Snow Geese (white and dark morphs)

Year 4

The first measurable snow of the season expected later today. Thus, it was appropriate that I found a small flock of five snow geese in Two Harbors, Minnesota! (white and dark morphs next to the Lighthouse).

If you want to look for these geese … in addition to the spot where I located them, check out the golf course, Burlington Bay, and the RV municipal campground. The geese tend to move around a bit to these spots and a few others.

Photo conditions were a challenge … already a cold drizzle coming in off Lake Superior.

Birds of the High Arctic .. in Minnesota

Year 4, ,

Folks like to see “northern” birds, and for that opportunity they could charter a bush pilot and fly into a remote lake near the Arctic Ocean, or they could visit Duluth in the late fall and winter. In a little over a month the visitor center at Sax-Zim Bog will open for the winter. I look forward to another winter of helping out at the center as a volunteer naturalist.

In the meantime one may enjoy the late fall migration along the north shore of Lake Superior. In the past few days I have enjoyed watching:

  • Hundreds & hundreds of Slate Colored Juncos
  • Large numbers of
    • Horned Larks
    • Lapland Longspurs
    • Snow Buntings
    • American Tree Sparrows
  • One Ross’s Goose (Park Point Recreation Fields)
  • Many, many Merlins chasing songbirds for breakfast
  • One Short Eared Owl (dune grasslands while hiking out to the Superior Entry)
  • At my own feeder:
    • Woodpeckers … Downy, Hairy, Red-Bellied, and Pilleated
    • Finches … Purple and Gold
    • Chickadees and Nuthatches (red and white breasted)
    • Mourning Doves
    • Juncos
    • White-Crowned Sparrows
    • Fox Sparrows
    • Cardinals
    • A Gray Fox (15 minutes under the feeders eating 50 minutes before sunrise)

Here are a few images from the past two days … a video of the snow buntings is included.

Ross’s Goose

Merlin (imitating a turkey … don’t think the songbirds were fooled!)

Lapland Longspur (just a few minutes after sunrise)

Snow Buntings

Slate-Colored Juncos

A Blink in Time: Crisp Point Lighthouse

Year 4

Last week Molly and I served as lighthouse keepers at Crisp Point Lighthouse. Our five day stint as keepers on this remote Lake Superior shore was but a “blink in time” for Crisp Point and lighthouses in general. Ever since man constructed ports, lighthouses have existed to aide navigation. The oldest standing lighthouse today is the Tower of Hercules in Spain which was built by the Romans in the 2nd Century. Crisp Point light is a Johnny come lately to the world of beacons, built in 1904.

I hope you enjoy this photo journalistic essay of a day in the life of Crisp Point Lighthouse from the lighthouse’s perspective. This first image was taken 20 minutes before sunrise.  The perspective is from out on the catwalk looking through the glass.

Our stay was our fourth visit as keepers, and we are already signed up for 2018. Molly and I feel privileged to have been a very small part of this history. The images are combined from our five day stay. Finally, I invite you to visit my wife’s blog, Superior Footprints. Molly, who is a published writer for many magazines including Lake Superior Magazine, gives her impressions of Crisp Point including our duties as keepers.

100 minutes before sunrise: Crisp Point near the finish of another night’s work. The first light of dawn may be seen in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

60 minutes before sunrise: Getting ready for a new day in the official lighthouse keepers residence, a small tent!

30 minutes before sunrise: Morning calm descends over Lake Superior

15 minutes before sunrise: Reflections on a new day!

Sunrise!

20 minutes after sunrise: Time for a morning walk on the beach before starting keeper’s duties for the day.

Daytime – morning

Daytime – afternoon

20 minutes prior to sunset: Quite the view for dinner!

Sunset: The sun starts to dip below the Lake Superior horizon. The lighthouse photograph was taken with three minutes left of direct sunlight.

15 minutes after sunset

25 minutes after sunset

120 minutes after sunset: Nothing like a good bonfire to relax and enjoy a great day. After the last guest leaves, Molly and I enjoy our very private campsite. Reaching Crisp Point requires a 50 minute (19 mile drive) along a dirt road. The closest town of any size is an 80 minute drive … truly heaven on earth!

Crisp Point Lighthouse Map