My morning hike took me down into the Knife River Ravine on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This ravine has old growth pines, with some dead trees. In short, great habitat for pileated woodpeckers. Shortly after arriving I heard the whack whack whack above me, and a few minutes of patience yielded today’s woodpecker photo.

In the afternoon I hiked out to the Superior Entry with my wife, son and his fiancee. Given all inland lakes and the harbor itself are now ice over, we found hundreds of goldeneyes in the channel to the open lake. Understanding how skittish goldeneyes are, I waited and soon walkers on the other side of the channel came to close and we had liftoff!

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Pileated Woodpecker

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Goldeneye Takeoff