Great Blue Heron Food Fight at the Rookery! (movie)

Year 7

I got up my courage to brave all the deer and horse flies and hiked into the Great Blue Heron Rookery this morning. I was thrilled to discover at the end of my hike that I did not have one single wood tick on me! (unusual). Regardless, the Great Blue Heron chicks are getting big, and should fledge soon. When they have a food fight, their beaks become lethal weapons. Please realize each time the parents deliver fish, a food fight entails. Make sure you watch the video!

Mom has just arrive. Bedlam awaits!

Food Fight Close-Up

Great Blue Heron Chick Food Fight (Mom just dropped off the fish and flew away)

Videos!

Mom tries to provide some fish … food fight starts
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Quiet reigns for a few moments at the Rookery (view of 1/4 of the nests)
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Short video showing what my hike out from the Rookery is like
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In Velvet!

Year 7

The Amity Forest continues to delight. This buck has started hanging around our house. For those of you who have never seen a White-Tailed Deer “In Velvet”, look at his antlers. Within a month or so, this deer will wear the “fuzz” off its antlers, and he will look more like you expect.

From Science.Com: “When you see deer with fuzzy antlers, you are seeing a deer in velvet. That velvet provides nutrition and growth to deer antlers. This special tissue is a type of skin, loaded with blood vessels and nerves, that regenerates every year.”

Comet Neowise Aurora Borealis

Year 7

There are special moments in life. Last night while viewing and photographing Comet Neowise, I suddenly realized that Lady Aurora was starting to dance! While her performance was subdued, in combination with the comet and it was truly a masterpiece. When the Northern Lights started to show some faint pillars I could see with my naked eye, I quickly through on my wide angle lens and captured these scenes.

My small Northwoods cabin is 60 miles south of the Canadian border in northern Minnesota. At 12:15 am last night in addition to the light show, I had Loons yodeling through the night, a Barred Owl hooting … “Who Cooks for You? Who Cooks for You?, and finally a Beaver was making its nightly rounds. When the Beaver surfaced less than five feet from my dock and did a HUGE tail slap, I almost went swimming in reaction!

Yes, it was truly a magical night on Northstar Lake. We have owned our piece of paradise for 30 years, and last night will definitely be recorded as epic in the cabin journal.

Lady Aurora Dances for Comet Neowise