Yowza! What a difference a year makes. Last winter I did this same route and had the opposite results. In “Sucky to Super 2025” I had ZERO luck in northwest Minnesota’s Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, but amazing success in the Big Bog: Pine Marten, White-winged Crossbills, Snowshoe Hare.
But this winter it was the complete opposite. ZERO birds or critters along the Big Bog boardwalk, but Glacial Ridge and prairie/aspen parkland surroundings really came through!
FORTY-SIX Gray Partridge in seven coveys was unbelievable! And I was able to photograph one group up close by hiding behind my van.
Other highlights included multiple Rough-legged Hawks, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Greater Prairie-Chickens, American Goshawk, Great Horned Owl, and a Northern Shrike retrieving a cache of food!
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)
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!
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!
Sparky heads to northwest Minnesota after an early April snowstorm. He has reserved a Sharp-tailed Grouse blind and is excited to photograph them dancing on top of the snow. But, alas, disappointment. The sounds of the courtship displays are amazing as usual, but he can’t really see them dance!
Sandhill Cranes and a bobbin of Robins in a ghost town save the day.
Daunted (is that a word?), Sparky sets a goal for the rest of the trip. See if he achieves it in Part 2.
Warbler-Palooza II starts strong with Sparky finding one of the rarest breeding warblers in North America….the Connecticut. But technical difficulties hamper the warbler count. Fortunately he is able to share video of some beautiful warblers including Northern Parula, Golden-winged Warblers. And there are many other highlights to be seen in northern Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog in summer…Great Gray Owl, Sedge Wrens, LeConte’s Sparrow, Snowshoe Hares and much more. Sparky also shows us highlights from May’s Warbler Wednesdays and the bi-annual “garbage clean-up best find contest.” Oh yeah, it’s also time for Tiny Bird Art!
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!
It was a blast going through my 19,753 images from 2022 (15,259 on Canon R5 and 4,494 iPhone11) and finding my most memorable wildlife photos. Trips to Churchill, Manitoba, floating blind in the prairie potholes of North Dakota, Crex Meadows in Wisconsin and other parts of wild Minnesota netted some cool outdoor experiences:
Close range Hawk Owls, an adorable Saw-whet Owl, Short-eared Owls, Red Fox dens (in 2 states and 1 province!), Western Grebes performing their courtship “Rush Dance,” hunting Mink, frosty Long-eared Owls, and more.
Top Tens in several categories including “Creative Wildlife Photography,” “Wildlife Behavior,” “Animal in the Landscape,” “High Key,” “Landscape & Vernacular Architecture,” and more.
February 28, 2026
Sparky Stensaas
thesparkygroup@gmail.com
