Category Archives: Year 8

Night Departure at Canal Park (video)

Year 8

Over the past week I’ve become aware that many of my readers who are sheltering at home due to the Pandemic not only enjoy reading my blog, but also use the various harbor cameras in the Duluth / Superior region to “get out and travel” on a daily basis. Clicking upon any of “the cameras” on the Duluth Ship Tracking web site allows one to travel in this manner … with real time video.

While the harbor cams are great, these devices have limitations such as no audio. Thus, I decided to provide a Canal Park experience. Last night at 8:00 pm I videotaped the Arthur Anderson leaving Duluth downbound for the steel mills in Gary, Indiana with a load of iron ore.

This ship is a beautiful classic ore boat, and was out on Lake Superior in the same storm, and very near to the Edmund Fitzgerald in November of 1975 when a viscous winter storm sent the Fitz to the bottom of Lake Superior with all hands perishing. Many of you, like me may love in a sad way Gordon Lightfoot’s song … The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. (video link for email subscribers)

Regardless, it was a beautiful night. I am not an experienced night time video photographer, but I hope you enjoy the Arthur Anderson leaving the Duluth Harbor. Some notes:

  • Sorry about the background wind noise.
  • From 10 to 30 seconds the video is sped up by a factor of 10x (audio muted)
  • From 30 to 2:25 the video is in “real time”. Enjoy the Anderson salutes and the bridge’s answers. The Anderson eventually gives a rare double salute!
  • From 2:25 to the end the video is sped up by a factor of 10x (audio muted)

Aerial Bridge as seen just prior to the Anderson’s arrival last night (video follows)

Arthur Anderson departs the Duluth Harbor (video link for email subscribers)

Hoar Frost Birding … Winter Wonderland!

Year 8

Honestly I did not head out yesterday morning looking for owls, but there are so many Great Gray Owls around this winter they found me! My primary goal was to enjoy the winter grosbeaks at the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center. I did find a huge number of both Evening and Pine Grosbeaks, but I will admit my treat for the day was watching owls hunt in the frosted environment.

Once it gets a little closer to dawn, I am heading out to enjoy the hoar frost. Unlike yesterday when it was cloudy, the night skies are clear right now. Blue sky on white hoaar frost? Uff dah! The world was white yesterday morning but with wonderful interlaced color.

Great Gray Owls (multiple birds) in Hoar Frost

Welcome Center Grosbeaks (Evening and Pine)

Sunset Great Gray Owl

Year 8

There are magical evenings, and then there ARE magical evenings. I ended 2020 with an experience even I found hard to believe. With about 30 minutes of light left before sundown my friend Ed found a Great Gray Owl in the Boreal Forest within a few miles where I was owling. He was kind enough to send me a text, and thankfully we both had cell service. The owl did not mind our presence … was out in the golden evening sun … and moved perches whenever it was within minutes of being encompassed by shade. I actually walked away from this owl while it was still out hunting in the sun. I did not want to get home late for dinner, and had a 45 minute drive ahead of me. Given sunset is at 4:30 pm this far north, darkness comes early!

I hope you enjoy all these photographs, and I will admit there are more images than a normal post, but I was excited … still am. Once again, the golden color in the photos is because I took most of the images within minutes of sundown.

The two “take-off” sequences bring forth two important points:

  1. Based upon time in the woods, I understand birds. The owls told me when they were about to take off. It was not dumb luck.
  2. Even with knowing a bird is about to take-off, it is supremely important to use “burst mode”. Each group of photos is about one second in total duration. Thus, a lot happens in a very short period of time.

Great Gray Owl Flight Sequence

Take Off of a Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owl just “Hanging Out”!