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.

[**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]

Last August I escaped for a weekend to explore the Swamp River in a remote corner of Cook County in far northeast Minnesota. My goal was Moose and rare flora. But the highlights turned out to be a Timber Wolf pup that was playing along a dirt road near the canoe landing, and a feasting flock of Cedar Waxwings.

I took hundreds of photos and several videos (including playing otters) during those two days…some pretty good, I thought. After I got home, as usual, I downloaded them to an external hard drive. But before I could even really look at the photos, the hard drive crashed! I had duplicates of all the photos on the drive EXCEPT the most recent ones, including those from that weekend up north.

Fortunately, a computer guru was able to recover almost all of the images…Unfortunately, it cost quite a bit. But worth it! The lesson? YOU REALLY DON’T HAVE ANY PHOTOS UNTIL THEY ARE BACKED UP IN AT LEAST TWO PLACES. Ideally, every image should be backed up at home in two places, AND a full-size version should either be in the Cloud (Photoshelter, CrashPlan, BackBlaze, Carbonite, etc), or an off-site location (in case your house burns down). Do I follow this myself? I try, but I’m behind on backing up to the Cloud. I put my best stuff (as full-size jpegs) on Photoshelter at my http://www.sparkyphotos.com site.

Pups this time of year often can be seen near roads. The adults are likely nearby and may still be feeding the young. NEVER feed wolf pups! The last thing we need is a wolf getting acclimated to humans. If it ever approaches a human or dwelling in the future, it will probably be “removed.”

The following morning I canoed part of the Brule River off the Gunflint Trail…Once again, skunked on Moose. But the Mountain-ash berries (Sorbus sp.) were ripe and the Cedar Waxwing families were chowing down!

Two juvenile Cedar Waxwings feast on Mountain-ash fruit.

Did you know grasses can have beautiful flowers? This is the bloom of Wild Rice (Zizania palustris). Ducks feast on this grass during their fall migration.

Here is an interesting wildflower that grows in slow moving waters…Megalodonta beckii …Beck’s Water-Marigold

…But it is even more interesting when you lift it gently out of the swamp! The finely divided submerged leaves encircle the stem. Very neat plant.

PacMan convention

I got down very low to get this image of a White Water Lily and its reflection along the Lima Mountain Grade. I then increased the contrast in Aperture.

Gotta go now…Time to backup some photos!

The trip to daycare is never dull…okay, most of the time it’s pretty dull. Birk and Bjorn stay pretty quiet as long as I have the radio tuned to WNCB Christian hit radio and keep tossing fishy crackers, granola bar bits, or whatever edible thing I find in the Subaru’s crevices into the back seat. But today, we didn’t get more than a mile from home when I saw a mammal in a hayfield. It was a long ways out, but at first glance I thought it was a Coyote. But it looked too bulky.

I had taken Bridget’s car this morning and so I didn’t have my camera along (Rule #1 of wildlife photography: ALWAYS have your camera in your car!). Fortunately Bridget did have her binoculars under the car seat and I was able to get a good look at the mystery animal. I put them up to my eyes and found myself staring into the distinctive face of a Timber Wolf! So I told the boys to “hang on!” and back we raced to the house. I nabbed my camera and tripod and sped back.

The wolf wasn’t there! I scanned the field cursing my lack of preparation when I spotted him, closer to the road now. He was laying down and gnawing on a deer carcass. I imagine he was able to kill the deer last night and just lingered on feasting until morning (it was past 8:30 am by now). I was filming in plain view but he gave me few glances. Wolves can only be confused with Coyotes under the worst conditions or at very long distance. Wolves are much bulkier, longer-legged, and lope with a loose-jointed gait. Their head is blockier and they often show white rings around the eyes. Wolves also lack the extensive red of some Coyotes and may be very white or very black (Coyotes don’t show this pelage variation).

I walked another 50 feet closer. He seemed undaunted but finally got up and without effort snapped a deer leg off to take with him (the original “take out” meal). He loped across the field and stopped near the tree line to take one last look at the man who interrupted his meal.

Back at the car, the troops were doing fine after about 20 minutes left to entertain themselves (I was always within sight of the car). I managed to find a bag with some mini rice cakes with chocolate drizzle, and these served as a fine treat for a very patient 3-year old and very tolerant 17-month old.

Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 and stacked 2x and 1.4x teleconverters, tripod.
The use of 2 teleconverters is not recommended for still photography except in occasions where it’s better to have a record photo rather than no photo at all. You lose quite a bit of sharpness and contrast. You can get away with it more easily in video though, where your filming at 1/60 second.]
[Photo is a single frame plucked from the video (1920x1080pixels).]