Plenty of Purple

A short trip to Sax-Zim bog looking to photo some grosbeaks.  I saw one for a split second as it landed on a feed then took off, never to be seen again!  At least the purple finches were compliant.

The pine siskins were bickering over the plentiful seed.

Two female purple finches not getting along.

My favorite pic of the day

The happy couple

This Blue Jay visited a few times but was pretty shy.

Patience, pileated.

Sitting very still, I was snapping pics of the little chickadees and red polls at my feeders, hoping some the color I saw earlier would return: blue jay, white-breasted nuthatches, red-bellied woodpecker, and a purple finch.  I was just about to pack it in, when he showed up.  I was very close to this nervous Pileated Woodpecker (about 7ft) and he couldn't figure out what that clicking noise was.

Ruffed Grouse                                              Blue Jay

 Common Red Poll

Black-capped Chickadee

Backyard buck from down the road

Sax-Zim Bog Blog

My wife released me from my domestic duties to go up to the Sax-Zim Bog this afternoon.  I was in search of owls and other boreal bird species this bog wilderness provides a winter home for.  It was a good day and I saw lots of birds, but no owls.  My wife went grocery shopping in Pike Lake and saw a Snowy Owl on the side of Hwy 53!

So I didn't even get out of the yard before I started taking pictures.  

I typically only see one White-breasted Nuthatch at a time.

Then just up the road a few miles from the house there was a Bald Eagle feasting on a deer carcass.

I hadn't stopped to check out the Blue Jay...

 I wouldn't have seen the Ruffed Grouse in the brush an got my favorite pics of the day

Lots of mammals out as well.  Many pine squirrels.  

This Muskrat was walking along the frozen ditch.

I stopped hoping to see an owl...but it was a Rough Legged Hawk!  A lifer for me.  Then a second one swooped at him and both flew off.  Later I saw a third one.

Gray Jays

 Black capped Chickadee, didn't find any boreal chickadees.

 C. Red poll

The day's overall list of species:

Other mammals:  pine squirrels, Muskrat, (no deer!)

Birds:

Black capped chickadee

common red poll

pine siskin

Pine Grosbeak (Lifer?, I may have seen one 20+ years ago)

Rough Legged Hawk (Lifer)

Blue Jay

Gray Jay

Ruffed Grouse

Bald Eagle

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Black-billed Magpie (second time ever)

Hairy woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

and other little birds too fast for me to identify!