first visit to the bog

[mnfishingal]

stfcatfish -

Thanks for your reply to my question on the Admiral Road Feeder thread that you ended up shutting down. I grew up in Crookston and spent a good deal of time hanging out in GF.

I had a few other questions for my first visit to the bog and am hoping you and others can fill me in. I have read some of the other threads and pulled up the maps. Thanks to all who have shared info in the posts - it looks like very helpful info. The photos from the bog are amazing!!

A quick lens question:

I noticed on one post you noted using a 400mm with a 1.5x. I've been considering using a 1.5x or 2x teleconverter with my 100-300mm lens but have been told by others that it compromises the image quality. I'm guessing you do just fine. Any thoughts? Is it mostly an issue of making sure to shoot in good lighting conditions?

Are there trails to hike or snowshoe anywhere in the bog area?

If you were going to go out in the morning would you start at the N end of the bog or S end to try to catch a glimpse of the owls? (I'm guessing the little guys are at the feeders throughout the day)?

Any other thoughts folks have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Denise

Are there trails to walk or snowshoe around the bog?

[Steve Foss]

Denise, I don't know of any bog trails for hiking/snowshoeing, but Jonny Redhorse or JayinMN are probably the guys to help you there. Hopefully they'll respond.

There are great gray owls regularly spotted on Lake Nichols Road, which is more southerly, and well as McDavitt Road, which is toward the north end. A person could hit one location after sunrise and work their way around the bog during the day having their good time and then hit the other location toward sunset before heading back home.

I do not recommend using either teleconverter on the 100-300. You definitely lose image quality, and with most cameras you'll lose the ability to autofocus. Which camera do you have?

I occasionally use a 1.4 TC on my 400mm, but fixed focal length lenses are inherently sharper than zooms, and only a handful of top-quality zoom lenses are sharp enough to take the slight degradation of image quality that comes with a TC, while most fixed focal length lenses (also called prime lenses), can handle it. And the 2x degrades image quality even further.

With the great grays, 300mm often is plenty of focal length because the owls are so large and tend to be tolerant of people. That being said, I generally limit how long I stay with any individual owl. Usually 10 minutes is plenty long to get any images I need. Many of the GGOs that come down here in winter are stressed, and while they seem fine with people being close, I don't like to add to their stress.

Also, the fewer people the better in almost all cases when photographing bog birds. If you've got a partner that's usually OK. If you get up to three or more people in a group, you're not going to get some of the images you would if you were alone, simply because not all the critters care for the larger level of disturbance.

Hope that helps, Denise, and have a fun time!

[jonny_redhorse]

Denise,Another "bog lurker" ...As far as any trails for snowshoeing,I haven't seen any that I can recall in my travels in the area...There are vast areas that one could snowshoe almost anywhere with the exception of the thick coniferous areas where one could use the shorter "bear paw type" snowshoes ......Steve covered the most "productive" areas that one could expect to see the owls/birds but part of the fun of it all is just driving the various roads slowly and finding the birds in different spots....This year I've seen great grey owls/northern hawkowls in the most unexpected places from past years...... my choices would be(since I live in Hibbing and the bog is south of me)have been Hwy#5(west side of the bog)saw GGO's there just last week....another is the Hwy#7 area(vast open expanses)this highway(runs north and south) one can see both the great greys and the northern hawkowls,shrikes, hawks in summer months(one of my best choices )....the best country/dirt roads I believe would be the "McDavitt Road"(known for "all" of the various birding species 3-toed and black backed wood peckers and both spcies of owls)...about a mile east of McDavitt is the South Admiral(runs north/south)....this road has the rare boreal chickadee and the other woodpeckers occasionally....Owl Avenue(where I have a feeding station and hasn't been that productive for "any" species in numbers for some odd reason)...The Arkola road has sharptail grouse occasionally(saw a flock of about 12 last weekend) but can be spotted any where in the bog....The Stickney Road has blackbilled magpies occasionally with northern hawkowls.....The Sax Road has the northern Hawkowls and a few great greys(saw both last weekend)....The Nichols Lake road on the southern end of the bog off of and east of Hwy#7 is known for all the owl species and the woodpeckers....then the private property birding stations of course...the one I'm familiar with is on the Blue Spruce Road(Morse feeder) north of Hwy#133 near Meadowlands......hope this helps

Have a goodtime in the Bog!

[mnfishingal]

Thanks guys for your suggestions. Sounds like the it is going to be colder than....well, pretty cold this coming week when I'm planning to be there. How does that affect the birding activity? I'll have an extra battery charged and ready.

Does anyone happen to know of any good ice fishing in the area or folks who have rentals? I'd probably leave the auger and quick flip at home and look at renting a house for a day. I'll put a post in the fishing forum as well. Thanks again for your help.

Denise

[JayinMN]

My motto is the colder the better when it comes to winter birds.

[jonny_redhorse]

Denise,I agree with Jay in that the cold doesn't effect the birds feeding as far as I know....last weekend I went out at 31 below to the bog and had one of the best owl days I ever had!....nature designed em for the cold...I'd just make sure and take a cell phone along in case of car problems...not a place to break down for sure......As far as lakes that rent houses...that's a toughy!...that birding area isn't known for dozens of lakes of any size...there are lakes but all smaller in size.....Stone Lake, Nichols Lake, Central Lakes Twin Lakes, maybe Floodwood Lake (maybe even the upper St.Louis River area) and then the lakes by Eveleth area or closer to the Whiteface Resevoir...not sure of the fish house rental thing.....maybe others could help you out here as well....It's going to be a cold week they say!...Have a good trip to the bog!

[Steve Foss]

Denise, in my experience the birds will be a bit more active at the feeding stations than when it's warm, so you should find plenty of activity unless it's both really cold and really windy, and it's not supposed to be very windy.

You'll have a very hard time finding a rental ice house at the lakes in the Bog area. However, from the northern part of the Bog you're a bit over half an hour from the best walleye fishing in this part of the state -- Lake Vermilion. You can rent a house from longtime guide Cliff Wagenbach out of Tower.

Here's his contact info:

Cliff's Guide Service

http://www.CliffsGuideService-LakeVermilion.com

Phone: (218) 753-2005

If Cliff is booked up, check out Ace Guide Service, also out of the Tower end of the lake.

[mnfishingal]

Thanks, guys, for the advice. I wish I was as hardy as the birds. I'm planning to wait til next week to come for a visit - during the week to hopefully miss some of the traffic. I really hope the weather straightens out. If you see a goldish colored honda with ND license feel free to say Hi. It woul be great to meet you guys.

Thanks again.

Denise

[Steve Foss]

Can't blame you for that, Denise. Avian photography is not nearly as much fun at -20 as it is at +20. Have fun up here next week. By Sunday highs are supposed to be in the 20s. Above zero.

[MN Shutterbug]

Denise, maybe I'll see you up there. If DMN can get his waterpipe repaired, we may head up there Monday. Right now, if you can believe the forecast, next week looks to be awesome at the bog. They're predicting highs in the mid 20's to low 30's, at Meadowlands, with partly cloudy to clear skies. If so, it would be ideal.

[MN Shutterbug]

Well, DMN had to cancel on me. If I can't find someone else to share the experience and expenses with, I may go solo. The forecasted weather sounds too good to waste. We'll see.

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, It's looking beautiful next week. Upper 20s and sunny. We'll go from the -43 we had a couple days ago to 29 a few days from now. Nothing like a 72 degree swing. June weather.

[DMN]

Hated to cancel on you XT, but working on the well and digging up the broken underground water line will probably run over $500 when I get the bill, sure would have rather been taking pictures.Hope you still go up there.

Dan

[MN Shutterbug]

No problem, Dan. I totally understand. We'll still get together someday.

[MN Shutterbug]

Considering the horrible driving conditions I experienced last night, due to the blowing snow and white out conditions, which in turn led to a very lousy night's sleep, I have decided to postpone my bog trip until a later date. It took me 2 1/2 hours to drive 75 miles. It was the worst I have driven in for many years. The thought of driving 300 miles, with very little sleep and on roads that reputably have scattered icy spots most of the way, just really doesn't set well with me. I'll just continue jealously looking at everyone elses pictures for now.