All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

3 Bears and a Baby!

Year 4

There ARE things more important that birding in life! Eh gads … this sounds sacrilegious! Thankfully I have my priorities straight in life, and am enjoying some time off from hiking and photographing the Northwoods to greet my fourth grandchild, Maren Hoeg!

My granddaughter is enjoying a few winks surrounded by three generations of “Hoeg Bears”.

  • The smallest and oldest bear, Tommy Bear, was given to me on the day I was born by my Dad some sixty years ago …
  • The middle bear, Mr. Bear, I gave to my son, Carl, on the day he was born some thirty years ago …
  • The youngest and biggest bear, yet to be named in the future by Maren, was given to her by my son Carl (her father) on her “birth day” last Thursday!

Tradition!

Snowy Owl in Flight: Hunting!

Year 4

Today was one of those days when I am thrilled to live on the Arctic Riviera! Instead of extremely cold sub zero weather, when I went owling before sunset the wind was calm, the skies were blue, and the temperature was just a few degrees below freezing. Better yet, my birding hit the jackpot 30 minutes before sunset. I found a Snowy Owl which was beginning its evening hunt. Not only did this owl not mind my presence, at one point while I was watching this bird from a distance of 40 yards, it actually flew over and landed on the pole in the picture directly above my head.

Uff Dah! I actually had to walk away from the Snowy Owl unless I wanted to take images straight up. Now from a distance of 20 yards I waited with my finger on the shutter for the Snowy to fly. Twice there were false alarms as this bird thought it had a vole in its sights, but the third time was a charm! The owl flew and I pressed down and did a burst of photographs. Here are my favorite two images. Now that I know where this bird hunts, I plan on making more late afternoon excursions.

Below Zero Birding

Year 4, ,

The last few days have been cold in the Northland, with temperatures plunging to around -25F or worse. Does this mean one stops birding? No! I just make certain I have extra warm clothes and blankets in the car in case I get stuck somewhere. In addition to the cold weather, the past week has seen about one foot of new snow which came in multiple bursts. This extra snow seems to be making it a bit easier to find birds as they are concentrating on known food sources, as opposed to being deep in the forest and even foraging through the snow on the forest floor. Here are some images I took over the past three days …

Superior Rough-Legged Hawk on Connors Point (Duluth Harbor) … snowies also being seen at dusk on Connors Point, the Superior Middle School and the Richard Bong Airport

Riley Road Pine Grosbeaks … if you bird Riley Road, get out of the car. I found a large flock of pine grosbeaks, but they were 10 to 50 yards off the road.

Sax-Zim Bog Pine Grosbeak “Gritting Up”