Owls & Other Creatures of Minnesota Trip Report.

We had a great three weeks in Minnesota with three great groups.   The weather was a bit erratic, sometimes at -20 degrees, sometimes at nearly 60 degrees.  Over the three trips, we had fantastic viewing and photographing of several species of owls, a pine marten and lots of other winter birds - including the best evening, pine grosbeaks as well as the best boreal chickadees that I've ever seen.  

The trips were structured in three parts:

Part 1: Minneapolis Area - Targets: Long eared owls, eastern screech owls, Northern saw-whet owls, great horned owls and bald eagles.  The Northern saw-whets were the toughest to find, but with the help of a local, we managed to find one.  We had exceptional looks and action with the long eared owls, eastern screech and great horned owls. 

Part 2: Sax Zim Bog Area - Targets: Great Grey Owls, Northern Hawk-Owls, Short Eared Owls, Snowy Owls, Barred Owls, PIleated Woodpeckers, Boreal Chickadees, Redpools, Black back woodpeckers, Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks and last but not least, pine marten.  
 

Part 3: Duluth MN/Superior Wisconsin Area - Targets: Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Saw-Whet, Snowy Owl, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, Common Golden Eye, Barrow's Goldeneye, and Harlequin Ducks. 

Minneapolis - We were lucky enough to be very successful with long-eared owls in multple spots.  One spot was very public and near the airport.  Within 10 minutes of being picked up, my guests have long eared owls, some seeing these owls for the first time and getting amazing looks and photos.  The second spot is a little more intamite and we got some amazing photos of long ears perching and hunting.

 

We then explored the city based on other observations for screech owls.  It took me some time, but I was able to located not one, but two eastern screech owls, a red and gray morph:

The Minneapolis area was also home to several great horned owls that were nesting.  That was a real treat for myself and guests to see and photograph.  The mother sitting on the nest as the dad would be perched in a distant tree keeping watch and being prepared to hunt:

Dad keeping a watchful eye on everything below, from passerby's to dogs running around.

We also searched high and low for the Northern Saw-Whet owl.  We struck out multiple times, but with the help of a local, we struck gold and were treated to a fantastic glance at this small species of owl:


 

We then ventured to the Sax Zim Bog area, which traditionally has been excellent for Great grey owls.  This year was different, the great grey owls were non-existent with only a few random sightings here and there.  The theory from the bird biologist that the food supply was so good in the forest, that there was no need for the great grey owls to come out to the open fields to hunt.  I expect 2027 to be amazing for the great grey.  Despite this, we had amazing looks and photos of the Northern Hawk-Owl:

In addition to Northern Hawk Owl, here are some of the other photo highlights:

Boreal chickadee:

Black Capped Chickadee:

Pine grosbeak:
 

 

Evening grosbeak:

Redpool:

And a host of many other birds, including glimpses of a short eared owl, and this pine marten:

Our group then ventured back down to the Duluth/Superior Wisconsin area area where our focus was snowy owls.  We also searched and were successful in finding pileated woodpeckers, barred owl, golden eyes, barrow's golden eye and even a harlequin duck.  

Barred Owl:

 

Goldeneye (on the right) with a Harlequin duck (on the left):

One of my guests told me that he hadn't see Pileated woodpeckers in over 30 years, since he moved away from the east coast.  I made it my mission to find him pileated woodpeckers.  After finding suitable habitat, we ended up with not one, but four pileated woodpeckers, and the guest had tears in his eyes as he photographed the woodpeckers, here is one of the encounters:

I got some tips from my local contacts about Northern Saw-Whet owls, so we checked them out but struck out.  However, the snowy owl action made up for it in spades.  This was the first time for the majority of my guests in seeing a snowy owl, and not only did we get some nice perched photos, but we also were lucky enough to get some in flight shots of the owl hunting.  I helped the guests with their AF and camera settings so that they could capture these amazing moments as well.

All of the guests took away something from the trip, from upping their AF game on their camera, to improving workflow, to editing, to even ending up with new gear at a great price through me and my partner retailers.  I hope you'll consider joining me in 2027 for the Owls and Other Creatures of Minneasota or even another trip that I offer.

Here are some of the comments from the guests:

 

Beyond being a top-shelf, highly motivated guide, Jason is an amazing photographer that willingly shares camera settings and the techniques he uses to capture sharp birds-in-flight images.

 

 If you are considering a guided photography tour I cannot imagine finding a better guide (and human being) than Jason Holzworth. 

 

I recently completed my second Minnesota Owl and other creatures guided photography tour with Jason Holzworth and it was every bit as epic as my first tour with him last year.