It often pays to photograph into the sun! This freighter was heading down to the lower lakes. The gulls were enjoying breakfast in its wake! After the gulls I found this momma merganser and her brood at Lester River.
The family went down to Minneapolis for the weekend to cheer on my wife’s first time competing in a triathlon. However, the bird project must go on! Time was brief for getting outside to hike and bird, but I still found some neat photo opportunities.
Day 170: Wood Ducks at Dusk
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Day 171: Great Egret
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Day 172: Barn Swallows
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The Finisher!
My goal today was to hike into the forest and through a swamp to a great blue heron rookery. I have wanted to visit this rookery again, but the bugs have been horrible and have forced me to give up the hike multiple times. However, arriving around 8 am this morning I limited the number of mosquitoes and flies, and survived the hike w/o too many hundreds of bites. It was well worth the effort. The surprise was that in addition to the great blue herons I was privileged to watch to eastern kingbirds attack a mother osprey on her nest. This attack surprised me. I expected blackbirds or jays to attack the osprey, but not kingbirds.
Hiking into the Rookery
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The path was very wet, perfect for wild purple irises
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The Great Blue Herons at the Rookery
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Attack of the Eastern Kingbirds on the Osprey
