I left home this morning a bit before 6:30. My goal was to find an owl or two before the morning sun pushed them deep into cover. However, the pre-dawn light was gorgeous and I quickly changed my tune. I slowy drove along Scenic 61 waiting for the sunrise to develop. In the end, I decided to enjoy some time at Stoney Point which is about 13 miles up the shore from near where I live. While the sunrise was pretty over Lake Superior, the light upon the ice as the sun started to come over the horizon was fantastic! I took this image as the sun was about 1/2 above the horizon … not yet truly up.
All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com
Yard Bird: Cooper’s Hawk!
Yard bird … Hunting my feeders. Finally got a decent pic.
Hopefully I will not get accused of baiting, but this Cooper’s Hawk was interested in:
* Cardinals
* Chickadees
* Juncos
* Mourning Doves
* Nuthatches (Red and White-Breasted)
* Squirrels (Gray and Red)
* Woodpeckers (Downey, Hairy, Pileated & Red Bellied)
I understand via a friend who stayed in our house recently that it has already caught one of my Cardinals … who knows what else.
Winterberry Bog Black Backed Woodpeckers
Yesterday I went in search of Black-Backed Woodpeckers. Given the weather forecast I knew the day might be the last one I could easily hike into the Boreal Forest Bog. The day dawned at -3F, and with my long johns plus mukluks I started the first of my hikes. Today the temperature is supposed to soar to 50F. Given there is still a foot of white stuff in the deep forest, my trails will become mush. Even yesterday by the time I exited my last bog the sun had warmed the air to 40F. Nice!
On my first stop of the day I found a female Black-Backed which was cooperative for viewing, but not photographs,; however on my final hike of the day I struck pay dirt in the Winterberry Bog. I found a pair of woodpeckers which were obviously “an item”, and welcomed an alien in the woods. Over the course of two hours, these two woodpeckers never strayed more than 40 yards from each other … true love. At times the male would stop foraging, pause and listen. When he was certain he could hear his true love near by it was back to flaking bark in search of grubs. Not only were these two Blackbacks cooperative, they really didn’t even care that I existed … often landed on Black Spruce trees only a few feet above my head.
Flaking Bark off Black Spruce Trees (male has the yellow patch on its head)
A nice view of the Yellow Crown
The red around the Black-Backed’s eye
Flaking Bark Videos