Sax Zim Bog

Every February Sax Zim Bog has a birding festival. One of the items on my bucket list was to make it to the festival. Unfortunately it didn’t work out again this year so we decided to drive up to Sax Zim Bog just to look around. We didn’t see a lot in the way of wildlife. There were some Red Squirrels, Black-capped Chickadees and Pine Siskin’s at the feeders at the welcome center. We also saw a Black-billed Magpie and quite a few crows.

Black-capped Chickadee

Pine Siskin

American Red Squirrel

The most interesting thing we saw was in Meadowlands. This is the small town where the bird tours originate during the festival so we decided to look around town. As we were driving down the main drag we noticed a sign for the corporate headquarters of the Schneiderman’s Furniture stores. At first we thought it was a joke but when we looked it up on the internet it is true, the headquarters is in Meadowlands. Given that Meadowlands is a small town of several hundred in the middle of nowhere we though this was most intriguing.

For those of you not living around the Twin Cities, Schneiderman’s Furnature is a local chain of furniture stores. There is a fascinating story of how Schneiderman’s Furniture stores got started out on the web.

Pine Siskins

This fall I had a group of Pine Siskins at my bird feeders. They were only around for about a week then they seem to disappear. Recently I started to see the occasional Siskin at my feeders.

Early Spring Birds at my Feeders

These are some of the birds at my feeder during the first few weeks of spring.

The Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers have been around all winter and they have been very active this spring. I see them a lot when I put out the Peanut Butter Suit. For some reason they really like it.

Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

The Dark-eyed Juncos are around all winter but they seem to leave just about the time spring came. They were gone for a couple of weeks but are back again. I’m thinking the birds around now are migrants that are just stopping off to resupply.

A small number of Pine Siskins have been around all winter and they are still around.

The White-breasted Nuthatches have been around all winter. I still see them at the feeders. One in particular likes to grab a Black Sunflower seed and then fly over to the fence post and try and crack it open.

The one bird that has returned from the south is the Song Sparrow. A couple of them have been hanging around the feeders and the pines in front of the house. they usually nest in the pines.