Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Group Forum: Bird Watchers :: Timberdoodles etc.
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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! |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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inspector13 |
Great. Looking forward to it. |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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inspector13 |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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? |
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Ho Ho |
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! |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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mooseplums |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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inspector13 |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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Ho Ho |
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. |
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inspector13 |
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? |
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Ho Ho |
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inspector13 |
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. |