Monthly Archives: April 2016

Huge Waves on Lake Superior (videos)

Year 3,

Lake Superior was angry this morning. Given the HUGE winds out of the northeast, and the intermittent pouring rain I made the logical decision it did not make sense to go birding! 🙂

However, it did make sense to go wave chasing. My first stop was the Superior Entry Lighthouse over in Wisconsin on the South Shore of Lake Superior. Gitchee Goomie did not disappoint, and if Hiawatha had been our on the lake this morning, the song would have been sorrowful!

My second stop of the morning was Stoney Point on the North Shore of Lake Superior. This spot is about 20 miles up the lake from the Duluth’s Canal Park, and is the site of ancient volcanic lava flows. Better yet, deep water is just off shore, which means when the waves get near shore the topography of the lake bottom makes for an excellent display (i.e. waves fall apart fast). Stoney Point is a favorite spot for Great Lakes surfing for that very reason.

Stop #1: Superior, Wisconsin Entry Lighthouse on Lake Superior
Superior-Entry-Lighthouse-Waves-0s Superior-Entry-Lighthouse-Waves-4s

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Stop #2: Stoney Point on the North Shore of Lake Superior
Stoney-Point-Waves-HUGE-1 Stoney-Point-Waves-HUGE-3cs

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Seeing America by Bike … and Birds!

Year 3,

Sam Cook, the Duluth News Tribune outdoor writer, wrote in today’s Sunday paper a nice feature about all of Molly’s and my self-supported bike tours taken throughout North America.  Molly and I have now bike toured 6,366 miles in the past four years through the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, New England, the Canadian Maritimes, Texas, the Ozarks and of course … our own Lake Superior region!

Last Spring we biked through the Texas Hill Country, and then turned north through East Texas, the Ozark Mountains finishing along the Katy Trail in Missouri. This year we will move across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, and bike tour Scotland. Thus, I am pleased to announce the 2016 Scotland Tartan Tour. It will be fun to see the Scottish countryside at 12 mph! Expect to accompany me via this blog as I bike and bird through Scotland! (follow our trip via my daily trip diary)
scotland-tartan-tour-logo
Read Molly’s Overview!

An Explosion of Color!

Year 3, ,

Even before the Spring rains come to green up the Northwoods, there is lots of color waiting for the person who is willing to invest time in the watching … and listening! The color started yesterday when I started hearing … pound, pound, pound! For the next nine hours, and then restarting at 5:30 am this morning, a pair of Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers declared out wooded lot their home turf! Amazingly, I never quite knew how the sapsuckers listened for a response. Take a look at the photos. The birds put their ear right against the tree.

The tour of color continued yesterday evening with moonrise over Lake Superior. Although it may be spring, a gorgeous harvest moon came up over the big lake. Finally, these morning I was amazed while birding on Rossini Road. This beautiful splash of yellow and black was in an unusual location! I had never seen a meadowlark deep in the Northwoods. Pine forests, and not meadows are what we tend to have in abundance.

Rossini Road Eastern Meadowlark
Y3-M04-Rossini-Road-Eastern-Meadowlark-2 Y3-M04-Rossini-Road-Eastern-Meadowlark-3 Y3-M04-Rossini-Road-Eastern-Meadowlark-4

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Moonrise Over Lake Superior – Old Duluth Central High School
(see the next post for yesterday’s moonrise at Canal Park)
Duluth-Central-High-School-Moonrise

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Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers Setting Their Territory
Y3-M04-Yellow-Bellied-Sapsucker-04 Y3-M04-Yellow-Bellied-Sapsucker-11-Listening Y3-M04-Yellow-Bellied-Sapsucker-10-Listening