Sax-Zim Bog Weekend (Minnesota)
A brief report of last weekend in Sax-Zim Bog. This hasn’t been the best winter for mammalwatching around the bog, but if you are thinking of visiting then here is a little information that might be helpful.
American Marten (Martes americana)
I spent the weekend in Minnesota with Charles Foley and Todd Pusser and we visited Sax-Zim Bog in the north of the state.
This popular birding spot is now famous for its many wintering owls including Great Gray and Northern Hawk Owls (both of which we saw without much effort). It can also be – especially in winter – a good place to see mustelids. American Marten is usually reliably seen at bird feeders. Mink and River Otters are reasonably common and even Fishers are seen from time to time. In some winters American Ermine (Mustela richardsonii) – now split from European Stoat – are easy to see. This was my main target. Well to be fair my main target was the chance to have a few beers with Charles and Todd. The beers – and their stories – were easier to enjoy than the ermine.
The winter of 2024/25 has not, we discovered, been a good year for the ermine. Charles saw many here a year ago. But popular opinion around the visitor centre was that the lack of snow last winter had left the white ermine particularly vulnerable to predators. Their numbers had plummeted.
We were not lucky. We did briefly seen an American Marten on a bird feeder, along with numerous Red Squirrels and White-tailed Deer plus a Musk Rat (here).
There were a lot of visitors cruising the reserve’s roads, many of them using a group on the Telegram App to report, in real time, their sightings which also included mammals. This is a useful source of information but it also meant that after any interesting sighting a dozen cars would race to the location. The locals are starting to get annoyed.
Ermine were reported feeding on two carcasses, put out for the birds, during our two days there. But they did not stick around for more than a minute or two so far as we could tell. An American Marten was also visiting another carcass several times a day, though only for a couple of minutes at a time. Last year they were easier to see too.
Other mammals around the bog include Moose, Northern Flying Squirrel, Coyotes, Bobcat and Porcupines. And just before our visit Star-nosed Moles were seen several times running along the frozen roads!
There is plenty of information about the reserve here: https://saxzim.org/. Somewhere to return to.
North American Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)
Post author
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.