Although my assignment was to photograph the first bird I saw today, these two birds of prey really added neat bookends to the day:
Dawn
Dusk
My photograph assignment for today was to take pictures of the first bird I saw this morning. While in the Summer, one would see huge numbers of birds immediately, in the dead of Winter I actually drove 12.5 miles before any feathered friend was willing to oblige. The idea behind my assignment was to force me to photograph in what may be a less than desirable situation, and try to optimize the picture.
Well, I got what I asked for. Today’s photo is of a fishing merganser, I think! This bird was way off shore, and there was not much I could do to make the photo more intriguing! Bird #2 was more interested, but it did not count! I just wish the bald eagle had flown by before the duck! Obviously, a HUGE difficulty with photographing birds is they move around a lot, and as the eagle demonstrated, often partially hide behind branches. I spent 20 minutes chasing each bird trying to get a better photo opportunity. One gets cold when it is -2F with a 15 mph wind. After a while it’s time to run back to the car to get warmed up.
First Bird of the Morning (official project photo)
Second Bird of the Morning (second photo, and does not count!)
My assignment today was to photograph birds in Duluth’s frozen harbor. This shipping season ended on January 15th, and the Coast Guard and tugs are no longer breaking ice (see my video). Given that birds tend to like open water, and not ice, if I could find some open water, then one should find birds. I could only think of two areas that would give me open water: Canal Park (harbor entrance) and the Water Treatment Plant (warm water discharge).
Getting to Canal Park was easy, but trying to get close to the water treatment plant (WLSSD) proved impossible. Although I could see the open water from the highway, and even view bald eagles attacking other birds, once I exited from the interstate it was impossible to get anywhere near by car, which would have then allowed me to continue on foot.
Although driving around the port in the industrial area was an interesting experience, I can see from my inability to gain access, I will need to be a bit more intelligent about finding and location birds of which I am able to gain viewing access. I now know that a rare bird alert exists for the Duluth / North Shore area. Anyhow, here is today’s photograph: A Gaggle of Goldeneyes!
