Horned Grebes Put on a Show

In of all places Minneapolis

Horned grebes are diving birds eating almost anything they can swallow that’s in the water. During sring they also put on a cool mating display dancing there way across local waters including the city Lakes of Minneapolis and St Paul.

Over the years these small birds who weigh about a pound decend on Minnesota typically in small flocks oof 4-8 birds. That said, I’ve seen 100 of them in a single group.  What makes them a fun photography target is besides their beauty and gregarius behavior is many times horned grebes will cruise the shoreline in search of food and mates making them quite available to a guy in waders with a camera.

Below is a selection of horned grebe images I’ve snapped over the years. Some images are in close range while others are big time crops depicting dancing or fishing but I like them.

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Migration in Full Swing in Minneapolis

Deja Vu in Minneapolis

Once again Minneapolis is the hotspot for early Spring waterfowl viewing and photography. Each year since I began my nature photography quest I’ve witnessed numerous species of waterfowl in the lakes of Minneapolis and St Paul. It may sound crazy but these lakes harbor many different waterfowl each April including; Northern Shovelers, Redhead, Canvasbacks, Blue Wing Teal, Bufflehead, Goldeneye, Common Loon, Red-Necked  Grebes, Horned Grebes the occasional Eared Grebe, Pintail Ducks and the stars of the show Red-Breasted Megansers.

Why are Red-Breasted mergansers the star of the show? Well most years there are 100’s of them in the Minneapolis City Lakes and Lake Phalen in St Paul is also known to harbor them in April. Red-breasted Mergansers are here to court, feed and rest before heading North to their breeding grounds mostly in Canada. Drakes are constently performing an elaborate display of calling, bobbing and weaving for the hens hoping to provide what’s needed for a successful nesting season. This  activity often happens close to shore giving the birder a great view at these seldom observed birds right here in Minneapolis St Paul.

If you’re interested in seeing red-breasted mergansers, buffleheads, goldeneye, horned grebes and red-necked grebes now is the time to head to the Minneapolis City Lakes. You may even encounter numerous othe waterfowl species.

The images below were shot in April of 2025.

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The Owl Irruption Continues In Northern Minnesota

My 6th trip was the best.

Goals unachieved I once again made my way to Northern Minnesota in search of owls. This time I was pretty sure I knew where at least one great gray owl was. Not to my surprise the famous great gray owl of Two Harbors was on display for many photographers to watch and photograph. This particular owl was actively hunting for the crowd but it was not the featured act on my trip up the north shore.

Pulling into the parking lot at the Two Harbors boat landing I was among the last nature geeks to arrive. This day was mostly cloudy and I felt no need to leave my house at 4am. There were 27 owl enthusiasts (yes I counted them) pointing cameras at this great gray owl who was hunting from a small pine not far from the boat landing. Some had long lenses while other still employed short range models and cell phones. I’m not a big crowd guy but I couldn’t help but jump into the fray shooting images over the crowd from a distance with my 500mm lens. This was cool but I was here to watch and photograph the majestic beast hunting voles. I wanted flight shots. Throughout the morning the great gray owl moved about from perch to perch always working into the significant wind. Using that knowledge I continually attempted to predict the flight of the owl. This tactic proved to be somewhat productive. Owls don’t always fly where you think they will.

Having a long lens employed is both an advantage and at times a disadvantage. The long lens allowed me to track the owl over greater distances and away from the group of photographers. The disadvantage was this owl was jumping up vertically from fence posts to pounce on voles and my long lens didn’t allow for me to effectively get these images from a distance.

I stayed with this owl for a few hours but it never really went where I was predicting it would go. Most of my good images were on perches which is cool but not my number 1 goal. I had been up the north shore numerous times this winter and I had found numerous owls including the rare boreal owl weeks before so I thought…should I  look for other owls?

Making a move from the famous Two Harbors owl was a risk I was willing to take. I made the decision to get some lunch and try and find another great gray or two.

Like a fisherman would do I headed to search an area I was successful in weeks earlier. Driving the county roads in St Louis County for a while I had an instinct to go to an area that was hot in early January. I found a great gray owl on this drive but it was not in an area conducive to flight photography so I bailed and returned to the Two Harbors owl. The crowd was now much smaller maybe 8 photographers and it appeared the great gray had moved off into the woods. Pondering the opportunities before me I decided to drive back to owl number 2.

Upon my arrival owl 2 had moved. I began my way down the road hoping to find owl 2. Found! And now it was in a more favorable place for a photographer. Owl 2 was perched not far from the road and obviosly hunting. This would be the beginning of what I now know was the single greatest hour of bird photography I’ve ever experienced. Owl 2 was actively hunting from perch to perch as the sun was settng and it offered me the chance to take a zillion images at 20 frames per second. I had an idea that I might have some excellent images of owl 2. One squence had me make a corret guess in it’s flight path and at that moment I was pumped thinking these shots will be what I was aiming for.

Now having seen my images that sequence was not exactly as imagined, good but not excellent. What I did find was a series of images that set apart from any other sequence I’d ever shot. I think what happens is you get so lost in the moment. Concentrating on holding the camera while following the bird as best you can takes away from thoughts of framing up a shot. It’s nice to get lost in bird photography and sometimes you get rewarded.

Below are some of my images from February 22, 2025 and day I won’t forget

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Boreal Owl Irruption Occurring in Northern Minnesota

Rare Boreal Owl Eats a Rodent Video

I went on an owl hunt earlier this month to find a bird I’d never seen before, the boreal owl. Boreal owls are rare visitors to Minnesota and this year they are not so rare. Boreal owls are Canadian birds and every few years or more a few make a trek to the boreal forests of Minnesota’s north woods. I had both good fortune and solid information of where to start looking for boreal owls and I ran into this boreal owl about 10 feet off the road eating it’s lunch.

Bald Eagles Ice Fish

Many Ice Anglers See Bald Eagles While Ice Fishing

Bald Eagles are ice anglers too. Baldy’s soar over ice fishing areas to scour for dead fish and bait left on the ice by anglers. I’ve even witnessed a bald eagle soar out of the fog (we couldn’t see it thru the fog until it was too late) and grab a northern pike that was still attached to a tip up! This eagle swooped in and carried away the pike and my son Sam had to make a mad scramble dive to snare the tip up as it went across the ice snapping the line before the bald eagle could carry away the fish and the tip up!

For years I’ve watched bald eagles soar over me while ice fishing and finally on December 14, 2024 I brought my camera onto the ice while fishing. It was a low overcast day, warm as December goes with occasional snow squals. There were bald eagles sitting atop the pines along the shoreline and we knew there was potential that there would be a fly by or two. Sure enough these eagles flew down to make a recon flight to see what was on the ice and at one point they flew right over the top of us. Fortunately for me I was near the sled my camera was in and I grabbed it from under the blanket I had it wrapped in. I did the best I could under the circumstances pointing my 500 +1.4 MM lens towards the bald eagles I hit the shutter. My camera was set to be ready for this and it was set to 1/3200, F5.6 auto ISO. The encounter was brief but I managed to capture this moment in the images you see below.

Bald Eagle Ice Fishing

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Short Eared Owls a Minnesota Birders Quest

The ever elusive short-eared owl had been spotted not far from my home.

Being a bird aficionado since forever I was notified of a short eared owl 20 minutes from my home. It took me a few weeks to go and find this bird. I’m not sure why because I hadn’t seen a short eared owl in over a decade and this species was definitely on my photography radar.

And so it began on October 26, 2024 a bird quest that I didn’t necessarily see coming. Driving to the area I was thinking if I could just see some shorties that would be great and any decent images were a bonus. Upon my arrival at about 4pm. I saw a short eared owl meandering over a field of grass. Within minutes I saw another one. Now I’d not been to this place before and since I love exploration of new nature spots I took a hike to the highest ground I could find. I figured I could get the lay of the land and watch for short eared owls from that high vantage point. Up on the hill I could see a short eared working a field quite a distance away. I was, as always, hoping it would fly over to my postion and look me in the eye at 50 feet. Of course this wasn’t to be but I continued to observe the happenings from that hill. From the hill there were other hills to the south. Remembering back to my school days I told myself these hills were eskers or were they drumlins? I figured that out with a quick visit to Google. These hills are indeed eskers as I viewed them. In any case the first photography opportunity came to me as a pair of owls came from behind me and flew directly overhead. Over the next 2 hours I viewed a few short eared owls in the distance and my opportunity to photograph them was practically none. But a flame had been lit.

On October 27, I again made the drive to “the owl spot”. This time I planted myself in the field where the owls had spent most of their time the day before. On the 27th the owls preferred the eskers as their hunting grounds. A few did hunt over the field and I snapped a couple of long range shots for grins.

Over the next few weeks I found myself at the “owl spot” about 9 times. Each time I had the luxury of going earlier. I did this with full knowledge that short eared owls prefer to hunt just before dusk. The owls just emerge from the tall grasslands almost like a magic trick 45 minutes before the sun goes down. But this is not always the case. During most of my treks to the “owl spot” the sky was a bit gloomy with only a peak of sunlight here and there and owls were active as soon as I arrived. Active, but not necessarily active near me. Being a bit impatient as a general means I began hiking the numerous trails each day hoping at some point an owl would fly right in front of me in the right light. My strategy was to hike a bit and hold in a spot for 10-15 minutes than make a move. I did this consistently over the course of 2 weeks. This strategy proved to be successful at some points and not so much at others. Often an area I left minutes before had owls right where I wanted them. But I wasn’t there.

The short eared owls move aggressively searching for voles and mice and they might move a mile in just a couple of minutes. I knew holding a spot might work but my need to move around was ever present and it was rewarded a few times. In fact I hiked that land over 30 miles in a single week. Such was my pursuit. I had a few fine images of these beasts but just as in fishing I had to better my previous best efforts. This continues to be a challenge that will once again undertake today. In fact I’m not going to rest until I get the images I hope to snap. But it’s not just about the photography. Many of the images are fresh in my mind, the deer in the field, the rough legged hawks, the young man carrying his bow and the majesty that is an open grassland, mostly wild, offering up tremendous views and an almost supernatural feeling of exuberance.

Over the course of two weeks I met other people on a similar quest for owls and nature experiences. Many carrying cameras with long lenses others just out for a stroll unknowingly in short eared owl habitat. I had days with zero clicks of the shutter on my camera. On a few days I had 600-700  shots to work thru. On one particular day I actually walked to my truck with the knowledge that I had clicked some worthy images…at least B level. But what I always walked to my truck with was an appreciation for nature and gratitude that I had spent a few hours in the almost wild grasslands of Minnesota.

Short Eared Owls

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Metro Area Rough Legged Hawk in November.

Rough-Legged Hawks Return to Minnesota

I’ve recieved reports of rough-legged hawks already in Minnesota this October! I recieved a couple of reported sightings from outstate Minnesota and I witnessed one myself yesterday in Blaine. Rough-legged hawks are a fairly common sight in winter but October has already seen a return of rough legged hawks a month or two before I typically see a rough-legged hawk. Rough-legged hawks are birds of the open tundra and it’s been said that rough legged hawks had a great nesting season in the summer or 2024 and many of these birds have moved south early to find wintering habitat and hunt.

Rough-legged hawks breed on the tundra all across the northern hemisphere. They nest on treeless tundra and the edges of the boreal forest. A typical pair will incubate 1-7 eggs. They hatch around 35 days and spend another 40 or so days in the nest before fledging. While on the tundra they eat mammals and birds. Most of the rough legged hawks we see in Minnesota have migrated south from the Canadian tundra. These visitors to Minnesota are not considered rare but they are prized find by birders and wildlife photographers.

Rough-legged hawks usher in winter in the northland. Rough-legged hawks can been viewed across Minnesota hunting rodents over grasslands. The rough legged hawk is slightly smaller than a red tail hawk with a wingspan of 53 inches. Rough-legged are most easily identified by hovering over the grass helicopter like. Many of them have large spots on their wings and others are very dark with no visible spots while others have a white head. One other tell tale sign of a rough legged hawk is they will perch at the very top of branches so skinny you’d think there’s no way that branch could support them. Once found they are a reliable find for any birder and photographer. Rough-legged hawks will continue to hunt an area as long as a food source is readily available. I’ve observed them as single birds and as a large group of birds in a single open area. My most “famous” find was within the city limits of Blaine a few years back. There were a dozen rough-legged hawks in this open area of bog/grassland all winter long. This pattern held for a couple of winters until the area started to be developed for housing and retail.

Rough-legged hawks are most active during the early morning and late afternoon. They hunt moving into the wind. I’ve observed them swooping in on a meal, typical of other brids of prey, as well as hovering over prey and in helicopter fashion drop straight down onto a rodent.

It’s my experience that many rough legged hawks are not as fearful of people as most hawks. I’ve been approached by them very closely by air and I even had one catch a rodent within 30 feet of me! This particular bird sat on the ground devouring it’s dinner with me sitting in the grassland in plain sight only feet away.

If you are a nature/birding afficianado you will enjoy finding and watching rough-legged hawks. Look for them almost anywhere there is open grassland in Minnesota. Even small areas. I’ve seen them on lightposts at the corner of Hwy 36 and 35W. Typically the bigger the grassland the better the chance of viewing them. My favored areas are outstate Minnesota particularly south and east of St Paul towards Rochester and north of Blaine both eastward toward Grantsburg Wisconsin and westward toward Princeton. Northern Minnesota harbors many as well. Especially early in winter or winters that have little snow cover. When the snow gets deep they move southward to better hunting grounds. Some move far south in search of wintering areas. They have been observed as far south as northern Mexico.

Winter is coming and along with it are the prized rough-legged hawks.

Rough Legged Hawks

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Crex Meadows: a Birding Destination

Loacted just north of Grantsburg Wisconsin Crex Meadows Wildlife Refuge is a 90 minute drive from the Twin Cities metro and during the fall it’s a mecca for sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans. Add in some bonus waterfowl, raptors and tweety birds you can spend a few hours or more enjoying this wildlife refuge for free.

My recent trip was driven by the need to do some additional practicing with my new camera. I was attempting to get multiple sandhill cranes landing in focus and sharp at sundown. My practice didn’t exactly produce the optimal image but I’m moving in the right direction.

After driving thru a good part of the refuge I found a large group of sandhill cranes along with quite a few trumpeter swans, great egrets, some mallards, a few pie bill grebes and some unidentified shore birds on Main Dike Road. This is where I’d do my practicing. This area offered many opportunties to photograph the birds in the fading sunlight.

Sandhills were loudly milling around in the hundreds in the marsh with groups flying in from the days feeding grounds constantly. Enjoyable to witness and fun to photograph.

I also took a bit of time to photograph the trumpeter swans. If you’re into trumpeters this a a good photography spot offering small water and good late day sun angles. While working on the trumpeters a lone pie bill made it’s way feet from me. So close I couldn’t focus my camera. I even spoke to the bird asking it to please move back a bit and into the golden hour light on the calm reflecting water. The pie bill didn’t listen but it heard me after and after a while, working on points for style, the grebe moved out of sight.

If you’re looking for a day trip birding consider Crex Meadows. It’s worth it.

Additional Resources

Friends of Crex

Wisconsin DNR

Crex Meadows Imagery

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HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

This bald eagle was captured with my Canon Mark IV in May of 2011.

I always carry my camera in the boat while I’m fishing. Why? Because I often see really cool photo opportunities while fishing. In the simplest of words, I was fishing for crappies and not catching them so I was watching this bald eagle as it sat in a tree across the bay. I was mentally prepared to grab the camera off the floor of my Fishhawk and I wasn’t surprised to see this bald eagle jump from the tree. I picked up my camera and pointed it the direction the bald eagle was flying toward and hit the hammer. I followed the bald eagle swooping down to grab the pike and hoped for the best! It was an experienced I still have not forgotten and I know the exact spot to this day.

In reviewing my images I had the eagle captured in multiple backgrounds with a variety of lighting and my camera was set to aperature priority. When this happens again…I won’t have the camera on aperture priority. I will set my camera speed to meet the potential of any background lighting and my camera will be set to a shutter speed of 3200 instead of varying from 800-1250. Lesson learned. Take that with you….pick the right shutter speed and you won’t get a soft image often. That said I like this shot….it prints well.

Revision on 10-7-24.

Reading this post again today I am revising what settings I’d have based on I now have a camera with auto ISO. So set on auto ISO I’d be set at 3200 and F5.6.