Monthly Archives: December 2014

Days 340 & 341: The Birds of Frostbite Falls

The gloom of yesteryear (the past three weeks) is kaput. A cold high pressure system has come down from the Arctic, and night time temperatures are falling to below -10F (and colder) once you get a few miles away from Lake Superior. These cold temperatures mean bright sunny days with very little moisture in the air … given the sun does not rise too high in the sky in late December, photo conditions are excellent.

Frostbite Falls … a fictitious Minnesota location made famous by Rocky and Bullwinkle! The birds of Frostbite Falls still need to eat; thus one will find them in the normal haunts. If the conditions are real cold, birds will delay foraging for their breakfast till the thermal warmth of the sun raises the temperature a bit.

Finally, on the other end of the day, our area lives up to the term, Frostbite Falls. The lights of the Mesabi Miner are seen off the Duluth Ship Canal … Midnight Arrival!

Day 340: Pine Siskins on the Vermilion Trail
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Day 341: Sunrise Mallards on Lake Superior
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Midnight Arrival
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Day 339: Golden Hour Birds

Have you ever heard the term “golden hour” photography? Basically the term means the hour immediately after sunrise, and the hour before sunset. During this time period the light is soft, and colors are enhanced. In Minnesota during the winter, our golden hour is actually much longer than 60 minutes for the simple reason the sun does not get all that high in the sky.

Yesterday I made to birding excursions. All the photos were taken during the golden hour. The light and the resulting photographs were fantastic!

Goldeneyes in the Duluth Harbor
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Katie’s Snowy Owl! (she had been showing my snowy owl photos to the 4th grade class she teaches. Thus it was fun to taken her and Erik on a successful owling expedition.
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One More Snowy Owl
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Day 338: Northern Hawk Owl

The sun finally returned to the Northwoods, and I was treated to a special sight! While driving in the countryside north of Duluth on the way to refill my public feeders on Old Vermilion Trail, I saw my first Northern Hawk Owl of the winter. These birds come south to enjoy our “warm” Minnesota winters!

In the second to last photograph, the owl which is enjoying the nice warm rays of sunshine while preening, is attacked my a songbird!

Northern Hawk Owl
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