Blog #6. Minnesota’s Boreal Forests

19-24 May 2020

    Canada Jay--tame songbird of the boreal forest.

After spending time in western Minnesota’s prairies, I headed east across the northern part of the state via Ely to Greenwood Lake, right on the very rural Route 2 in northeastern MN.

This is where David Wilcove, John Lamoreux, John Morrison, and I spent time with a Great Gray Owl and a Northern Hawk Owl on a late June evening more than two decades ago...

    My camp at Greenwood Lake

I was back at Greenwood Lake to see what I could find in this nice tract of boggy boreal conifer forest.

    Cape May Warbler male in willow at roadside 

I camped for two nights just north of the Lake in a little clearing made by the loggers. Readers take note: northern Minnesota is thought of as a wilderness, but it has been relentlessly logged for timber and pulp, and it is a miracle the wild qualities (presence of wolves, etc) still remain.

I saw my first Gray Wolf here at Greenwood Lake about five years after our group visit, when I snuck away in the early morning from a conservation meeting I was attending down in Duluth. Were there more wolf encounters in my near future?

    Northern Waterthrush--very vocal! 

Greenwood Lake was perfect for my purposes. It featured a long stretch of well-paved road that cut north-south from near Ely (to the north) south to the north shore of Lake Superior. I could bike up and down this boreal forest transect each morning and evening with my hearing aids set on “hear all.”

    The common warbler of northern Minnesota--Nashville Warbler male

I was at Greenwood Lake just as the migrant songbirds were arriving to set up territory. So everything was in maximal song—it was fabulous.

    The less common warbler of northern Minnesota--Mourning Warbler

Each of two mornings I would get up in the dark, do some owl playback, then bike the road. The only owl I conversed with was Long-eared, which came right in to my camp. But no other. Oh well...

    The common buteo of the northern forests... Broad-winged Hawk

A Ruffed Grouse drummed right next to my tent each morning.

    female Black-backed Woodpecker

I encountered three Black-backed Woodpeckers foraging by the roadside. But no sign of American Three-toed.

                             A remnant forest giant  -- dwarfing the other regrowth conifers.

The wood warblers were the highlight. Cape Mays were common, and I encountered Bay-breast as well, which was a bit of a surprise.

    Blackburnian Warbler male

I was so happy to be able to hear their very high pitched and weak calls while I biked up the road. I found 18 species of wood warblers in two mornings... not bad! The common species of warblers were Black-throated Green, Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Nashville Warbler. These were here in force. Blackburnian and Pine Warblers were uncommon but liked the Red Pine plantations at the north end of the road.

Coming upon an original White Spruce reminded me of what was once here—grand boreal conifers. Now it is mainly runty regrowth specimens 30-40 feet high. The old growth specimens are more than 100 feet tall, towering over the regrowth. The remarkable thing is the ability of this forest to restore itself and keep most of its fauna.

    Golden-winged Warbler male at Sax-Zim Bog

After my stint at Greenwood Lake I translocated south to Sax-Zim Bog, about an hour south (a bit west and north of Duluth). Sax-Zim, famous for its winter owls and its spring Connecticut Warblers, is quite distinct from Greenwood Lake—not nearly so wild and with something of a suburban feel. It is a boglands dropped into the suburbs and farmlands west of Duluth. Still, it is wonderfully birdy. I spent two nights here, but was not able to use my bicycle because of the gravel roads.

    Every night the trains came trundling through--part of the rural landscape in the mid-west

One morning I bumped into Michael and Claire Hurben, from the Twin Cities. They were hunting for Le Conte’s Sparrow—a nemesis bird for us. I joined them in some nice wet grasslands where the Sedge Wrens were going crazy. It took us forty minutes to corral a nice adult Le Conte’s. Worth the effort.

    Sedge Wren

    Two images above: Le Conte's Sparrow

One of the surprises was the Sax-Zim Welcome Center, which did not exist when I first came here. It is very fine, with some nice birding trails—right on the famous Owl Avenue...

I left Sax-Zim with 22 species of wood warblers for Minnesota. I spent quality time with all the boreal species. Birds were still piling in from their migration the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend—Alder Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Wilson’s Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, etc.

    The famous Owl Avenue in Sax-Zim

In fact, I was almost too early for Connecticut Warbler. In this very cool and slow spring, the first Connecticut did not arrive until the 24^th. I know, because I found it, when I stopped to photograph a porcupine on the side of Route 7. My photograph of this Warbler has to be from an earlier trip to Ontario, because I was smoked by this particular bird, which was a will-o-the-wisp. That’s OK. I still spent quality time with one of the more wonderful warbler vocalists...

    Connecticut Warbler male, from Menako Lakes, Ontario (2015)

My second morning in Sax-Zim I was awoken by the howling of a wolfpack just south of my camp. What a nice way to wake up!

    Red Crossbills feeding in White Spruce

Next Blog: Tracking that very special and very vocal wood warbler of north-central Michigan....

    Sandhill Cranes nest in the wet grasslands of the Sax-Zim Bog area...