Aug. 27, 2017 - Birds at Dunning Lake

This Golden-crowned Kinglet was photographed at our lake home in May. Northeast Minnesota is at the southern edge of its nesting territory so it might have stayed here to raise its family. However, it most likely continued on its journey to the boreal forests of Canada. At only 4 inches in length, this is one of the smallest birds we see in North American but it’s also one of the cutest.

KingletGoldencrownedDunningLakeItascaCounty20170520

This summer we had a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker visiting our yard. We’ve had them here other years as well and this oak tree seems to be a favorite place for them to forage. It must have lots of small insects on it. The gray feathers indicate this is a juvenile and the red on its head and throat identify it as a male.

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Here’s a photo of an adult male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Compare this to the photo above. You will see that the red is much more intense and the gray feathers have been replaced by black and white ones.

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The alder bushes along our driveway were just starting to get leaves when I took this photo. There is a bird in the photo but it’s well camouflaged. Can you find it?

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Here’s a closer look at the previous photo. The bird is an Orange-crowned Warbler. It’s very plain looking, but that’s an advantage because it blends in so well with the emerging leaves. It does have orange feathers on top of its head but they are well hidden. You can just see a hint of them in this photo.

WarblerOrangecrownedDunningLakeItascaCounty20170515hiddensmall

Another visitor to our yard was this Blue-headed Vireo. It has rather muted plumage but there’s nothing subtle about those thick, white eye rings. The white line continues across the front of its head and birders often say it has “spectacles.”

VireoBlueheadedDunningLakeItascaCounty20170520