unexpected find at the Sisu feeders at the Zabin. We also stop by the Welcome Center and find a Pileated Woodpecker feasting on a deer rib cage. A flock of Bohemian Waxwings make a cameo along Nichols Lake Road. A side trip takes us to Mary Lou’s new garage and outdoor “birder lounge.” Sparky also shares details about the upcoming Tiny Bird Art online auction AND the BRRRRdathon-World’s Coldest Birdathon. Come on along!

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]

Come along on a wildlife photography and video day trip in Minnesota’s Superior National Forest (April 17, 2020). This Shooting with Sparky episode takes you along as I search for Moose and displaying Spruce Grouse. Guest appearances by drumming Ruffed Grouse, Red Crossbills, Saw-whet Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-backed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Trailing Arbutus and more. Enjoy this virtual field trip!

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Who doesn’t love Saguaro Cactus? Saguaros (“suh-WHAR-oh”) look amazingly like their cartoon counterparts. They are tall and very impressive. And how about those showy white flowers that are several inches across? And to top it off, when their fruits ripen, they attract a host of bird species that feed on the red flesh.

Saguaro cactus forest
[Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona]

Gila Woodpecker at nest hole in Saguaro Cactus. It is very common for this woodpecker (and several others including Gilded Flicker) to nest in these cacti.
[Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, Arizona]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

House Finch on Ocatillo stalk
[Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona]

White-winged Dove feeding on Saguaro cactus fruits.
[Tucson Mountain Park near Tucson, Arizona]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Cholla and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Barrel Cactus and Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Brilliant Jumper (jumping spider) (Phidippus clarus) on Saguaro cactus

Brilliant Jumper (jumping spider) (Phidippus clarus) on Saguaro cactus

Saguaro cactus offering me a bouquet!
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus fruit has red flesh.
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Dancing Saguaro cactus
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

Saguaro cactus blossoms
[Sony A6500 with Rokinon 12mm f2.0 lens; hand-held]

This is an exercise I do every January…Pick my favorite nature images from the previous year. And I obviously don’t limit it to 10 images…It’s just too painful. So here is my “Top Eighteen” bird images of 2016. I’m also going to do a “Top Ten” for my favorite Creative Wildlife Images and Mammals.
I’m not saying these are the images that YOU are going to like best…nor are they images that are technically perfect, but they are, for various reasons, my favorites. So here they are in no particular order…

Northern Cardinal, New Hope, Minnesota.
Do red and pink compliment each other? …or clash? I don’t mind the color combo of the red Northern Cardinal and pink-flowered crabapple in this photo…but I do think the touch of blue sky helps.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/400 at f5.6; ISO 320; handheld]

American Goldfinch, Skogstjarna, Carlton County, Minnesota.
Would you be surprised if I told you I took this from the comfort of a camp chair in my yard? Well, I was in a blind, and the “pond” is actually a pool made from a 4×8 sheet of plywood and some 2x4s….an infinity pool for birds! I love how the yellow of the sunflowers matches the Goldfinch’s plumage. I was hoping for a better pose and head position but I’ll take it.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/200 at f5.6; ISO 320; tripod]

Barred Owl, Aitkin County, Minnesota.
Okay, to be honest, I was looking for Great Gray Owls when this Barred Owl appeared along a remote stretch of road. And unlike usual encounters with Barred Owls, this guy stuck around…He was very intent on some unseen rodent below the roadside snow. So I sat and watched. He finally plunged down but was unable to get the vole, but he paused long enough to get his portrait in early morning light.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/2000 at f5.6; ISO 800; handheld, braced on car window frame]

Wild Turkey, Skogstjarna, Carlton County, Minnesota.
I never dreamed that I’d have Wild Turkeys in my woods in northeast Minnesota. In fact, I had to go to the extreme SE corner of the state in the 1980s just to add one to my state list…That’s about 300 miles south! But 30 years later, I have upwards of 30 that stop by my feeding station to load up on cracked corn. This guy seems to be wondering what that white stuff is falling from the sky.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/50 at f7.1; ISO 500; handheld, and taken through living room window]

Black-backed Woodpecker nest, Norris Camp, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota.
Note how Black-backed Woodpeckers peal all the bark from around their nest hole…this is NOT done by Hairy Woodpeckers or other 4-toed woodpeckers. They also prefer living conifers with heart rot. I watched these busy parents and constantly begging young for a couple hours.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/320 at f5.6; ISO 320; fill flash; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Black-bellied Plover, Wisconsin Point, Lake Superior.
Shorebirds hold a special attraction for me. Partly because of where I live…in the middle of the country, but close to the “inland sea” of Lake Superior. I often scour the sandy beaches of Duluth, Minnesota’s Park Point and Superior, Wisconsin’s Wisconsin Point. I found this breeding plumaged Black-bellied Plover on the orange-lichened boulders of the Wisconsin Point breakwall. I like the contrast of the black and white bird, orange lichens and blue sky.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/1000 at f5.6; ISO 100; handheld, braced on rock]

Broad-winged Hawk nestlings, Welcome Center, Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota.
Jessica Dexter and I found this nest during our Friends of Sax-Zim Bog BioBlitz in July. What alerted us was a splash of whitewash on the shrubs along the path…We looked up and Bingo! They both fledged successfully and many folks got to watch them through a spotting scope from a safe distance.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L with 1/4x teleconverter; 1/180 at f8; ISO 200; fill flash; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Calliope Hummingbird, Park Point, Duluth, Minnesota.
This was only the second Minnesota record of a Calliope Hummingbird…and the other was a late fall blah-plumaged bird. This male was in all his summer splendor! He flared his gorget when a “rival” Ruby-throated Hummingbird would come by. Many folks got to see this stunner over a couple days along a dune boardwalk at the Duluth shore of Lake Superior.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/125 at f5.6; ISO 1600; fill flash; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Forster’s Tern, Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge, Minnesota.
Several Forster’s Terns were making a circuit along this creek outflow. And the fishing must have been great, for they frequently plunged head-first into the water, and like this one, came up with beakfuls of small fish. I like the graceful swoop of the tern’s long tail.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/1250 at f5.6; ISO 320; handheld, braced on car window frame]

Gray Jay, Owl Avenue, Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota.
Gray Jay taking flight from a small spruce.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/1600 at f5.6; ISO 1000; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Great Gray Owl, Admiral Road, Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota.
I do have 100s of decent Great Gray Owl photos, but I like this one because it places the owl in its favored habitat…Black Spruce-Tamarack forest.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/500 at f5.6; ISO 400; handheld]

Mountain Bluebird, Yellowstone National Park, Montana.
Boring pose but I love the merging of blues from Mountain Bluebird to sky…Someone famous once said (can’t remember who), “the bluebird carries the sky on its back.”
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/2500 at f6.3; ISO 200; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Northern Saw-whet Owl, near Ely, Minnesota.
My friend Bill Tefft found this nesting Northern Saw-whet Owl in an old Pileated Woodpecker cavity…and I jumped at the chance when he offered to escort me there. World’s cutest owl?
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/250 at f5.6; ISO 250; fill flash; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Northern Shrike, Sax-Zim Bog.
In early spring, the willows blush with bright red bark. A fantastic backdrop for this lingering Northern Shrike who will soon head north to its breeding grounds in northern Canada. The blue sky helps the shot as well.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm; 1/800 at f5.6; ISO 250; handheld]

Pine Grosbeak male, Welcome Center, Sax-Zim Bog, Minnesota.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/320 at f5.6; ISO 800; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Ruffed Grouse, Carlton County, Minnesota.
Falling snow can be the bane or a boon to a wildlife photographer. The trick is to not use too fast a shutter speed. That will create distracting blobs of white. It is better to slow the shutter down a bit and get some motion in the falling flakes. Here I used 1/320 of a second.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/320 at f5.6; ISO 500; braced on car window frame]

Savannah Sparrow, Skogstjarna, Carlton County, Minnesota.
Another visitor to my backyard bird pool set up. This Savannah Sparrow is enjoying a bath on a hot summer afternoon. I like the splashing water droplets.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L; 1/320 at f5.6; ISO 500; Manfrotto tripod with Whimberly Sidekick]

Spruce Grouse male, Spruce Road, Lake County, Minnesota.
I was guiding a couple from England when we found this male Spruce Grouse in far northern Minnesota…It was a lifer for both of them…the only one we got that day. He posed for us for quite awhile. They are a grouse of the boreal forests of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, Alaska and Canada.
[Canon 7D with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM at 400mm; 1/125 at f6.3; ISO 400; handheld]