Lady Aurora Dances for 3 Generations of the Family

Year 9,

Lady Aurora came out and danced last night … oh my did she ever dance! The Northern Lights at our small Northwoods cabin near the Canadian border with Minnesota were fantastic. I knew moonset would be at 11:15 pm; thus I set an alarm for 12:05 am and was I thrilled with what I saw when I awakened. I then proceeded to wake up my friends, my grandchildren and their parents (my kids). Everyone was transfixed with the sky’s shimmering beauty as we watched the lights march across the night sky.

After viewing the Aurora for about and hour, I moved on to Suomi Lutheran Church and Smith Lake (2nd church photo has been light painted with a flashlight for about one second). I wanted to try taking a few photos at other locations. At the bottom of this post you will find a couple of images from the “morning after.” Fog was forming at sunrise given the temperature was only 41F. The Northwoods are magical.

I finished back at NorthStar Lake where I even took two selfies!

As a fyi, unlike many folks who take photographs of the Northern Lights, I edit in post processing to remove color and reflect what I saw with my naked eye. The Aurora last night was very white.

Finally, a photograph taken the next morning of the same scene. The sun had just popped over the treetops, and given the 41F heavy fog formed within the next ten minutes.

Views from a Bed! Northern Lights!

Year 9

Looked out of our cabin’s bedroom window at 3:45 am this morning … Uff dah! Decided I needed to get dressed and head down to the lake (North Star Lake in northern Minnesota). While Northern Lights forecasts are notoriously poor, the numbers / forecast are much actually much better for tonight, Saturday, September 3rd. See the Aurora Borealis section of this blog to learn more about how and when to watch the Northern Lights in northern Minnesota. Life is good when you may watch Lady Aurora dance from your own bed!

Return to Pine Island: Strutting Spruce Grouse

Year 9

Yesterday morning I was up a bit before 5 am, and left shortly thereafter for Pine Island State Forest which is about a one hour drive from my cabin. While Mr. Moose (see blog post) did not make a repeat visit, I discovered that the local Spruce Grouse population was worried that I might be considering an attempt to become the “top male” of the forest. Even though it was the 2nd of September, just like their cousins, the Ruffed Grouse (see post), the Spruce Grouse were in a courting mode. Twice, I managed to walk within ten yards of two different birds, and each time the local challenged me and strutted!

The grouse need to be careful, the number of raptors in the forest was HUGE, and I’m sure most of them, including this Red-Tailed Hawk (photographed at Moose Land) would love grouse for breakfast.

Time now to review some Northern Lights photographs. I was not planning on heading outside at 3:45 am, but when one looks out the window of one’s bedroom, and realizes the Aurora is dancing over the lake, who could go back to bed?!