Ever want to find a bird and animal hot spot? Find a nice pond without a manicured lawn around it. Here in northern Minnesota I know of quite a few beaver ponds, and sunrise this morning found me hiking into said pond via a snowmobile trail. Now realizing most of you may not have wilderness like me at your beck and call, then search out a golf course or cemetery with a pond. These small bodies of water generate lots of food which means nature on display. Here’s a few photographs from this morning’s excursion …

Green-Winged Teal (one of my favorite ducks … beautiful color)

Beaver! (what else would you expect at a beaver pond)

Osprey (with a Great Blue Heron flying in the background)

Porcupine (seen along my hike in … not at the pond)

And from a golf course pond yesterday afternoon …

Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers “a fighting”

Tree Swallows (love the metallic blue)

Finally … another owl image. I took this photograph yesterday morning. One key item to point out with wildlife photography, often less is more! While I could have zoomed in quite a bit more for a close-up of the siblings, it makes for a much more interesting and artistic image to have the full, rather unique tree bough in the photograph.