Tag: sax zim bog

This Saturday, like I mentioned in my last post, I went up to Sax-Zim Bog for the day. I went last year, and it was awesome! During that trip, I found some great new birds- Canada Jay, Black-billed Magpie, and Ruffed Grouse- but not a single owl, unusual in the bog, which is known for its great owls; so I was hoping to find one that day! My goal was to see three new species, a tall order seeing as I’d already seen some of the common ones last time, and I did that- no more, no less! I’d rather see more than three, but the ones I found were awesome.

We arrived at about one PM, which sounds late, but we left as early as we could- the place is really far from where I live! Almost as soon as we entered the bog, we found a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. At Sax-Zim, that’s a sure sign of an owl sighting, so we pulled over too and went to see what it was. What we found was a Great Gray Owl- new species number one, and we’d barely been here five minutes! Of course we got plenty of pictures, and stayed to watch the gorgeous owl as long as we could. I could’ve stood there all day, looking through binoculars at the big owl, which was pretty close to the road and gave me great views. He didn’t even seem to notice us, just swiveling his head to look at something off in the woods now and then. Maybe he heard something we didn’t! Eventually, we had to leave, so we got reluctantly back in the car.

Our next stop, of course, was the Welcome Center. Normally, you can go inside to talk with one of their great volunteers or watch the feeders outside from the comfort of the heated center, but due to Covid, it was closed, so instead we wanted to check out the feeders and hike one of their trails. Once we pulled in, I saw a flock of birds at the top of a tree in the parking lot, so I grabbed my binoculars and took a closer look. They turned out to be a species I’d wanted to see for years- Evening Grosbeaks! Bam, second lifer, ten minutes after the first one! You see why I love this place?

There didn’t seem to be anything but chickadees on the feeders in front of the center, so we went to the back to check out the tray feeder and deer carcasses (yeah, super gross, but do you know a better way to draw in Canada Jays?). As we headed that way, I looked up at the trees and saw a really tall one at the edge of the woods with a single bird at the top. I looked at it through my binoculars, and couldn’t make out what kind of bird it was, but I had a feeling, from the shape of the beak and the reddish color it seemed to have, what it might be. I started to say my suspicion aloud, but before I could, we came to the feeder, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a whole flock of that same species- Pine Grosbeak! Lifer three, just like that! I love Pine Grosbeaks, with the males’ strawberry-pink color and the females’ yellowish and gray one- they’re so pretty, and all around awesome, of course. I took lots of photos of them and the flock of Evening Grosbeaks, which decided to try out the feeder as well; then we took one of the short trails near the Welcome Center, which didn’t yield any new species but was still really nice. We had to be careful not to bump into any trees and send down a flurry of snow from their branches!

After that, I wanted to try the Admiral Road feeders, which the map calls ‘the best place in the state to see and photograph Boreal Chickadees’. We didn’t find any of those, but we did see some Canada Jays, a Hairy Woodpecker, lots of Black-capped Chickadees, and another flock of Pine Grosbeaks, which I got some good shots of. The chickadees had a habit of deciding they’d eaten enough and whizzing right past someone’s ear to the trees on the other side. It was funny, but definitely startled me if they caught me off guard!

Next we tried Warren Woessner Bog Boardwalk, which is 900 feet long and lined with feeders. There, we didn’t find a lot, since it was getting dark, but we did see some chickadees, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Downy Woodpecker, a Brown Creeper, and a Common Raven flying overhead. After that, we headed home, since before long it would be too dark even for owls!

Much shorter than I’d like, but I really enjoyed the day! My favorite new bird would have to be Great Gray Owl- so beautiful, especially since it’s my first owl I’ve seen at Sax-Zim. I hope to make these trips a yearly thing, but we’ll see!

New species: Great Gray Owl, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak

Other species: Black-capped Chickadee, Canada Jay, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, American Crow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Common Raven