It was a beautiful morning yesterday, although it was a bit cool making the early morning fog hang over the lake.

I used the opportunity to set out down the Echo Trail from Crane Lake/Buyck to Ely. This winding gravel road courses its 52 mile way through the Superior National Forest to Ely. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is on the north and south sides of the road. There are many trails to hike, but the one that I was curious about was the AGASSA LAKE TRAIL.

At one point there is a primitive boardwalk through the bog. It was a pretty quiet morning in the woods, but there were a few birds around. One bird that you don’t see too often, except for in areas like this, is the Lincoln’s Sparrow. He’s not much to look at (it’s another LBB, little brown bird), but his song is exceptional. It’s a warbley type song and very pretty.

Blue Flag Iris is blooming now - although it’s probably late like everything else.

When I was editing the photo after I got home, I noticed a CRAB SPIDER on the flower. The spider is white and is facing the other way; you can only see his back-end. This spider does not weave a web to trap insects, but instead is a hunter. He will ambush an insect as it is attracted to the flower or plant where the Crab Spider is hiding. He grabs the insect with his long front legs and use venom to paralyze the victim.

Later on I found a pair of WINTER WRENS. I think they were close to a nest site - they would have never let me see them this closely otherwise. These are spunky little birds that have a truly incredible song that tinkles through out the woods practically all summer.

Other birds seen:
White-winged Crossbills
White-throated Sparrow
Red-eyed Vireo
Hermit Thrush
Nashville Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Northern Parula

This is a photo of the seeds or berries that the Canada Mayflower produces. Evidently Grouse like these berries.

This is what they looked like when in flower.

Take a look at this story

http://www.kansascity.com/450/story/712804.html

I thought to myself that I better get some more photos of the Barn Swallows before they fly out of the nest.

The chicks are getting pretty big and as I found out they didn’t all fit in the nest anymore.

Just then mama swallow flew in with a tasty morsel of flying insect.

sorry, no dinner for you…

I took this picture back on July 5th - wow, they grow fast! In this photo the chicks barely had their eyes open and just a little fuzzy down was on their head. Now just 13 days later I watched as each of the baby swallows took their first flights. They’re still hanging out in the rafters of my boathouse and being fed by their parents, but soon they’ll be on their own and performing their own aerial acrobatics over the lakes and fields as they wind their way south to their wintering grounds.

I think the Astrid Lake Trail is fast becoming my ”trail du jour”, at least its my favorite for now.

The Pitcher Plant’s flowers are maturing. The flowers dry up and stay on the plant sometimes all the way into winter.

I had just read a NY Times article about the Big Bog Recreation Area, that’s located about 75 miles west of here, and I learned that the Pitcher Plant has the red veins in its leaves to imitate blood veins. It’s intent is to attract flys.

Look closely at this photo, I wonder if this spider is trapped or if he is taking advantage of a situation (?)

This boggy area is really special. As I walked into the forest of predominantly Black Spruce with a few Tamarack mixed in, the only other creature that had recently walked the trail was a big Moose! The tracks were imbedded in the muddy trail. I sincerely hoped that I wouldn’t see a huge bulk of an animal while I was there.

I was alone, but the woods were alive with a chattering twitter, I was in the midst of a White-winged Crossbill feeding frenzy. They were everywhere in the very tops of the spruce trees.

Along with the White-winged Crossbills were a few Juncos. I thought, no it’s not winter yet what are the Juncos doing here? But accordingly the Juncos can stay around northeastern MN for the summer where they are uncommon and local and they are considered a rare breeder in the Superior National Forest.

I saw a flock of 20 White-winged Crossbills and there were many more chattering away further away in the forest. These unique finches are known “wanderers”. They will show up anywhere there is a good cone crop. They use their crossed bill to extract seeds from cones. This bird looks similar to the Pine Grosbeak with their white wing bars, but their smaller size differentiate them.

The male American Goldfinch.

The female Goldfinch is rather drab in her yellow/green coloring. In the winter both sexes will look like this. The male molts into his breeding plumage in the spring and molts again in the fall back to the olive/green coloring.

Unlike many birds Goldfinches wait to nest later in the summer when they know their food source is good and plentiful enough to feed young nestlings. They like to wait until the thistle plants mature. Thistle down from the flowers is used to line their nests and the seeds are a preferred food. While most birds feed their young a diet of high-protein insects, Goldfinches prefer seeds at all times of the year. They feed their young a slurry of seeds and parental saliva.

The Pine Siskin, which is mostly only a winter visitor, has been around Crane Lake all summer. This little brown bird (LBB) is distinguished by the little bit of yellow that they sport on their wings. The Pine Siskin may look like a Sparrow, but they are not, they are in the finch family. They are seed eaters and they can clean out your thistle feeders in a hurry. Last night there was a flock of 50 birds visiting my feeders. Listen for their little trill calls when you are in the Crane Lake area.

Finally we are seeing Mallard Ducks with families. Most years we will start seeing baby ducks by Memorial weekend, but not this year. I think perhaps that the first nesting attempt probably failed due to the extreme weather we experienced this spring. Mallards will re-nest if their first nests fail, and most Mallards have two broods in a season anyhow. I started seeing young families of ducks around July 1st here at Crane Lake. This is a good month late as is a lot of other flowering plants and berries. I think the Blueberry crop will be late as well - there are green berries out there, but no ripe ones as of yet.

It was a foggy morning at the Vermilion Gorge Hiking Trail.

The moss is loving the moisture. After two years of drought conditions here in northern Minnesota, the copious amounts of rain we have received this year has rejuvenated the moss.

Check out the new deck at the restaurant at Nelson’s Resort.

I wouldn’t normally blog about a new deck, but the railing is special. Very cool ducks!

Yesterday was a strange stormy day, but I was able to get out in the morning before the storms moved in. I was out with a customer from Nelson’s Resort and we were on a bird quest. I think the birds knew something was brewing and were hunkered down, but we were able to see a few birds. Winter Wrens, Blackburnian Warblers, Hermit Thrushes, Ovenbirds, and Nashville Warblers were all still singing.

Wild Roses are blooming - I’ve heard that they are a month late in blooming this year.

Along the road is another plant that is flowering, I call them Wild Sweet Peas, but I’m not too sure that’s what they are.

Later on we stopped by the Osprey swamp by the Nelson Road, and we saw an American Bittern! That is a good bird! The locals around the area call this heron-type bird a Slough Pumper. That name comes from the distinctive call that this bird makes. Check out this link for a sound recording: American Bittern

Later on that afternoon on the way home from work I stopped by a place to check for Golden-winged Warblers. Along the Nelson Road there is a lot of young Aspen so I pulled into the snowmobile trail and got out of the car. I could hear birdsong that I was unfamiliar with, and there was a lot of chipping coming from the bushes. I pished a little bit and out came this bird and sat on a tree limb not too far from me. I was very surprised to see an Indigo Bunting! While this bird is a common sight further south in Minnesota, seeing one in the predominantly coniferous forest of the Superior National Forest is not so common. What a beautiful bird!