Category Archives: Year 3

The Yellow Birds of Scotland!

Year 3,

At home, I might ID this bird as a Palm Warbler. While on bike tour in Scotland, I will only call it a “yellow bird”! We are having a great time while cycling around Scotland. The national bike route keeps us on fantastic and beautiful small roads. Cars are unusual.

My daily bike diary may be found on the Crazy Guy on a Bike Portal.

Here is the “yellow bird” and two cycling photos … a great dinner in a pub this evening, and one view while cycling this afternoon. Oh yes, staying in a Youth Hostel tonight for the first time in 40 years. We actually have a private room … with the dorm section full of English college students who are up here surfing … brrrr.

Yellow Bird – Dinner in the 3 Kings Pub – View While Cycling of the North Sea

Post edited after returning home … real bird names added … Yellowhammerd3-yellow-warbler_wm

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Forest Fire Aurora Borealis

Year 3,

We leave for Scotland tomorrow, and the start of our month long tour. I was debating what camera equipment to bring in my bike panniers, and a phenomenal display of Northern Lights two nights ago decided the issue for me.

The Aurora danced across the sky here in northern Minnesota, and in Scotland. I would have been devastated to have been in Scotland and not have been able to photograph the display. Thus, I will bring both my Canon SX-60 Super Zoom and my small Sony NEX-5T mirrorless cameras. The Sony shines for night and landscape photos. The SX60 lets me get close to birds and wildlife (60x optical zoom). As always I will have a monopod strapped to my panniers.

Many folks might consider this amount of camera equipment excessive on a self-supported bicycle tour, but the world is a beautiful place … and I love to record it! I used to also bring a small tripod, but even I decided that was a bit much!

We start riding on Thursday! An area writer will be enjoying our home as she works on a new book and gets ready for some seminars. Finally, It was great to find a friend who would both enjoy our unique spot here in the Northland, and protect our home by house sitting.

To follow our tour:

Forest Fire Aurora … a remote lake in northern Minnesota. The smoke from both the Canadian fires and our local Skibo fire are evident in the sky.
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Mother’s Day Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights Display!

Year 3,

The sky danced in honor of Mother’s Day early this morning. Just shows you Moms are truly special!

Shortly after midnight I hiked down into the Knife River Ravine. This trail is about 15 miles north of Duluth, and then inland from Lake Superior. I was standing in the river around 12:30 am when I took this photo, and thankfully had thought ahead and brought tall waterproof muck boots. This was just “after” the sky had really started to explode! The lights were shimmering and dancing all the way up to the Zenith. The second image was taken a few moments earlier than the first photograph when the color was “greener”.

Camera settings: 1,600 ISO, 4.0 second exposure, 2.0 aperture using a Rokinon wide angle lens on a Sony NEX-5T mirrorless camera.

Mother’s Day 2016 Aurora Borealis Display … Knife River, Northern Minnesota
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