Sept. 29, 2013 - North Shore Birds

I’m always happy to get a chance to photograph a Spruce Grouse because they aren’t very common in our area. This photo of a male was taken on our recent trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior. He was standing right in the middle of the General Grade Road near Isabella, MN. That probably wasn’t a very smart place to be because grouse hunting season opened a few days before this photo was taken.

GrouseSprucemaleGeneralGradeRoadLakeCounty20130917

We’ve taken our fall North Shore trip during the middle of September for several years. I was disappointed at the small number of birds I saw this year. I guess migration, like a lot of things this year, is later than usual. I did find a small group of Golden-crowned Kinglets, however. You can just barely see some red feathers on the top of this bird’s head, indicating that it’s a male.

KingletGoldencrownedSawbillTrailCookCounty20130918

I also saw some Ruby-crowned Kinglets. At 4¼ inches, they are just slightly bigger than Golden-crowned Kinglets. I’m always amused by their yellow feet.

KingletRubycrownedGeneralGradeRoadLakeCounty20130917

Red-breasted Nuthatches seem quite content to travel down a tree head first. They often pause like this to take a look around. The black feathers on top of the head mean this is a male. A female would have gray feathers on its head similar to the feathers on the back.

NuthatchRedbreastedmaleSawbillTrailCookCounty20130918

Here’s a Red-eyed Vireo peeking out from the bushes at Taconite Harbor along the North Shore.

VireoRedeyedTaconiteHarborCookCounty20130914

We stayed at Fenstad’s Resort and I took this photo of Fireweed along their shoreline. The flowers open a few at a time, starting from the bottom. The long, thin shafts at the bottom of the picture are seed pods formed by flowers that have already bloomed. Notice the symmetrical flies on the lowest seed pods. I planned it that way (yeah, right!)

FireweedFenstadsResortLittleMaraia20130915