Your host (Rich Hoeg) interviewed on NPR about birds!

Well heck, what do you think National Public Radio would talk to me about, frogs?! As past readers know, I have been building small computers, BirdNET-Pi’s, which combine my techie knowledge with my love of birds. I donate both my time and the cost of the computers / birdsong listening devices to Northeastern Minnesota Nature Centers. I then combine that effort with my birding knowledge to help with research.

The NPR show, Here and Now, decided to interview a number of us (not just me) about our efforts to perform bird research, preserve habitat and help with the fight against global warming. The Here and Now episode is titled, “This Fairyland Bog is a Beacon for Winter Birding, and a Sponge for the Climate”. You may listen to the piece, or read the transcript! The correspondent, even focused upon how I became interested in birds as a young child. Quoting Chris Bentley interviewing me: “I’m a retired techie, and I had always been intrigued with birds here in northern Minnesota,” Hoeg said. “When I was a young child, I lived next to a forest, and I was allowed to go traipsing around the forest by myself and just had to be home by suppertime.”

Anyhow … your options:

As an aside, I could myself not listen when the episode first broadcast nationwide last week. Minnesota Public Radio has a program, Minnesota Now, which plays on my local MPR station instead of the NPR feed. Uff dah. So much for telling friends and family to “tune in”.


Canada Lynx Scent Branch!

Remember this guy (or gal)? This Canada Lynx lives near my Greenwood Creek Bird Feeders in the Superior National Forest / Sand Lake – 7 Beavers Nature Conservancy Preserve. I took these two photographs last April when the Lynx and I had a stare down on a remote trail.



Well, the big kitty likes my birdfeeders! I suspect it likes the fact that Snowshoe Hare and Grouse like my birdfeeders! The Lynx has been visiting my feeders throughout the winter, but NEVER actually walks through the parking area. Via the use of my trailcams I have now discovered the cat’s scent branch. Recently the Canada Lynx is visiting the branch at least once per day. Yesterday I moved five trailcams. They all now point at the scent branch from various angles. Learn more about “scent branches / scent marking.

Enjoy these five videos. If you would like to see some of the Canada Lynx’s friends which visit the “scent branch” including snowshoe hare, moose, timber wolves and more visit this YouTube Playlist I created which specifically focuses upon the scent branch (all videos taken within 20 yards). Interestingly enough, during the “Blue Jays” video I was actually standing about 125 yards distant from the Lynx. I knew the Jays were upset, but the 2.5+ feet of snow discouraged me from bushwhacking!

Video Links for Blog eMail Subscribers:


Winter 2025 / 2026 Lynx and Friends YouTube Playlist

Northern Hawk Owl Hunting

With the help of some other folks, I finally found a second Northern Hawk Owl in Sax-Zim Bog on Saturday morning. After the atrocious weather the past few  days … dare I say dreich?! … the day was finally worth heading outside. Putting our weather in perspective, I went through 40 pounds of salt trying to keep rid our walks free of ice buildup from the snow and sleet screaming in off Lake Superior.

While the weather forecast claimed the sun would arrive by mid-morning, Mother Nature said if you really want to photograph the Hawk Owl, you MUST show patience. I arrived in the Bog at 7:30 am, and the sun did not come out till 1:00 pm. However, the long wait was worth cooling my jets. The Northern Hawk Owl performed!

Sax-Zim Bog Northern Hawk Owl Hunting

The owl moved all afternoon between three perches near a small creek

Perch #1


Perch #2


Perch #3


One of the dives for a vole


Vole Capture #1


Vole Capture #2


Back to Hunting on Perch #3

In the final image of the “back to hunting” photos, the full sun had come out. It was taken about 15 minutes later than the other images in the sequence and something had obviously caught the owl’s attention.