Sometimes a missed photo opportunity can turn out to be an interesting picture. This eagle flew just as I was about to take it's picture so I just cropped the photo.

Sax Zim Bog

Sax Zim Bog is one of Minnesota's premier birding areas. Located in St. Louis County, it consists of private, county and state land. Kim Dauer and I went there for the first time not knowing where to go but we still managed to see many birds not frequently seen around our local area.

Our first sighting was of an immature Red Tailed Hawk. We followed it from tree to tree and it did not really seem afraid of us.


We came across a deer carcass along the road side and finally figured out they are put there as bird feeding stations.

Pairs of Gray Jays would fly in, grab a bit of suet and fly off. They too did not seem afraid of us and gave us some great photo opportunities.


A small flock of Pine Grosbeaks were spotted high in the trees eating seeds.
Ice is beginning to form on the small ponds and edges of lakes.

Cedar Waxwings have arrived

I looked out my window today and noticed the midges have hatched out. At least I think that's what they are. Later in the day as the sun was getting low in the western sky, I noticed the Cedar Waxwings had arrived. They were busy flitting from the trees on the edge of the lake out over the ice that is still on the lake. I finally put 2 and 2 together and realized they were eating the midges. I grabbed my camera and walked out on the ice in time to get a few pics before the light got too bad. I caught this guy scratching himself.

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Make a Smilebox greeting

Crex Meadows Trip 5-14-08

Crex Meadows is a 30,000 acre wildlife area that is located by Grantsburg, WI. in Burnett County. I consider myself so fortunate to live 10 miles from this wonderful area. It was such a beautiful day after all the cold weather and rain we have been having lately that I decided to take a trip there on the spur of the moment. Well not really.... As I mentioned in my last blog, I simply dislike squirrels. I have nothing against them if they would just quit hogging my bird feeders. They become very bold and do not leave the feeders even if I go outside and make noise, yell at them and use various other methods to scare them that simply do not work! So I have resorted to trapping them and relocating them to some undisclosed wooded area away from my house. Since I have tried very hard to not drive as much I decided to combine the squirrel release with a trip to Crex.
I have a regular route I drive and the first part is the southern part of Phantom Lake in hopes of seeing the River Otters that I spotted many times last year. Unfortunately all the spots were I saw them last year are now under water as the lake level has risen dramatically with all the rains we're had. I now head a little north and check out the beaver lodge but alas no beavers either. Many Canada Geese now have little yellow fluff balls surrounding them. They like to spend time on the road and lead their brood into the water as my car comes upon them.

(click all photos to enlarge)

Mallards seem to be everywhere but are very wary when I approach in my car. Quite the opposite when I approach the Blue Winged Teals. They seem not to notice or care.
The warbler migration is at it's peak and they are spotted everywhere. They're extremely hard to photograph as they are constantly on the move, flitting from branch to branch. I was able to get one photo of a Yellow Warbler.

Good day in the front yard

(Click photo to enlarge)

This is my first attempt at blogging so bear with me. It was such a fantastic day for birding in my front yard. I live on Spirit Lake in Wisconsin so when you live on a lake your backyard is by the road and your front yard is by the lake. I have a deck facing the lake and have several feeders around it mainly filled with black oil sunflower seeds. I also have a small bowl filled with grape jelly for the Orioles. As I was walking by the sliding glass door going out to the deck I noticed a Scarlet Tanager in the yard. This is only the second time in all my years of living here that I have seen one. I frantically went for my camera that had no batteries or photo card in it as I had just returned from a trip and was recharging the batteries and the photo card was in my laptop. Quickly I loaded the newly charged batteries and photo card, put on my telephoto lens and was able to grab a few photos before it flew away not to be seen again for many years if the past is any indication.

In addition to the Scarlet Tanager, there were many other birds. 5 male Rose Breasted Grosbeaks and 3 females. Catbirds, Orioles, Pine Siskins, Grackles, Red-Winged Black Birds, Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Canada Geese, Red and White Breasted Nuthatches, Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, Flicker, Wrens, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Yellow Warbler, White Throated Sparrows, Purple Martins, Tree Swallows, Tree Sparrows and a Bald Eagle. I'm sure I missed a few but this gives you an idea of what can be seen in a small area in a single day. Oh I forgot to mention the 2 Gray Squirrels and 2 Red Squirrels that I was trying to chase out of the feeders all day. I just saw my first chipmunk of the season too.