All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Arctic Riviera Long Tailed Duck!

Year 5

Yesterday’s 25 to 30 mph wind fell to about 15 mph today … with plenty of sunshine. In short, even though the temperature was only 33F, I bicycled up the shore of Lake Superior to McQuade Harbor. I do NOT want to know the chill factor, but suffice it to say during the first half of my ride there were nice white caps out on the big lake and I was cold.

Thankfully, every ride has a turning point. Instead of slogging at a 10 to 11 mph speed into the wind, I turned and flew home … never below 15 mph, and often as high as 20 mph. When I reached my uphill turn at Lester River I spied a duck landing on the water. I decided to dismount and check out what quacker had landed at the mouth of the river. Am I ever glad I got off my bike and checked out the duck. A lone Long Tailed Duck, normally found on the Arctic Ocean, decided to take a break from its northward migration. Although given my cycling clothes I was definitely not dressed for hanging out in the wide open getting blasted by the wind, I figured watching a Long Tailed Duck from a distance of often less than ten yards might be a once in a life time experience!

Here are my images:

A soon to be wet duck!

Immediately after … escaping to a new ice berg!

Swimming

Profile

Long Tailed Duck Imitating a Penguin!

Migration and Life … On Hold!

Year 5,

Lake Superior added ice last week! The big lake never adds ice in late March. This time of year is when the first hints of spring are supposed to appear in the Northland. North Shore streams and rivers are supposed to open up and have huge amounts of water cascading down the hills to Lake Superior. Early arriving ducks are supposed to gather at the mouths of streams and feast on fish preparing for spring spawning runs. Instead we have more ice on the “Big Lake” and over a foot of snow in the deep woods. Over the past few days God threw in 25+ mph winds and birding was not pretty … actually almost impossible. Smart birds, even the early migrants, are staying hundreds of miles south of the Arctic Riviera.

Life is also on hold. The Hoeg family awaits the arrival of a new child … our fifth grandchild. My wife (not to mention my daughter!) is at wit’s end. Spring means new life, and soon both birds and baby will make appearances! In the meantime, I enjoy the fruits of my bird feeders. While it is winter everywhere else in my neighborhood, my six feeders insure our forested yard if filled with bird song and color! I am not the Selfish Giant (Oscar Wilde’s children’s book)!

Yesterday afternoon I enjoyed some time with my pileated woodpeckers (female pictured). I think I may have discovered the hole the happy couple intend to use for a nest. Regardless, both the male and female Pileated Woodpeckers let me get real close as I am the “food guy”. They regularly visit my suet feeders. I think a good stiff wind will soon blow over this dead birch given their excavations.

If one knows where and when to look, color is everywhere in this land of black and white. I found God finger painting before sunrise this Sunday morning … Canal Park on Lake Superior.

Davidson Windmill Milky Way

Year 5

In honor of my 62nd birthday (today) I decided to get up at 3:50 am and be out the door shortly after 4:00 am! My goal was to take advantage of the Milky Way core finally being back above the horizon. Here in the Northland the core disappears from the night sky in October. In early Spring the Milky Way crosses the southeastern sky. Given research I knew that I had a short window of opportunity to photograph the Milky Way with the Davidson Windmill lined up properly. As one moves towards Summer, the Milky Way moves to the south and southwest, and becomes more vertical to the zenith across the sky.

I determined all these facts by using PlanIt! for Photographers. This great little app, well worth the small amout of money I paid allows me to research and plan photographs in advance all over the world. In my case, this generally means the Lake Superior region, but it could be anywhere! I determined the sky would be dark without a moon with the Milky Way in the proper location relative to my vantage point and the windmill’s blades.

Here are my two images from this morning, followed by some screenshots I took within the app.

And my screenshots from my apps, which allowed me know the darkness of the night sky, the arc of the Milky Way, sunrise, moonrise and when true night darkness would end. The app allows me to move time forward or back in units as small as a few minutes.