In Part 1 from Churchill on Hudson Bay…

My wife Bridget gave me some money for Father’s Day a few years ago to finally go see a Polar Bear. I think she was sick of my whining that I’d never seen one on my June trips to photograph birds up in Churchill.

But it wasn’t enough money.

So I saved up and went in mid September 2025. 

I went just on my own, rented a truck and drove around the limited road network outside of Churchill Manitoba on Hudson Bay.

You see the Polar Bears congregate here to wait for the sea ice to freeze so they can get on with doing what they love…Hunt seals from the ice! 

Well, it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought. But soon after foolishly getting stuck in the sand right in the middle of a known Polar Bear area, I did actually spot a speck of white that was NOT a pale-colored rock or old mattress,  It actually had fur!

This was the first of four Polar Bear sightings…one each day. And I think they were all the same bear! I named him Larry. Larry the Polar Bear.

One encounter stood out above the rest; mainly because he came to me! And quite close!

With binoculars and camera, Sparky heads off to beautiful Box Canyon in southeast Arizona. Only a few miles from the world-famous Madera Canyon, Box Canyon hosts some dry hillside species that are rare in most of this area. In fact, a cooperative and bold Five-striped Sparrow perches nicely for Sparky right off the rugged road that traverses Box Canyon.

Sparky also finds a nest of a pair of animated Thick-billed Kingbirds, but one of the babies is not quite ready to fledge.

Walking a random wash in the canyon leads to a close-up encounter with a Varied Bunting. Multiple evenings were spent with new friends listening for the CODE 3 Buff-collared Nightjar. This would be a Lifer…but did Sparky hear it? You’ll have to watch to see.

One stormy night yields a friendly Tarantula, and a 3-foot Black-tailed Rattlesnake sporting its lovely green scales.

In this third episode of Birding & Bird Photography from southeast Arizona, I head 2 miles into a remote canyon to find a rare warbler from Mexico.

Sycamore Canyon off the rugged Ruby Road is an out-of-the-way birding location just a few miles from the Mexican border. It is a common immigrant route for those fleeing Mexico, and signs were everywhere. A Border Patrol helicopter suddenly appeared over the canyon wall and zipped right overhead. I guess the fact that I was carrying a camera, and was headed in the “wrong” direction signaled that I was just a crazy birder and not an illegal migrant.

I meet Connor and Alex on the way in. A day earlier they had helped me with info about the Berylline Hummingbird at Santa Rita Lodge, and once again they provide me with valuable info on finding another rare bird.

This time it was the Rufous-capped Warbler, a “code 3” rarity from Mexico. It is seen nearly every year somewhere in SE Arizona or Texas but usually only one or two birds. In fact, between 1993 and 2025 it was only not found in the U.S. in 1997.

After getting turned around and backtracking, I eventually find the warbler. It is a real stunner, and looks more like a Chat than a wood warbler. I enjoy some brief looks as it forages in the shrubs and small trees in the canyon.

Other highlights include a Black Vulture (small SE AZ population), Rock Wren, several Canyon Wrens (nice! I rarely have seen), singing Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Hepatic Tanager, and Western Tanager.

Herps included a brief look at a Black-necked Garter Snake, and photos of Clark’s Spiny Lizards, and Elegant Earless Lizard.

I find a DOR (dead-on-road) lifer Hog-nosed Skunk on Ruby Road.

Sycamore is a very remote canyon, and there a few things every visitor should know:

–The road in is rugged but drivable by a rental car

–The “trail” in the canyon is undeveloped at best, and it is very easy to lose the route.

–Must bring plenty of water, sunscreen, hat, etc.

–No cell service! So make sure you have a compass or other ways to navigate.

–Trail is rocky but flat. Easy in places, but tough in others.

–After about 1.8 miles the route is blocked by a cliff and a small waterfall and ledge. It takes some real scrambling to make it around this point (I did it but I was a bit turned around and had already gone past the warbler location)

Southeast Arizona Birding—August 10-16, 2025

In early August I brought Bjorn down to spend a week at his grandma’s farm in Illinois. But instead of making the 18-hour round trip drive twice in seven days, I instead flew from Peoria to Tucson for some monsoon season desert birding.

It was a bizarre pre-dawn drive on the rough Ruby Road to get to the remote Sycamore Canyon. The only cars that I saw were 7(!) Border Patrol trucks. Obviously this is a commonly used route for migrants. 

Connor and Alex, grad students at Texas A&M had arrived just before me, along with a couple Border Patrol agents on foot. They took off at a quick pace while I took my time along the trail…or maybe I should write “trail,” since it was often barely perceptible which way one should go. It is a fairly flat trail but the heat, lack of signage and uneven substrate make it a challenging journey.

Alex and Connor gave me a GPS location and a good habitat description on their way out, but Google Earth was not connecting in this remote valley and I overshot the spot. I knew it was like 1.75 miles int the canyon but I “overthunk” it and ended up doing some risky boulder scrambling to get around a steep dry waterfall slope and rock cliff.

Then suddenly a Border Patrol helicopter popped over the cliffs above and buzzed down the canyon and over my head. I know they are used to occasional birders so ignored me. Odd feeling to be in such a remote place all alone and have a helicopter check you out.

But I get it…this must be a well-used crossing point. I saw much sign of folks traveling through this canyon: abandoned canteen with home-sewn bluejean cover, tuna packets, random clothes, Red Cross blanket. 

Finally I turned around. It just didn’t feel like this was the spot Alex and Connor had described. They also said it was singing so I was listening for the song and its call chip note, which to me sounds like that of a Junco. After another sketchy rock scramble and a half mile hike back up down the canyon I heard the call note.

There it was! A male in all his glory…lemon yellow with a stout bill and namesake rufous cap. I got to spend a grand total of 37 seconds with him before he flitted off through the wash-side brush. ABA area lifer number 658! (or so…I need to redo my checklist).

Rufous-capped Warbler is a Mexican species that only rarely shows up in the U.S. and when it does, almost always in SE Arizona.

I plopped down on a rock on the hillside and just waited and watched for another 45 minutes or so, but the Rufous-capped did not show again. The Border Patrol agents did pass by but evidently did not see me only 20 yards away.

It was now getting quite hot. I met a few other die hards on their way in to find the warbler. I helped one young guy who had gotten off the trail and was a bit turned around (easy to do here!).

Other highlights: Rock Wrens, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, singing and close-up Canyon Wrens, Clark’s Spiny Lizard, Elegant Earless Lizard, and a very unexpected Black Vulture(!), an eastern species that I learned has a tiny outpost in SE Arizona including Sycamore Canyon. Also a sad but interesting find…Road-kill Hognosed Skunk.

**I am working on my YouTube videos about this Arizona trip, so stay tuned!

Oslo the Magnificent—”DRAGON STYLE”

Thank you Icelandair for our layover in your beautiful country! An added “bonus” to flying out of Keflavik is that you get to load the plane from the tarmac….always fun when it’s raining . Then we found out that we had different seat assignment as they had to use a different plane, some rickety old thing.  It didn’t make us feel any better when two flight attendants had to try four times to shut the manual sliding door right by our seats. As I watched them struggle, I wondered why parachutes aren’t standard issue, like the life vests… “Simply pull the red rip cord to fully deploy your parachute…Please get sucked out of the plane before helping others deploy their chutes.” I stared at that door the whole flight….Kidding…Not kidding.

But the slightly-less-than-three-hour flight went well. We left Iceland at 10:45 and arrived in Oslo at 3:45pm…wait…that math doesn’t add up. Turns out that not only is Norway in a different time zone, but they are also on daylight savings time, unlike Iceland. After collecting our luggage. We check bags instead of carry-ons even though all our bags are carry-on size compliant. To us it is worth going to the luggage carousel and risking a lost or delayed bag versus hauling them around the terminal and struggling to find a spot in the overhead bins.

SCANDIA HOLMENKOLLEN HOTEL

Now it was late afternoon, but fortunately sunset isn’t until nearly 11pm. We grabbed a high-speed tram that took us up towards the Holmenkollen just a half-hour northwest of downtown. “Mind the gap,” is now a phrase that is engrained in our heads, since the tram recording belted it out at nearly every stop…and there were a lot of stops.

From the tram stop it was about a 1.3 mile walk to our Scandic Holmenkollen Park hotel. And did I mention that the walk was nearly vertical? Great anaerobic workout for these American tourists! If it weren’t for the incessant and loud chattering of the broken wheel on my rolling luggage wobbling and hobbling over the pavement, steps, curbs and cobble, it would have been a very pleasant hike!

I chose our hotel for three reasons…1. It was near the famous Holmenkollen Ski Jump and Ski Museum, which I wanted to show the kids. 2. It was a Scandic Hotel chain of which I am a member. 3. It had a family-size suite so all four of us could share a room, plus an outstanding breakfast buffet. Oh, and finally, maybe most importantly?, on social media it simply looked like the coolest old wood “Viking-esque” hotel I’d ever seen. And the view overlooking the city and harbor wasn’t too shabby either.

And did I mention the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet? Not even a sliver of resemblance to an American hotel included breakfast, this massive spread included freshly-baked croissants and crusty breads, multiple cheeses, meats, yougurts, Musli, veggies, waffles, eggs, sausages and about 100 other things…plus really, really good coffee.

The wooden part of the hotel was designed by Balthazar Lange and completed in 1894 in the Dragestil style of Norwegian Romantic period architecture (1880-1910). Literally translated to “Dragon Style,” Dragestil buildings draw their inspiration from Viking-era folklore (dragons) and medieval Stavkyrkke (stave churches). Stylized dragon heads arc from the multiple peaked roofs, overhanging levels, timber walls are often stained dark brown or tarred, tall steep-pitched spires add height and drama; all these features make for a dramatic and imposing building. Later in this post we go to yet another world-class Dragestil building just up the road at Frognerseteren.

The Hotel was commandeered by the Nazis during WWII as a base of operations for  the German Airforce Luftwaffe headquarters. I picked this up from Wikipedia but can’t find any other collaboration of this bit of history.

HOLMENKOLLEN SKI JUMP & MUSEUM

Just a short walk from the hotel is the world famous (and massive) Holmenkollen Ski Jump. I had been here for a World Cup cross-country ski race back in the 1980s (you might be surprised that I was a spectator, and not a participant ). It looked completely different then, and I also approached from below, then and now we were above, so it all seemed foreign to me. But then I realized that the jump tower itself was all new; a gleaming (literally glowing in the setting sun) piece of art masquerading as a world-class ski jump.

Built into the base of the ski jump is an engaging Ski Museum that engages most of your senses. If you are a fanatical Nordic skier/ski fan, you will love this museum (we knew many of the skiers and explorers celebrated within), if not, well, you will definitely enjoy the gift shop!

One cool connection to home was the listing of Duluth, Minnesota ski jumper Gene Kotlarek who set the distance record for the new Holmenkollen Ski Jump in 1963. He went on to compete in the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics.

FROGNERSETEREN

Further up the hill, at the end of the tram line, is Frognerseteren (“The Frogner’s mountain pasture”), a wild, “city park” densely forested and laced with trails for hiking, roller-skiing (yes, that’s a thing there!) and mountain biking. [It is a major cross-country skiing area in winter.] We did a nice hike (giant slugs!) followed by a snack from the dramatic Dragestil-style Frognerseteren designed by Holm Munthe and completed in 1891. Formerly a sports center, today inside you can find Café Seterstua and Restaurant Finstua, and much of the original interior décor.

Interesting fact…The elevation difference between the start of the tram in Oslo Central and the Frognerseteren Station is 1,568 feet. The largest elevation gain of any city metro system in the World!

VIKING HORSES, LITTLE SHEEP, FUNNY BIRDS

For over a thousand years now, since a decree at Iceland’s Althing in 982 AD, it has been forbidden/illegal to bring in any horses to Iceland. And once a horse leaves Iceland, it is banished forever, never to return to its homeland. Serious stuff! Today this law is mainly to protect the breed from diseases, but also to preserve the genetic purity of Icelandic “Viking” horses. They are so named because the first Scandinavian settlers, arguably Vikings, brought horses across the ocean in longships from 860-935 AD. Isolated on this rugged island for a millenia, they are the purest breed on the planet.

They are a hardy breed, able to withstand Iceland’s harsh climate, even growing a shaggy winter coat. A little larger than ponies, but small compared to most horses, they tip the scale at about 800 pounds and stand 13-14 hands (52-55 inches).

They are still used for sheepherding by farmers, but most are kept for racing, recreational riding or breeding. They are quite strong and intelligent.

Currently about 300,000 of these Icelandic horses are found across the globe with 40% in Iceland, and another sizable number in Germany. There are clubs in 22 countries.

Some other interesting facts from Wikipedia…

• Between 1783 and 1784, around 70% of the horses in Iceland were killed by volcanic ash poisoning and starvation after the 1783 eruption of Lakagígar. The eruption lasted eight months, covered hundreds of square miles of land with lava, and rerouted or dried up several rivers
• The early Germanic peoples, including those living in Scandinavia, venerated horses and slaughtered and ate them at blóts throughout the Viking Age.^[25] When these settlers arrived in Iceland, they brought their beliefs, and their horses, with them.^[3] Horses play a significant part in Nordic mythology with many, including Odin‘s eight-footed pacer named Sleipnir, allowing gods and other beings to travel between realms and across the sky.
• Horses were often considered the most prized possession of a medieval Icelander.^[27] Indispensable to warriors, war horses were sometimes buried alongside their fallen riders,^[12] and stories were told of their deeds. Icelanders also arranged for bloody fights between stallions; these were used for entertainment and to pick the best animals for breeding.
•  Stallion fights were an important part of Icelandic culture, and brawls, both physical and verbal, among the spectators were common. The conflicts at the horse fights gave rivals a chance to improve their political and social standing at the expense of their enemies and had wide social and political repercussions, sometimes leading to the restructuring of political alliances.

LITTLE FUNNY SHEEP

Sheep literally dot the entire landscape of Iceland it seems. Like their equine neighbors, these sheep are also the descendants of Viking/Scandi settlers in the 800s and 900s.

North European Short Tailed sheep are a horned sheep that is medium in size but stocky, short-tailed and thin-boned. Most are white, but black and white ones stand out. Their coat is double-layered for warmth and waterproofing, with a fine inner layer. No wool on their faces. Sheared twice a year, the wool is highly revered by fiber artists and knitters.

Thirty breeds of North European Short Tailed sheep still exist across Scandinavia/Nordic countries, all being descendants of these Viking sheep.

Through the 1940s sheep were mainly used for milk in Iceland, but now they are mostly meat animals. Lamb and mutton production is about 80% of  the sheep farmer’s income now. Wool makes up another portion of the sheep farmer’s income.

Lambs are vigorous and lively, right out of the “chute,” so to speak; the first twin even able to stand and nurse before its sibling is born!

Have you ever heard of “Leadersheep”? This is fascinating subject to me. Evidently, on rare occasions a sheep is born that has superior senses and leadership traits. This genetically-advantaged sheep is known, and revered, as a “Leadersheep.”
The info below is from Dr. Olafur R. Dyrmundsson of The Farmers Association of Iceland:

“Some people may argue that sheep are not intelligent and clever. However, it is well known that sheep have their own intelligence…. We should not underestimate the wisdom of domestic animals.

Without (sheep) Icelanders would not have survived throughout centuries of hardship on an isolated island just south of the Arctic Circle. Even grazing in winter had to be utilized…and somehow a unique, small population of sheep developed which displayed outstanding abilities to help the farmers and shepherds to manage the flock on pasture, namely “Leadersheep.”

There is still a population of 1,000-1,200 Leadersheep within the national population of just under 500,000 [sheep]).

Most of the Leadersheep are colored and horned, even four-horned in a few cases. They…have been selected for intelligence, not for meat traits. Leadersheep are graceful and prominent in the flock, with alertness in the eyes, normally going first out of the sheep-house, looking around in all directions, watching if there are any dangers in sight and then walking in front of the flock when driven to or from pasture. They may even guard the flock against predators. There are many stories on record about their ability to sense or forecast changes in the weather even, refusing to leave the sheep-house before a major snowstorm. One wonders how better use could be made of such genes in the future.”

As a sidenote, the cabins we stayed at were on a sheep farm that also had an Icelandic Sheepdog. Adorable!

WILD BIRDS…CRAZY BIRDS

I repeat, this was NOT a birding nor photography trip! But how is a guy who has spent 45 years of his life obsessed with such hobbies supposed to put on blinders when in such an incredible place?! I could not, and I took those few precious moments I could wrangle to enjoy some of Iceland’s most iconic wild birds.

First up is the Puffin. I already talked about our surprise sightings at Reynisfjara but I found a few more images I like.

I also had a terrifying encounter with a MASSIVE roadside Puffin 

The most productive area was right around our inland AirBnB farm cabins. I explored the surrounding tundra while Bridget and the boys hiked up to the top of a nearby hill.

Whimbrels (same species as we have in North America) flew circles around me, which indicated that they might be nesting in the vicinity.

Close to Reykjavik we had a Redwing.

Fenceposts along the road were the favorite perches of Common Redshanks, a large and vocal shorebird that doesn’t need a shore. I love their red legs and bill. A dozen or more could be found along our short drive inland from the Ring Road.

I’ve saved my favorite for last. How can you not love the personality-plus Eurasian Oystercatchers (known as “oystercrackers” in our family). There were multiple foraging and flying on this patch of tundra. I layed down when I could to get some eyelevel shots…and I even got some winners, even with my substandard bird photography gear.

Bjorn came down the mountain first, and within minutes found a nest! He is a very observant kid. It had one newly hatched chick and two eggs, one of which was pipping! We took a few photos and left them in peace.

The sounds were about as satisfying as the sightings.

NEXT: Iceland #6 Spur of the Moment Glacier

In this episode of Shooting with Sparky, he goes out to the Minnesota-South Dakota border to try and photograph shorebirds, grebes and ducks by kayak. Salt Lake Wildlife Management Area is Minnesota’s ONLY alkaline (salty) lake. Due to the alkaline nature, it breeds millions of brine flies and brine shrimp, which the grebes, phalaropes and other shorebirds love to feast on.

But first Sparky birds Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge where TWO Say’s Phoebes had been reported, a western bird that is rarely seen in Minnesota. Sparky finds both and has some great photo opportunites.

He also enjoys a patch of Prickly Pear Cactus (Did you know Minnesota has cactus? THREE species!). Other Big Stone highlights include the aerial flight of Common Nighthawks, singing (croaking?) Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Clay-colored Sparrow, and a acrobatic pair of Painted Turtles! [Sparky also gets a lifer jumping spider! (Marpissa pikei…Pike’s Slender Jumper) but it didn’t make it into the final cut :(]

On to Salt Lake! And the major revelation of this trip was that shorebirds don’t recognize a human in a kayak! Sparky was able to float right up to foraging Dunlin, Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Sanderlings. But the best photo opportunities were with the foraging Wilson’s and Red-necked Phalaropes, two stunning species that are shorebirds but don’t feed like them. They swim like a duck, plucking brine shrimp or brine fly larvae from the lake.

And in another interesting turn, they suddenly all started going into hyper courtship mode. In phalaropes the female is more colorful than the male, and she initiates courtship, battling with other females for the more drab male as a mate. After she lays eggs in a nest, she flies off and the male is left to incubate the eggs and take care of the young. Fascinating!

What a beautiful mid May morning in the North Woods of Wisconsin! Ryan and Sparky take their FLOATING BLINDS out to a nearby marsh to see what they can find. 

Ryan gets some COOL creative shots of a pair of Common Loons and Trumpeter Swans. 

Sparky is one pond over in his leaky waders under the canopy of his floating blind searching for marsh birds. Instantly flooded with mucky marsh water, Sparky presses on. Surprisingly, he finds several species that are more common further south—MARSH WREN, VIRGINIA RAIL, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, GREEN HERON.

An AMERICAN BITTERN is calling only 15 feet from Sparky…but he can’t find it…until he does find it! Always a red-letter day when one gets to see this skulky species.

Sparky also gets video and photos of Blue-winged Teal, Trumpeter Swans.

Ryan made these blinds based on the awesome design of MrJanGear floating hides. You can purchase these readymade at http://www.mrjangear.com.

You can see more of Ryan’s photos on Instagram at #ryan.marshik

Sparky’s Instagram is #Sparky_Stensaas

A quick outing to Southworth Marsh in a shoreline estuary in Duluth, Minnesota. Sparky starts out under the netting and photographs some epic Canada goose battles at 1/4000 of a second to freeze the action. He then gets flooded out and has to move position but is too lazy to put the netting back over himself. But it doesn’t seem to matter! A pair of American Wigeon glide right past.

Other highlights include courting “Yellow-shafted” Flickers, a balancing Belted Kingfisher, and the courtship flights of Redheads and Greater Scaup.

In this April 16th outing, Sparky only drives for 15 minutes and hikes for 10 minutes to reach a very cool duck and waterfowl photography spot in northern Minnesota’s Jay Cooke State Park. 

But he is shooting straight into the sun! How can he get good photos doing that?? Some cool creative bird photography results.

Highlights include a pair of courting Wood Ducks only 12 feet away(!), backlit Trumpeter Swans, a Pied-billed Grebe shaking water off its back nearby Belted Kingfisher, and a Blue Jay imitating a Broad-winged Hawk. A Muskrat floats by and Sparky spots a male Yellow-belled Sapsucker on the way out.

The best part? He makes it home for his 9am meeting!