Smokey and Barry the Owls Welcome Me to Sax-Zim Bog!

Year 10

This past Saturday the Sax-Zim Bog Welcome Center opened for the winter. Just before opening time I donated & dropped off a significant numbers of my three owl children’s books. Now if you buy any of my books at the Welcome Center, 100% of your purchase price goes to support the Friend’s of Sax-Zim Bog. I also donated the “print ready proofs” with production rights to the Friends organization. It makes me feel good to know my owl children’s books will live on … You may still purchase a printed copy or download a free PDF from my website.

Now the fun starts … we all know Great Gray Owls normally do not hunt late in the morning on a bright day. However, Smokey must have wanted to thank me for the donation of his book. Saturday as I drove home on Owl Avenue, just before 10 am Smokey appeared! I watched the owl hunt for over 10 minutes. Actually, the idea of this owl being Smokey is not far fetched. This is the time of year juvenile owls now have to hunt 100% of the time for themselves. Given they are not yet accomplished hunters, it is often the juvenile, first of year birds, one sees hunting during the daylight hours. Hunger is a great motivator.

Saturday’s Smokey the Great Gray Owl Photographs

Well … Barry the Barred Owl was not about to be outdone by Smokey. Yesterday, long before sunset, Barry who makes a cameo appearance in Smokey’s book hunted and posed me in the late afternoon sun. My owls are cool!

Sunday’s Barry the Barred Owl Images

One final note … many people have asked me if I have another owl picture book planned. The answer is “yes and no”. I have written / photographed 3 children’s owl picture books about Great Gray Owls, Great Horned Owls, and Snowy Owls. Similar to my book, Do You Hoot? which is factually correct and documents my local Great Horned Owlets growing up through their first year, I would like to take the same approach for Barred Owls. However, that means I have to find a Barred Owl nest near Amity Creek. Oh well, life is never easy!

 

Lady Aurora Dances to the Ice Symphony!

Year 10

When the ice groans and Lady Aurora dances! Two nights ago it was quite cold while I was out watching the Northern Lights (around 10F), and ice upon the lake I was standing would suddenly groan, crack and make other noises. Given you go from total silence to the ice symphony, it was eerie. The noise is normal early in the winter as the ice thickens on cold nights. Listen at 10 seconds and 25 seconds of the video for the musical performance.

My camera is a Sony A6300, with a Rokinon 12 mm wide angle manual lens … thus a nice camera but not super expensive. I add this information just to give perspective on capturing a video in real time … not time lapse. The best performances for the Northern Lights were around 6:50 pm, but unfortunately I did not take any videos at that time. This was around 7:30 pm when things had died down a bit, but still really good.

Ice Dance … The Movie (video link for email subscribers)

And one more pic from the best performance time!

Lady Aurora Dances and Rare Birds Fly!

Year 10,

Oh wow! Yesterday was magical. How else can you describe a day that begins with watching in Duluth a rare, beautiful bird that normally hangs out west of the Rocky Mountains, and ends with a magical dance by Lady Aurora?! In addition this was the day immediately following the one where I watched not one, but two Great Gray Owls hunting at once. Life is special and precious!

My special day began after some morning appointments.  A local home owner has graciously opened up his yard to allow birders to see a Varied Thrush that likes to eat suet off the ground underneath some bird feeders. This West Coast bird has no business visiting the Arctic Riviera at the start of winter.

Here is the Varied Thrush’s normal range (map courtesy of Cornell’s All About Birds … learn more about this orange and slate blue beauty)

Normally, this Lifer for me would be enough to call it a fantastic day, but Lady Aurora decided to dance last night. While most people had followed the media hype the prior night and chased the Northern Lights, when the prior night’s early technical numbers were poor followed by an early moonrise with 90% of the light of a full moon, I slept! However, last night was different! When the Northern Lights numbers spiked by 5:30 pm (sunset was at 4:20 pm this far north), and knowing the moon would not rise till 8 pm, I initiated my chase of the Northern Lights (read more about how I track a potential Northern Lights display).

On a frozen lake north of Two Harbors, Lady Aurora came out and danced for me. The ice was groaning and cracking as it froze thicker in the cold night air, which made for an earie performance. It is worth maximizing the image to enjoy the details and lake ice reflections (more to come from this dance, but time to get ready for morning birding in Sax-Zim Bog).