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.

February 2023: Wolves are not uncommon in Sax-Zim…but to see one is a very special event! In this episode Sparky runs across a semi-cooperative Timber Wolf. Plus we hike down Gray Jay Way to meet a Snowshoe Hare, find some Red Crossbills, meet volunteer Jim and find THREE signs of spring in early February. And Sparky shares the results of the Tiny Bird Art auction.

On a very cold December 19th day, a dozen intrepid birders go forth and find 35 species of birds in the Sax-Zim Christmas Bird Count 15-mile diameter circle. Winter finches were the heroes of the day, but a late afternoon Great Gray Owl (the third of the day) silently searched for voles as Sparky filmed the hunt.

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!

Virtually Live 25 S2E10

In this episode of Virtually Live from the Sax-Zim Bog, Sparky Stensaas shares his favorite sightings from the last month, including FIVE SPECIES OF OWLS, MINK, BOBCAT, ERMINE & WOLF! All in the Sax-Zim Bog of northern Minnesota from early February through early March.

Encounters with FIVE different owl species in Sax-Zim are highlighted… An adorable Northern Saw-whet Owl hunts below a feeder; A Great Gray plunges into the snow and pulls up a vole; chickadees help him find a Barred Owl soaking up the sun at Fringed Gentian Bog; a Snowy Owl NOT on a power pole!; and a Northern Hawk Owl returns to the Bog and performs and preens for the camera.

Sparky also shares some ETIQUETTE for watching and enjoying Great Grays without disturbing them.

In additIon, we watch a Mink hunt for fish, see an Ermine in hunting mode and enjoy a Bobcat just sitting there.

We also make a stop at the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center to see what’s happening there: Pine Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls in slow motion.

And lots more!

Though I do still enjoy a beautiful “bird on a stick” frame-filling portrait, more satisfying to me now is a wider field of view showing the bird or mammal in its native habitat. It tells more of a story about how and where that critter lives. Here are my favorites from 2021

We had about three days of GORGEOUS rime ice in early January 2021. It coated everything in a huge area of northern Minnesota. Rime ice is basically dense fog that freezes. That is how it differs from hoar frost. In hindsight, I should have spent A LOT more time looking for subjects amongst this crazy backdrop since it only occurs rarely. I did find this Common Redpoll out my living room window though. Its red cap adds a much-needed splash of color to the scene.

Maybe this is less “bird-in-the-landscape” and more “specks on the horizon” but the two flocks of geese (squint real hard!) add a lot to this rural western Minnesota farms cape.

It is not everyday that you can take a winner image while taking the garbage cans out to the road! Here three tom Wild Turkeys are in full display mode for the numerous hens just out of frame. I like the backlit feathers and aspen catkins.

I didn’t even notice the moon until well into my trip to North Ottawa Impoundment. Then I had the “aha” moment, and started taking hundreds of photos pointing my camera straight up into the azure blue spring sky. I like this wider image that has the moon in line with the Snow Geese, and I also appreciate that the line of migrating geese goes from upper left to lower right corner of the frame.

Hey, this IS the native landscape for Rock Pigeons! They live/nest in this old warehouse in Superior, Wisconsin. I just like the symmetry of the windows as well as the texture and colors of the weathered boards and tin siding…oh, and the pigeons add to the photo too.

Porcupines are relatively easy to find in late spring in the Sax-Zim Bog due to the fact that they feast on willow and aspen catkins relatively low in the woods. I framed this fella with blobs of yellow by shooting through a flowering willow with a larger aperture.

I do love this shot….BUT…I wish I had left the tern more space on the right so I could crop it so the bird was more to the left of the frame.

The “Badlands” are really a land of plenty for the many critters that live there. Though it appears to be an inhospitable landscape, there is no shortage of wildlife that call it home such as this curious (cautious?) Cottontail.

Gilded Flickers are close cousins to our Northern Flickers, but they are only found in their preferred Saguaro cactus habitat in Arizona and extreme SE California. They even excavate nest cavities in the prickly cacti.

Dusk in the floating blind. I thought shooting time was over, but I noticed the thunderheads turning pink on the horizon and wondered if I could get some ducks in the foreground. It didn’t take long before I maneuvered the blind into position for a raft of four Blue-winged Teal. But before I could get a shot, they jumped into the air and were gone. But I got lucky, as this frame turned out to be my favorite.

Nighthawks are rarely seen in the full sun of daytime. They are primarily a bird of dusk when they take wing to suck up flying insects in the air. That tiny bill opens to reveal a huge gaping mouth, which is all the better for inhaling mosquitos.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

I intentionally included the meandering tracks of this early-returning pair of Trumpeter Swans as it lent a bit of visual interest. This would be a killer shot with more dramatic light.

You don’t often see Tufted Titmouse in Minnesota, and when you do they are usually tucked into an evergreen. I like the out-of-focus leaves that make orangish blobs of color that match the buffy sides of the titmouse.

You build it and they will come. That is certainly true of the impoundment project called North Ottawa. Now every spring, tens of thousands of geese state here on their way north. Quite a sight, and an even more impressive auditory experience.

I HAVE to get down here to photograph this nest in early spring next year. I love this shot, but it would even be better with the spring green of just-emerging leaves to warm up the scene. Big bird, big nest, big tree.

On their way back to the Arctic, Rough-legged Hawks hunt open areas all over the upper midwest.

I just like the gray of the Great Gray amongst the white branches of the aspens. Last year’s leaves add a pop of subtle color.

This picture really shouts, “North Dakota.” A land of open country, grasslands, empty spaces, and prairie birds such as this lone Sharp-tailed Grouse.

A River Otter sighting can brighten a gloomy spring day.

Northeast winds had stacked shards of blue ice along the shore at Lighthouse point on Lake Superior. I used a small aperture to keep the Red-breasted Mergansers in focus while giving some detail to the ice.

I just like the leading lines of the Ocotillo that bring the eye to a stunner of a bird; the Varied Bunting which is in full song.

Montana isn’t the only ” big sky country”! North Dakota has its share of vast skyscapes. A lone Yellow-headed Blackbird sings to the sky its melodious song….STOP…let me rephrase that…A lone Yellow-headed Blackbird croaks out its grating call to any other blackbirds that might be nearby.

Not many other birds share the same habitat as the White-throated Swift! Crevices in bare rock cliffs is where this relative of the swallow nest. And this one is swooping up into its retreat on the one and only Devil’s Tower.

I just LOVE birds perched on rusty barbed wire…and especially if there is an old wood fence post in the frame as well. Jackpot! Black-throated Sparrow in the Chihuahuan Desert on the Arizona-New Mexico line.

I like this photo of Evening Grosbeaks in white-barked Aspens …but I would LOVE it if there were a few more in the center of the frame…and if the others were looking into the center. Oh well.

Just a tiny bit of rim light illuminates these Black-tailed Prairie Dogs at sunset in Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Moody!

Yellow bird amongst yellowish grasses in a snowy scene. An early-arriving Eastern Meadowlark is greeted by an April snowstorm.

Maybe a portrait and not a bird-in-the-landscape but kind of in-between. Enjoyed a wonderful morning in the sagebrush flats south of Pinedale, Wyoming, and the surprisingly colorful Sagebrush Sparrow was a species I’d never photographed before.

Just allow me one more “bird in frosty landscape” shot.

The water has been rising in central North Dakota for years. The last time I visited this spot six years ago, this tree was still on dry land! A lone Western Grebe confirms that this is now a permanent lake.

It is always fun to stumble upon a Great Gray in a spot where you don’t expect them. This was an early morning jaunt in the Superior National Forest to look for Moose (which I did find). I love its perch and wanted to include the whole thing in the photo.

What can I say? I like birds in frosty landscapes!

Well, this concludes my “Top Tens” of 2021 posts. Now I better get out there and start shooting so I will have some Top Tens of 2022 to share next year!

All photos taken with Canon R5 and Canon 100-500mm lens

May Birding Sax-Zim Bog Virtually Live 17 S2E2 May 8 2021

Sparky takes you along on an “early” spring birding trip in northeastern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog. Only 25 degrees at the start, but the good birds warm things up…stunning male Black-and-white Warbler, lingering Evening Grosbeaks, Yellow Warbler, cooperative Merlin, and a very unexpected Great Gray Owl.

We also check in on the highlights from the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog “Things that Go Buzz, Croak, Hoot & Bump in the Night” field trip (can you say “cooperative Great Gray”!). Also a cacophony of frogs (4 species), displaying Snipe and more.

And we see how we discovered a $500 bill and a blond woman’s wig in the Bog. What?!!

You never know what surprises might accompany an episode of Virtually Live!

Sponsored by Friends of Sax-Zim Bog

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.

[**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.

December 30, 2020

As Executive Director of Friends of Sax-Zim Bog, I sometimes have to run supplies up to the Welcome Center, and on today’s early afternoon jaunt I spotted a Coyote crossing the road a long ways ahead. I pulled over and waited, but I wasn’t too excited since on every trip to Yellowstone we seem to get our fill of “yote photos.”

I squeaked to try and get it to come back out of the woods. It did, and to my surprise the “Coyote” turned out to be a Timber Wolf! 

I knew from previous experience that they will sometimes parallel roads while hunting, so I pulled ahead slowly and stopped at a game trail that gave me a bit of a window towards the bog. And sure enough, I saw just the back of a wolf quickly move across the trail.

Now I was getting a bit more confident that I could intercept one of the rarest (or at least rarely seen) of Minnesota’s abundant wildlife. About a half mile up I found a trail I figured it would cross. It was about 15 feet wide and I quietly got out of my van. The woods were silent under the still of last nights 6 inches of snow. 

I walked about a hundred yards in and waited. Sure enough a couple minutes later the wolf appeared! But instead of simply crossing the trail and vanishing, it turned and took a few steps toward me. It couldn’t figure out what I was, which enabled me to get a minute of video and photos. I imagine it was 50 yards away. Amazing experience! Magical experience! You never know what is around any bend in Sax-Zim!

[Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm RF lens at 500mm; 1/500 second at f7.1; ISO 1000; handheld]

Video of Timber Wolf Sax-Zim Bog Minnesota

[Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm RF lens; 1/500 second at f8; ISO 1000; handheld

[Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm RF lens at 270mm; 1/500 second at f5.6; ISO 800; handheld]

[Canon R5 with Canon 100-500mm RF lens at 270mm; 1/500 second at f7.1; ISO 1000; handheld]