In Part 3 of Sparky’s birding and bird photography trip to Newfoundland he and guide Jared seek out North America’s rarest raptor, the long-standing Steller’s Sea-Eagle. This raptor is native to eastern Russia, and normally winters in Japan, but this individual showed up in Alaska in 2020 and has made itself quite comfortable in Newfoundland for the last FOUR YEARS! Will Sparky and Jared find it?
While they search they unexpectedly come upon TWO very exciting mammals in Holyrood Bay: Two Humpback Whales feeding not far offshore, and a BEARDED SEAL! This not-oft-seen Arctic seal is a Lifer for Sparky, and he took enough photos and videos to prove it.
Looking for a guide in Newfoundland? Jared Clarke of birdtherock.com is EXCELLENT!
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.
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!
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.
Sparky birds northern California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park in this episode. Unfortunately the late spring has the road through the park still blocked by snow. But he is able to see a bunch of cool mountain birds including Hermit Warbler, Mountain Chickadee, “Thick-billed” Fox Sparrow, “Audubon’s” Warbler, Western Tanager, Clark’s Nutcracker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and he finds the nests of Steller’s Jay and Dark-eyed Junco.
But something is calling incessantly from a steep bank. Sparky investigates and finds a day-old Mule Deer fawn wedged in a rock crevice. See what happens next!
In Part 1 of Birding Northern California. Sparky heads out to San Francisco to fill in some gaps in his ABA Life List. He also hopes to get photos of birds he hasn’t seen in 20 years or more.
He visits Ellis Creek Water Recycling in Petaluma, Red Bluff Recreation Area, Rayhouse Road/Road 40, Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, McArthur-Burney Falls State Park, Whiskeytown NRA, and some random roadside spots.
Avian Highlights include Yellow-billed Magpie, Lazuli Bunting, “California” Red-shouldered Hawk, Black Phoebe, Acorn and White-headed woodpeckers, Wrentit, Bushtit, Acorn Titmouse and a happy family of Common Mergansers.
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.
Sparky shares his Top Ten most memorable experiences from bird photography trips and wildlife photography expeditions in 2023. Plus there is a bonus “Most Memorable Moment” at the conclusion.
I find some cool things in this episode of Virtually Live from Sax-Zim Bog. Snow Buntings and Pine Siskins have arrived from the north. Then I run across a bizarre sight…A Muskrat is chasing a Wood Duck around a Beaver pond!. Later a Great Gray Owl flies over my van and into the bog so I put on my rubber boots and go in after the owl. Amazingly I find it and plop down in the Sphagnum moss to enjoy the show. Eventually the Great Gray comes within 30 feet or so and plunges into the moss for a vole. Wow!
Birding and bird photography in Sax-Zim Bog in October.
Also remiders of the upcoming Tiny Bird Art fundraiser, BRRRRdathon: World’s Coldest Birdathon, 2024 Bog Wild Calendar, and Wrap up of Bog BioBlitz XI in Sax-Zim.
February 23, 2026
Sparky Stensaas
thesparkygroup@gmail.com
