It has been a busy 24 hours here at the Head of the Lakes (Duluth, Minnesota). Molly and I will leave shortly in search of Toucan Sam! Yup, as a child I loved Froot Loops, and we are finally taking a trip to Costa Rica that had been scheduled at the very beginning of the Pandemic. I will be off the grid for many days up in the mountain rain forest, followed by some time on the Pacific Ocean.
However, back home spring has finally arrived … both the huge meltdown and Great Horned Owlets. I am in a rush this morning, but from yesterday and this morning. The footbridge is 250 yards from the end of my driveway and was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (History Channel Link) in the 1930’s.
The Great Meltdown on Amity Creek (video link for email subscribers)
Great Horned Owlet #1 and Poppa Owl on Guard Duty this morning. (may need to maximize image … view lower left of nest)
Yesterday winter broke! There may still be 2+ feet of snow on the ground near Duluth, and much more on the Lake Superior Ridge, but winter’s back was broken. The winds blew from the south and the temperature soared to 60F. Today is similar. If folks have the opportunity, check out the North Shore of Lake Superior waterfalls this week which are already dumbfounding in terms of power. For the birds, the better question might be … “Did we take a wrong turn at St. Louis on the Mississippi River Flyway?”
Spring is a figment in the migrating birds imagination. All the snow and ice makes Northeastern Minnesota not bird friendly for returning migrants. I found this Tree Swallow at the end of Park Point this morning. I have no idea where it expects to find bugs.
With respect to ducks, there was an open water lead in the harbor ice right next to shore, which brought the birds close to where I was sitting. Ducks are courting.
Les and Amty, the Amity Great Horned Owls, were hooting up a storm last night. Like me, after three days of ugly weather including nights with 60+ and 40+ mph winds, everyone was thrilled to have a night of calm clear skies (and in the daytime too!). I was actually returning from an evening hike when my owls greeted me with their hoot song. I had been hiking shortly after sunset in Hartley Park chasing a Barred Owl Hoot! I hope to follow the Barred Owl’s hoot and find their nest.
Anyhow, I decided to go inside, get my audio recording equipment and record the Amity Owl’s love songs. When I reached their nest darned if the male had not left its daytime perch and was now perched right above the nest and perfectly out in the open. Oops … I thought this might be a great opportunity to try some night photograph of Les. One problem … I had not brought my camera gear (seemed too dark). You guessed it … I hiked home but as I was starting my return hike to the nest site I realized “the hoot” was now coming from my yard. Yup, Les had followed me home and was now perched on a pine tree next to my house!
Obviously it was time to try a night video! Although it was 30 minutes after sunset, I set my ISO high (3,200) and attempted to record the evening hoot. A few moments later while taking my first video, Amy decided to join the chorus. She arrived and perched only 20 feet directly above me in a dead tree (another reason NOT to remove dead trees from your yard unless there is a known infestation … the birds, bugs and mammals will thank you).
As a fyi … I have been working upon increasing my night time photography skills over the past few weeks … trying to learn how to take both better photographs and videos after dark. Quite frankly I impressed myself! Although I did not have a tripod, by using a monopod and learning against my house for further stabilization, I started my photo session. My ultimate goal is to to take videos of the owlets over the next two months starting at sunset when they become more active.
Here is a photo of Les, the Great Horned Owl 30 minutes after sunset. My Sony A6300 camera settings were: ISO is set at 3,200, Aperture is 6.3, Exposure is 1/8 of a second, lens is 70 – 350 mm Sony (at full zoom). I put the photograph through two passes of Topaz Sharpen AI … the first to focus upon removing noise and the second with a focus upon removing blurs.
It was actually a night photographing session with the Northern Lights two weeks ago which led me down this rabbit hole. Ultimately I purchased Adobe Premier Elements 2023 (the little brother of Premier Pro for video editing). Total cost was $99 (also included upgrading my copy of Photoshop Elements.
Here are Les and Amy Hooting last night (you are able to hear Amy’s hooting respones … and screeching which is normal for a Great Horned Owl female)(Owl Hooting Video Link for email subscribers)
I am also reworking my real time videos from the night of the Northern Lights (Sand River, Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area). Using Premier Elements I ran it through their “auto video noise tool, and tweaked the brightness). (Aurora Borealis Video Link for email subscribers). By the time I decided to shoot the video, the display had died down somewhat … and was green at that point.
