Category Archives: Year 13

Goldeneyes Diving for Zebra Mussels

Year 13

Lake Superior’s ice limited the open water where the Goldeneyes could forage for their zebra mussels breakfast. Goldeneyes, which normally spook very, very easily allowed me to watch their morning feed from only 30 yards distant at Duluth’s Canal Park this morning. They were hungry! This stop action video slowed the diving down from a few seconds to 13 seconds. The video is a compilation of exactly 40 photographs. Every Goldeneye will disappear! (video link for blog email subscribers)

Goldeneyes Diving in Real Time (video link for email subscribers)

Goldeneye Single Images

Goldeneyes Synchronized Diving … New Olympic Sport!

Owling with Rich circa 2026!

Year 13

Isn’t technology wonderful?! Last year I had to being hiking in the woods by 6:00 am (1 hour 20 minutes prior to sunrise) awaiting the morning “love hoot”. Some mornings my local owls were cooperative while other mornings they remained silent. My goal for being a “crazy man who hikes in the pitch dark forest” was to discover the nesting area. Male Great Horned Owls during the final courting process will perch within 20 yards of their lady love’s nest. Given the hoot I then note the location and revisit during daylight hours and find the owl’s latest home.

As noted, this year I am doing things differently because of BirdNET-Pi (my own post on how to build your own listening device). I also have three other target locations where I will be able to take similar birding actions … two Great Horned Owl territories and one Barred Owl domain. Ain’t technology sweet?! (Owling with Rich … the movie … video link for email subscribers)

The Movie!

Birding the Vole Snatchers

Year 13

Two days ago I made my trek over to Superior, and saw not one, or two but three Snowy Owls. However, although the Snowys are definitely “vole snatchers”, the real fun was watching this Red Fox hunt the airport grounds. I think the fox understood how fences work. Red understood it was on one side of the fence, and I was on the other side. It walked to within 25 yards of me which was totally unexpected and amazing. The sun came out briefly for the fox, and then the clouds rolled back in.

Red Fox Vole Snatcher

Snowy Owl Vole Snatcher