ThinkingAfield.org

Over the last two years, the Mule Deer Foundation has invested $9.9 million that was matched by $35.8 million in agency and partner funds as well as volunteer in-kind hours to implement 200 conservation projects across the West. This overall investment of $45.7 million resulted in 264,685 acres being improved through wildlife research, habitat conservation and restoration, water improvements, and more. In addition, 115 miles of fencing was removed or converted to wildlife-friendly designs to help reduce barriers to wildlife movement. These significant results show the organization’s strong emphasis on achieving its mission of “ensuring the conservation of mule deer, black-tailed deer, and their habitat.” A new video released today entitled “Ensuring the Future” shows these conservation efforts and MDF’s vision for the future of mule deer and black-tailed deer conservation.??

“Even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mule Deer Foundation continued to increase our conservation footprint to make a difference for deer across the West. When tallied up, our $9.9 million investment was matched 3.6 to 1 by our partners and through our volunteers’ hard work,” commented Mule Deer Foundation President/CEO Joel Pedersen. “Moving forward, MDF will continue to use science to identify the priority landscapes where deer need the most help. This will allow us to focus on doing the right work, in the right place, at the right scale to ensure that we have healthy, sustainable populations of deer that can be enjoyed by future generations.” Read more

A return trip to the one of America’s best cold weather birding “hotspots” provided another opportunity to photograph at a variety of feeders and feeding stations. The Sax-Zim Bog offers birders what seems like unlimited feeding stations for us to photograph at – at least more than I have been able to visit in a single day. But I had my sights set on photographing at 4 primo feeding stations, and they kept me plenty busy, especially because I bounced back and forth between what turned out to be my 2 favorites of the day – the Admiral Road feeding station and Mary Lou’s feeding station – and these 2 sites are very different.

Admiral is a rather primitive feeding station, set up at what seems like a random wooded location along a backwoods road. It includes a few suet feeders, a couple extra-large sunflower tube feeders, and a couple hanging wooden platform feeders – all nestled along the edge of a dense woodland. It’s normal to park on the edge of the road there, picking a preferred location with the direction of sunlight and the birds in mind – morning provides the best sunlight direction at the Admiral feeders. Almost all vehicles on this road are birders, and even they are few and far between, making this a nice feeding station to spend some time photographing birds that visit.

Pine Grosbeaks and Canada Jays were the stars at the Admiral Road feeding station, although you were just as likely to photograph these birds on perches away from feeders as at the feeders themselves – and to have that option was a plus. This particular feeding station is also considered to be the best location to see Boreal Chickadees in Minnesota, and hence, the best place to photograph them. But alas, no Boreals for me during either of this winter’s visits. There were plenty of Black-capped Chickadees though, and nearly as my Common Redpolls. I also appreciated a Hoary Redpoll in 1 flock, and there was almost always 1 to 5 woodpeckers in sight – Downys and Hairys.

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