There's a Timberdoodle (American Woodcock) doing it's display back in the bog behind our cabin, off the Echo Trail. Another one was displaying down the road. And a Barred Owl was calling nearby.

Earlier today, I was in the cabin focussing on something else, when I realized that something that sounded a lot like a Winter Wren song could be faintly heard. All the windows were shut (it's still cold up here), and I wasn't paying attention, but I'm pretty sure that it was a wren. I went outside to listen, but didn't hear it again. There's usually a few Winter Wrens nesting around the cabin, so if it was one, I'll probably hear it again when I'm out and about tomorrow.

It's springtime in canoe country!

Saw a pair of Wood Ducks on an open beaver pond off the Echo Trail yesterday. A pair of Mallards was there too.

A couple of Pileateds were flying around the cabin together. Anyone know when their breeding season is?

I haven't heard the supposed Winter Wren again so I think it was my imagination. Should be here soon though. Plenty of Robins already.

Today I saw a male Hooded Merganser in a marsh right by the Echo Trail. It was easy to ID while driving. There were a couple other ducks in the marsh but I did not have time to stop to ID them. Presumably at least one was a female Hoodie.

As I just reported in the main forum, the northward migration to Canoe Country continues, with a Loon calling on the limited open water at the marshy south end of our lake.

This morning there was a Winter Wren (maybe two) singing clearly in the bog behind the cabin. I also heard a Song Sparrow singing from across the lake this morning. Loons are calling, and the Robins were singing at 5:00 a.m. The birds have definitely decided it's spring.

I found a couple of Fox Sparrows digging around in leaf litter near the cabin. Beautiful birds! And then an Osprey showed up, ready to fish as the lake opens. He flew by low overhead when I was down on the dock, then was circling high and calling over the south end of the lake a bit later. In the meantime, the Red-breasted Nuthatches remain the most conspicuous birds right around the cabin, as they have been since mid-Winter.

But wait, there's more. This afternoon a found a Spruce Grouse sitting by the edge of the road. It let me get really close and admire it for a long time. The feathering on its legs was really amazing. And at the same time a Ruffed Grouse was drumming somewhere off in the woods.

I know Spruce Grouse aren't that rare up here, but this is the first one I've positively ID'd in the U.S. In contrast I've seen (and heard) tons of Ruffed Grouse in the Ely area. It was great to see this bird.

I should mention the Flickers, too. They've been back for a little while, but now they are really getting vocal and conspicuous. It's great to see the flash of yellow as the fly past.

Yesterday I heard the first Belted Kingfishers of the season, where 88 crosses the Shagawa River and again on Miner's Lake in Ely. I also saw a Double-crested Cormorant on Miner's Lake. The Spring Peepers were really load at one spot along the Echo Trail after sundown.

I was out of town (out of forest?) for a couple days. While I was gone, the White-throated Sparrows returned. What a treat! We have a big spruce bog behind the cabin and the White-throats are back there singing like crazy, competing with the Winter Wrens. I also heard the first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season. I'd say this is the first "noisy" morning with all the different bird (and squirrel) sounds mixed up.

On Sunday I was over on the Gunflint and saw the first Common Mergansers of the year on partially open Gunflint Lake. Also saw a big moose by the road as I was entering Isabella on the way home. Very cool!

Tonight we heard a Saw-whet Owl calling in the distance. If I didn't know better, I might have said it was an electronic device.

I saw a pair of Ring-necked Ducks when I paddled on the marshy stream near the cabin today. I didn't have my binoculars but I'm pretty sure about the ID, and it was the right habitat.

On Saturday I saw a larger group of Ring-necked ducks on the marshy river, got a ver good look this time through the binoculars. There was a also a lone male Bufflehead with them.

Yesterday I saw three Broad-winged Hawks circling in the same area a different elevations. I was alerted to their presence by their whistling calls.

I also saw two male Hooded Mergansers hanging out together. I saw them several places as I paddled around the lake, and they were sticking together like a pair does. Interesting.

I think Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been back for a while, but I finally saw and heard one yesterday, too.

The Chipping Sparrows are now being very conspicuous, easy to hear and see. The tricky warblers are tougher, but I did get a good look at a Nashville this monring.

Today I went by the baseball fields on the east side of Ely (just off Highway 1 as you come into town from the North Shore, on the road to the concrete works). Word was that the fields were partially flooded and had some shorebirds. Saw a couple of Solitary Sandpipers, as well as a Killdeer. (Oh, and there were some Starlings there too. Fortunately, they don't seem to venture much beyond the city limits around here.)

Saw a beautiful male Chestnut-sided Warbler just off the Echo Trail this afternoon. Those guys look like they were designed by a crazy artist.

We also heard Ovenbirds and Vireos that could have been Red-eyed or Blue-headed. I've heard some Hermit Thrushes in recent days, and David reports hearing a probable Swainson's Thrush when running yesterday evening.

Some good birds the last few days. Yesterday I saw an Olive-sided Flycatcher fly-catching from a high perch out in the bog. This morning I saw a Cape May Warbler singing in a tree near the cabin. I think both of those are probably lifers for me.

This morning I also thought I heard a Sora back in the bog. Even though it's a wetland, I wouldn't have guessed this bog would be a likely spot for Soras because it's so thickly covered with some big Black Spruce. But this evening I was back there and there's no doubt that was a Sora calling. I hope it stays around. I think the Sora migration is over so it may be setting up shop there.

Hermit Thrushes and Veerys could also be heard in good numbers this evening. Now if I could only figure out those warbler calls high in the tree tops I'd be happy.

I've never been that good at finding warblers, but this morning I saw Nashville, Cape May, Magnolia and Chestnut-sided Warblers all around.

HoHo: I really enjoyed this thread. It gave me the feel of how spring was progressing in the Ely area. If you are finished for now, it sure would be fun to "hear" what you see during the fall migration.

Thanks, inspector. I've been doing breeding bird surveying in the area and with updating the data for that, lost track of updating this. There's lots of great bird goings on, I'll keep updating this throughout the summer . . . heading out on a solo for a few days tomorrow, but I'll pick up again when I'm back, maybe fill in a little of what's happened in the meantime then.

Great. Looking forward to it.

I'll have to get back to posting here when I see things. As I mentioned above, I've gotten involved with the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas project, which is really interesting. See this link. I took "ownership" of the "priority block" where our cabin is. The block includes 9 sections, or 9 square miles. But I'm able to bird a lot of the habitats in the block just hanging out at home. I've also made more systematic forays into some of the surrounding areas that promise more species. Since it's a remote area, most of the birding is by canoe or portage, except right around our little homestead.

The project is only interested in evidence that a species might be breeding, so you are looking for things like a singing male in the same location at least five days apart, birds carrying nesting materials, birds on a nest, fledged young, stuff like that. It has added a fun new dimension to birding and I'm enjoying it a lot.

Within the last week, an Eastern Phoebe has started to sing INCESSANTLY around the cabin, especially in the early morning like 5:00 a.m. (I haven't fantasized about a slingshot since a Mockingbird sang every night in the middle of the night right outside the window of an apartment in Washington, D.C. 15 years ago, but . . . .) We have always had a few Phoebes on the lake, and two years ago one built a nest on the porch light outside our backdoor - the mama and nestlings and I all startled each other when I turned on the light upon getting to the cabin at 1:00 in the morning one June night. What puzzles me about the guy singing around the cabin now is that it just started so late in the season. Pheobes are very early spring migrants, and they should have been nesting for a long time now. So I'm wondering why this guy just showed up. Maybe it's a second nesting attempt, and they moved nest site? Maybe he lost his territory and is trying to establish a new one? Any thoughts? His choice of singing locations suggests that if there is a nest, it is probably on the cabin somewhere, but I have not located it.

A couple days ago, when driving in to the cabin, a Ruffed Grouse was in the road. That's not too uncommon, but this one was taking more time than usual to move on. That's when we noticed the downy young grouse, the size of a chicken chick, nearby. Then they both went in the woods. We did not see any other young, although I think they generally have big broods.

A couple weeks ago, while paddling around Burntside Lake, we heard a group of Common Ravens being very vocal near the lakeshore, with some unusual sounds mixed in. We thought maybe there was a nest there, and paddled up for a look. There were two adult ravens flying around squawking, and two juveniles low down in the woods (but not on the ground). It seemed like the juveniles had just fledged and were not really flying yet. The nest was probably nearby, but we couldn't see it from the canoe.

Also on Burntside, there are a number of low small rocks sticking just a bit out of the water where Herring Gulls were sitting on nests a few weeks ago. One rock had at least two nests, but most had only one. I imagine they have hatched by now, I need to get back out there and see. The nests are so low, it really made us wonder how they survive when big storms kick up the waves.

I've been working on my warbler calls to do the breeding bird survey. By now I've gotten down several of the more common warblers that breed in the area , including Chestnut-sided, Cape May, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, Black-throated-green, Ovenbird, and Northern Parula. Plus I already recognized the Common Yellowthroats. All those species are here in abundance right now. I was getting the hang of the Magnolias too, but I have not identified any recently, maybe they were just migrating through back in May. Their song is somewhat similar to the Chestnut-sided, so I may be missing Magnolias thinking they are C-S's, but when I hear the song and find the bird, it has always been a Chestnut-sided the last few weeks.

That's it for the moment.

After a couple weeks of canoe trip, travel, and then a lot of rain, I got up around sunrise this morning to see what was singing.

The best find was a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. I heard it's "song" and knew it was one I hadn't heard before, thought it was probably an Empidonax and (by process of elimination) a Yellow-bellied. It took a while to find the bird visually, but then I got some good looks, and the song was also a match when I checked it later against recordings. That's a lifer for me.

The Winter Wrens, White-throated Sparrows, Hermit Thrushes, and all the usual warblers (plus of course the incessant Phoebe) were also singing this morning. I saw a couple Magnolia Warblers (possibly the same individual but I think two), which I had not seen in a while. I was hoping to hear a Veery singing at a spot where he had been for several days a couple weeks ago, but no such luck this morning.

In other nature news, there's some pretty fresh bear scat in the blueberry patch about 100 feet from the cabin. The berries are forming but still very green. Maybe he was casing the joint for later this summer?

Earlier this year we found Herring Gulls on nests on rocks on Burntside Lake. We went to check on their progress today, and lo and behold, there were Herring Gull chicks! We did not want to get too close, and the Gulls did not want us to either. One of them flew straight at our canoe several times, veering off at the last minute. In the meantime, a guy in a motorboat was able to get much closer. So, that's why the picture is a a little blurry.



We also went to check on a Merlin we had heard on a Burntside island earlier in the season. He (they?) were still there, but we couldn't spot a nest from the canoe, and it's a private island so we couldn't check on land. I like coming upon Merlins when I'm on a canoe trip.

It's the season of fledglings. Driving up the Echo Trail just after turning off of 88 a couple days ago, we saw a female Ruffed Grouse crossing the road. We stopped so our nephews who were visiting could get out of the car and check it out. A whole bunch of juveniles then took off on the wing from the brush on the side of the road. They have grown a lot since the first fledged Ruffed Grouse we saw a week or two ago.

Yesterday while running on the gravel road near the cabin, we came upon a fledgling Northern Flicker fluttering around the base of a tree. It was noticeably smaller than an adult flicker and did not seem to be able to fly, though it was trying. No adults were in evidence, but we did not stay long, so maybe they were nearby and we just did not see or hear them. I don't know the normal sequence of events when flickers leave the nest and whether this was typical or this particular fledgling had somehow gotten out of the nest too soon, lost its parents, or something like that.

I came upon a Northern Hawk Owl perched by our road close to the cabin as I was finishing my run a little while ago. It was being mobbed by some very vocal Blue Jays, Gray Jays and a Hairy Woodpecker. Even though I didn't have binoculars I got a great look at it. He (or she) just perched nearby while the other birds squawked and occasionally flew at it, then the owl moved to another nearby perch so I got to see it fly a few feet from me too. This is a lifer for me, and maybe I'll see it again tomorrow since it was so nearby.

Otherwise I haven't been doing much fall birding. It got very quiet in late August! And by the end of the September even the loon song was gone. But in the last few weeks the Juncos have been all over the place, and now there are a lot of Snow Buntings along the roads. I also saw an American Tree Sparrow during my run today, getting grit on the gravel road. Back in Washington you would be lucky to see one of those guys all winter.

In non-bird wildlife news, a very un-skittish wolf was standing in our road about 2 miles from the cabin (not far from the Echo Trail) this morning. It did not want to move and even though we were not driving fast, we would have hit it if we hadn't stopped. Then he sat there a few feet from our car for a minute before sauntering into the woods just a bit, going around us, and continuing back down the road. At that point I got out the car and yelled at him, but he just gave me a bored look over his shoulder. We run and walk along the road all the time, and I would not want to have the same experience on foot. I love wolves - and the local packs are very vocal this time of year - but I like them better when they are wary of people.

Once again this fall (2 weeks ago) I saw a Gray Jay hanging around my property about 50 miles south of Ely. I have read that they very rarely move from their breeding territory. Could I be seeing them only in the fall because they are much more busy caching food for the winter?

I missed your post before, Inspector, but I have been wondering the same thing. The Grey Jays have really been hanging around in plain view a lot this fall, and I see them way more than other seasons. I also read that they do not travel much and stick to the same territory year in year out, so I guess they are just hanging around people more. We have some guys working on building a garage here and I have wondered if they are feeding the jays some, or at least dropping enough crumbs to make it worth the birds' while to keep watch there. Also I have been clearing some trails in another area of the property and the jays really like to follow me around while I do it (I appreciate the company). Possibly clearing exposes food sources, or maybe they just think it's interesting. Anyway, they seem to be hanging out with people more this season.

In other bird news, I was working inside the cabin this weekend and a raptor flew by just above eye level - the cabin is elevated so it looks out at the tree tops in this direction. The bird had a strong black-and-white underwing pattern that made me think of an Osprey right off, but I didn't think Ospreys would still be around, and the pattern wasn't right anyway. Only a little later did I have a "doh!" moment and recall that I'd seen that patterns several times before on Rough-Legged Hawks. They are a cool bird to see, and it was fun to see it from the cabin, even if only briefly.

A friend of mine has had the experience of having a Grey Jay "befriend" him while camping in the BWCAW. It would be nice to have one trust me at some point. Every time I see one it seems to be curious about me, but always keep some distance. Because of bear activity I only feed birds from the last week in November, or early December, to mid March. The chickadees and nuthatches like that. They congregate in surrounding trees waiting for me to finish filling the feeders. One time a few couldn’t wait for me to leave the area. As one dominant chickadee fed, a couple others used my head and back as a perch.

I had a gray jay take food out of my hand a number of times on Lake 3. It started one morning while I was making breakfast. I was frying bacon, setting it on a paper towel, and he would swoop down and steal it. We stayed at that site for three days, and he would join us at mealtime, and take from our hands, and from the top of our heads, anything that was offered.

That sounds like what was going on with my friend. He has a picture of a gray jay perched on one hand while he was holding out some kind of food with the other. He said the bird took the food shortly after the picture was taken.