Northerly Treks: Truly Scenic and One Big Bog

Northerly Treks has been fun to write about so far, and we still have a ways to go.  I'll mention that rather than having 55 Wood Warblers/New World Warblers, I actually have 54 and I counted a number lower.  Whoops.  Golden-crowned Warbler would be the longshot and final 55th one I would need.  I also had my buddy Josh comment/try to comment on the same post twice, and the comments wouldn't go through.  If anyone has left a comment, I'll update that I haven't received any, and perhaps it's a side effect with the changes that Blogger is making.

Speaking of my buddy Josh Wallestad, we decided that we would meet up at two state parks in north-central Minnesota which are Scenic State Park and Big Bog State Park.  While I was looking at Black-throated Blue Warblers on the morning of June 4th, I finalized plans with Josh that we would camp out at Scenic State Park, in Chase Point Campground, that same night.  The Minnesota State Parks started to re-open their campgrounds slowly.  I reserved spot 5 and Josh and his two great kids, Evan and Marin would have spot 3.  I would go back to Gretchen's cabin, spend a few hours there getting ready for the trip and sitting by the Yellow River, and then I would start what would be close to a four hour drive to Scenic State Park.  After taking my time and making a few stops en route to Gretchen's cabin, I photographed a few birds and got some pictures I'm pretty happy with.

Least Flycatcher

Common Yellowthroat

I left the cabin after noon, and I wanted to get to Scenic State Park around 5 P.M.  Compared to the long drive that I took to Grayling, I figured that four hours would seem like nothing.  I stopped at a Super Walmart and got supplies that I would need for camping such as: a cheap ten dollar sleeping bag, a cheap two dollar pillow, a cheap ten dollar cooler, food, water, more and more bug spray, and more and more bug spray.  I sprayed myself from top to bottom thoroughly with bug spray each and every day of the trip.  Some sprays were great for mosquitoes and I didn't get many bites, and other sprays were more focused toward ticks.  I didn't find many ticks on me at all during the course of the trip.

After Walmart, I would then drive straight to Scenic State Park, which is near a small town called Bigfork.  I was pumped, and this would be the start of a four day camping trip in the northern, boreal region of Minnesota.  The plan was to bird Scenic and Big Bog State Parks on the 5th, Sax-Sim Bog early on the 6th and then head to northeast Minnesota to Cook County later on the 6th, spend all day in Cook on the 7th, and then bird either County Road 1 or 2 most of the day on the 8th near Two Harbors.  I had some big goals for the camping trip.  One was to get a tough lifer in Spruce Grouse.  Another was to camp out by a lake and hear Common Loons vocalizing at night.  I also wanted to see my first Moose in midst of the four days.  Great Gray Owls are in the area.  I wanted to photograph LeConte's Sparrow.  There were hopes that I'd get better and perched visuals of American Woodcock and White-winged Crossbill.  Something that I really wanted was a few more looks at Connecticut Warbler, as well as closer and lower views of Cape May Warbler.  And then there was the Gunflint Trail in Cook County, which had the potential to give me more warblers for the trip, as well as being in an area known for breeding Boreal Owls.  With four days being ahead of me, I figured great things were bound to happen.  My plan was open for change too, after all, we are talking about birding.

Scenic State Park is a mind blowing location, and when I pulled up, I was excited about the opportunity to camp out there.  When Josh, Evan, and Marin got there shortly after I did, Josh stated the obvious about the park, "Well, it's scenic!".  There was a lot of dense coniferous forest within the park, several bogs, deciduous forest, and a few lakes.  Our campsites of 3 and 5 were right along the bigger lake within the park.  As I scanned the lake, it didn't take me long to find a few loons.  I threw my sleeping bag in the truck bed along with my pillow, and I was looking forward to sleeping in the truck bed that night and listening to loons.

Before Josh arrived, and after Josh arrived, I took some photos of the park.  These are photos of the camping area, the lake (which is called Coon Lake), and a few trails nearby.  The four of us took a short walk to scout out locations for the following day, including a bog area that looked good for one of our biggest targets for the upcoming day in Connecticut Warbler.

When I walked around before the Wallestads got to the park for awhile, and once they got there and joined me, there was good bird diversity.  In that short amount of time, highlights included drumming Ruffed Grouse, Red-necked Grebe, Common Loons, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Alder Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Veery, Wood Thrush, White-throated Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and 11 species of warblers that included Ovenbird, Mourning Warbler, American Redstart, and Magnolia, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Pine, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, and Canada Warblers.  Most birds were heard or moving through thick patches of habitat.  When dusk approached, a pair of Barred Owls started calling with their classic sounding phrase, "Who-cooks-for-you?  Who-cooks-for-you!???!".

Dusk in the northwoods at the lake is an incredible thing to be a part of.  For starters it doesn't get dark out until after 9 P.M.  The forest smells great.  Once the campfires start, the blend with the forest smells even better .  The sound of the popping campfires with the carrying voices of people talking and having a good time is refreshing.  Along the lake and below the campspot was a dock as well as a wooden board trail that went along the lake.  As we would have an early start the next day, Josh, Evan, and Marin went to sleep.  I couldn't help but stay up for another hour as the light was fading.  Barred Owls continued to call, and every once-in-awhile, so did the Common Loon.  For the latter, I knew he was only getting started, and his vocal show is something I had wanted to hear live for years.  I walked down to the lake and enjoyed all of it, and it was a scene I'll never forget.

Once it got dark, I climbed into the truck bed and prepared for sleep, and the wait had started for when the Common Loons would play their set.  Mosquitoes hovered over my space for some time, and I found a way to get used to them.  I probably waited for about twenty minutes, and the loons started up.  It's hard to put into words how awesome it was.  All I know is that I was thankful then I got to hear it and I'm thankful now that I got to hear it.  As they went off, I recorded a few videos of them.  Plug in your headphones and listen for a better sounding result!

In the last hours of the night, it was really annoying when it started to rain.  The rain was minor at first, and then came down harder.  I had to finish my sleep inside the truck.  Before I knew it, it was light outside, and it was time to start birding.  The Wallestads were annoyed by the rain too, and it took away some of their sleep.  We hiked from the campground to some trails within the park.  The main trail we hiked on was this trail called the Fire Tower Trail, which totaled out to be about a two mile, one way hike from the campground.  The goal here was to search for Spruce Grouse, as famed Minnesota birder Bob Jansen described in his book, Birding in Minnesota State Parks, that the Fire Tower Trail was a location that was as good as any for the grouse.  He added that while Spruce Grouse were no guarantee, birders should expect to see them on the trail.  The Wallestads and I searched, and after walking up and down the trail, we couldn't find any Spruce Grouse.  But the time was awesome, and there were a lot of birds.  Every part of Scenic State Park continued to be scenic.  For the Spruce Grouse, I knew that I would spend a lot more time over the coming days with chances to look for them.

Usually, I would try and photograph birds, but the mosquitoes were absolutely brutal on this hike.  They swarmed us, and while they were limited due to our repellent, they were still a miserable force.  The further we got away from camp, the worse they were.  When the morning heated up, they weren't as bad.  The first bird I photographed out of the many species that were detected was this Alder Flycatcher.

As we got closer to camp, we had a little bit longer before we would drive for over an hour to bird the awesome-sounding Big Bog State Park.  We were targeting Connecticut Warbler there.  I wanted to see another one, and while Josh has heard them a few times, he has never gotten to really see one.  Big Bog also has a unique feature that we thought was worth the trip alone, I'll explain shortly.  As we finished up our hike, this Mourning Warbler was very cooperative and I obtained the best pictures I have gotten of this species.  Freaking awesome!

Scenic State Park had awesome diversity, we had 50 species in a little over three hours.  Click on the eBird checklist to see our totals RIGHT HERE.

I walked around the campground and went down to the lake while the Wallestads tore down their camp.  Right by our campsites was this Blackburnian Warbler.

We then left Scenic State Park by mid-morning and headed northwest to Big Bog State Park.  This park was one that we were highly anticipating to bird at due to an epic feature in the park.  In the meantime, I decided to make another reservation at Scenic State Park for the night of the 5th.  As the campground was crowded on the first night, Thursday the 4th, I was able to grab one out of only a few remaining campsites for Friday the 5th, which for most of the people coming it was to start off the weekend.  Big Bog State Park is over an hour from Scenic, and has two units: a southern and northern unit.  An epic feature that Big Bog does have is a great big bog, which gives the park a good name.  Not only does it have a big bog, but it also has a perfectly built, mile-long, one way boardwalk that goes over a large portion of the bog.  Whether or not we would get the birds that we wanted to see the most, a walk across the bog was worth the trip alone.  Josh and I were pumped, and when we started the walk, Marin and Evan seemed to like the boardwalk hike and think it was cool!  The boardwalk went through some deciduous and coniferous forest before things really got boggy.

Looking at eBird checklists and reading past reports had us knowing that we were in a great spot for birding.  Our main pursuit, the Connecticut Warbler, was the biggest draw.  Although I had seen one on the first day of the trip, I was wanting to see another one badly.  For Josh, he wanted to get his first visual on a Connecticut after hearing them and having a fleeting glimpse.  When things got boggy on the boardwalk, it didn't take us long to hear that biggest draw start singing a few times.  Unfortunately, this Connecticut Warbler was far away and there was no way for us to see it.  Unless we went out in the bog...

It is almost impossible to go into a bog.  When spelling out bog, don't ever use the three word phrase, "Be Our Guest", unless you want a very unpleasant experience.  It turns out that not even bog boots are helpful in these atmospheres.  Remember earlier in this series when I thought I could chase Connecticut Warblers through the bogs?  I was wrong, and it takes dumb thoughts to end up with smart thoughts.  Josh and I lightly put foot down into a bog briefly and lightly enough to not harm the ground, and felt how soft the ground was.  Although the ground looks like it can be walked on, in reality it is similar to quick sand, and there is water underneath.  Josh pointed out that footprints in bogs can last for up to a year.  When spelling out bog, use the real and more accurate phrase, "best on ground!".  We were only in a small sample of land in Minnesota, and that sample represented the vast, impenetrable bogs that make up much of the region.  Here is a minute long video while walking the boardwalk trail.

Bogs are formed when lakes fill with plant debris.  Different plants, including sphagnum moss, grow out from the lake's edge, and eventually, the plants cover the surface of the lake.  When the moss covers dry land, it prevents precipitation from drying and that can also create a bog.  Moss can also hold water 20 to 30 times it's own weight.  With some bogs, such as Big Bog, the moss grows over what is known as peat (a mixture of land and water), which piles up over thousands of years and covers a massive amount of water below the ground level of the bog.  The peat can be anywhere from 2 to 20 feet above the water level.  By reading an article, I've learned that if a large bog is drained, it could cover an entire state with water.  (By Lisa Myers McClintick-writing an article in the Star Tribune).  Regardless of how deep the peat is, walking through any part of a bog will result in your feet being at least a foot or two in a swampy-like environment for most of the time.  It could be dangerous and could result in a person getting stuck, but it also turns out that there are special bog boots, but they are much more advanced than a twenty dollar pair from Walmart.

As the Connecticut Warblers would go quiet for us on this walk on the Big Bog boardwalk other than the initial one we heard, I was glad to hear the songs of Palm Warblers commonly coming from the bog.  This would be the first time I really got to enjoy them on their breeding ground, and they were a big highlight!

In denser stands of taller spruce trees in the bog, we heard the songs of Yellow-bellied Flycatchers.  One of the birds was very cooperative for us.  While I started to hear them regularly on the trip in areas that held dense coniferous forest, this bird gave us killer views and great photo opportunity.

I took a recording of the "chi-biieerk" song of the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, which can be heard in the video below.  Also in the video are the songs of Nashville Warblers and a song from a Palm Warbler.

Other birds in the area included Sharp-shinned Hawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Sedge Wren, White-throated Sparrow, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  We were also hoping for White-winged Crossbill, and maybe something along the lines of a Northern Hawk Owl.  Here is a further selection of scenes from Big Bog.

After the boardwalk hike, the four of us had lunch and then the Wallestads started to head back home, which was a four hour drive.  It was awesome to hang out with them-thanks Josh!

I headed back to Scenic State Park, and arrived back at Chase Point Campground around 2:30 P.M.  It was awesome to me that I would have the remainder of the day and roughly five hours to bird within the park after I took a short rest.  After I spent a few hours in the morning with the Wallestads looking for Spruce Grouse within the park mainly in the area of the Fire Tower Trail, I decided that I would spend another few hours looking for them in the late afternoon/evening.  I was thirsty to find a Spruce Grouse, and Josh had been telling me about some other locations for them roughly an hour from Scenic that were productive at times.  My plans for the next day were to bird at Sax-Sim Bog for half the day before going up to Cook County in extreme northeast Minnesota to get on and go up the well-known Gunflint Trail.  I knew that the Gunflint Trail would also give me a shot at Spruce Grouse if I were to miss them again at Scenic.  And I also had County Roads 1 and 2 near Two Harbors too if I were to keep dipping.  Once I started hiking, I kept hiking at Scenic State Park.  I loved it, and it was great to hike nonstop and know that there wasn't going to be anymore driving during the day.  Before I would go into the areas that are so well-known for Spruce Grouse on and near the Fire Tower Trail, I hiked east of the campground and along the east shore of Coon Lake, and the trail went between Coon and another lake called Sandwick Lake.  The trail went on an elevated bluff between the lakes, which was eventually an elevated bluff going further north to an ending point at Coon Lake called Chase Point.  This section of the hike was freaking awesome!

At Chase Point I encountered the pair of awesome birds that was likely responsible for the epic show that I just heard on the previous late night and extremely early morning.  I hoped that I would hear them again on the upcoming and second night of camping at Scenic.  The Common Loon is the state bird of Minnesota, and it is the perfect bird to have that title.

Also present at Coon Lake were these Trumpeter Swans.

After the Chase Point hike, I spent the next 2.5 hours in Spruce Grouse habitat.  I carefully looked for the elusive birds near and around the fire tower, as well as in the habitat and trails past the fire tower.  As dusk approached, it wasn't meant to be for me to get a Spruce Grouse at Scenic State Park.  But the hike was awesome and worth it, and I enjoyed the cast of birds that the park harbored.  I also took a can of mosquito spray with me that I thought was full, but it wasn't.  For the first time on the trip, I got bit up pretty good.

I was thankful that I got a camping spot when I did to spend a second night at Scenic.  The campground was completely full, and I was right in the middle of a loop that was occupied with many big families who were getting out to enjoy a weekend in the north.  Chase Point Campground was very crowded, and there were people everywhere.  In that span of time, it seemed like the problems of the world had escaped and left everyone there for the few days that were ahead, and it was a great feeling.  As the night approached, I got ready for sleep and even more ready for the next day.  I decided to sleep in the truck with windows rolled down, so I could still hear the Barred Owls and Common Loons that would soon start to call for a second consecutive night.  Sax-Sim Bog was to be my birding destination for the next day, and I knew that I was set on that.  I also couldn't wait for the trek up to Cook County after Sax-Sim Bog.  As I was about to go to sleep, my phone rang and I saw that it was Josh calling.  I knew right away that he had something good to suggest for my birding trip, and I knew that it wasn't going to be a bird at Sax-Sim Bog.  What could possibly put the great Sax-Sim Bog on hold?  My answer will be answered on the next post for Northerly Treks...