The past few mornings have seen me birding Duluth’s Forest Hill Cemetery. From now till the end of Fall Migration the results can be fantastic, and the permanent residents don’t tend to mind. If your local cemetery has a pond, focus upon the water. Forest Hill has two ponds and the birds know it is a time of plenty in terms of food. Better yet, due to some live humans who frequent Forest Hill, the birds are somewhat accepting of your birding presence. (learn more about Forest Hill and obtain the GPS coordinates via my My Minnesota Birding Locations web page)

I’ll lead off with a Great Blue Heron. This bird has been hanging out at the cemetery for almost one week. Make certain you watch “The Strike Video”. I have slowed down this action by a factor of two. The video also shows you the strike at normal speed. (video link for email subscribers)

Reflective Mornings … Great Blue and Green Herons

And perhaps my biggest treat … a pair of Belted Kingfishers are busy fishing all the time and somewhat permissive of my getting closer. Their young will fledge soon. One fact about Belted Kingfishers which is unusual for bird species … the female is the more brightly colored sex. As female birds tend to do most of the incubation of eggs, their colors are normally more drab to help camouflage their presence.