MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #10

American Red Squirrel, Bear Head Lake State Park, Minnesota

We don’t have them here in our woods, the American Red Squirrel. They feed primarily on the seeds of conifer cones and we just don’t have this food source. It is smaller than our Eastern Gray Squirrels. If you see them in or near your campsite, there is no reason to set the alarm clock if you like to get out of the tent very early in the morning. The Red Squirrel will wake you up with a loud chatter with the first day light.

During an early morning walk in Bear Head Lake State Park this little guy walked towards me on this fallen, mossy tree trunk and announced my approach with the camera vociferously. I love how its bushy tail is backlit by the light peeking through the trees.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,   @ 600 mm, 1/250 s, f/6.3, ISO 2000

NATURE CLICKS #311 - RED CROSSBILL

Juvenile Red Crossbill

There are little chances that we would see a Red Crossbill in our woods here, simply for the fact that their preferred habitats is coniferous forests. With other words, it was a first sighting for us and we found the birds in the Slim Butte area, located in the grasslands between the Black Hills, South Dakota and Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. There were plenty of pine trees and we saw a female and a juvenile crossbill feeding on them. Their unique bill shape is perfect for getting the seeds out of the pine cones and make it easy to identify the bird. Red Crossbills show a great deal of variation in bill shape and voice and there is a debate over that this member of the finch family is composed of several different species.

The birds were on a feeding frenzy and in constant movement and the only way to keep up with them was to handhold the camera. Fill flash was used to overcome the harsh contrast and to show the colors.

Female feeding a juvenile