Crab Apple Rock Candy at -15F!

Year 3

What could be better to eat than Crab Apple Rock Candy at -15F? If you are a Pine Grosbeak, or a Bohemian Waxwing, the answer to the question is “nothing”! However, since I could not find the waxwings this morning, and the pine grosbeaks made themselves available in the early morning light, they became the subject of today’s photoshoot. The images were taken early this morning while the rest of the American Birding World was down at Canal Park chasing the Ivory Gull. Location is the Riley Road Crap Apple trees in rural Duluth.

I do NOT want my picture taken! Backside!
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See … your caught me with my mouth full!
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Breakfast for Pine Grosbeaks
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Where’s Waldo? (try to count the Pine Grosbeaks in the photo!)
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Ivory Gull at Canal Park!

Year 3

Only an Ivory Gull could consider Duluth, Minnesota a warm southern vacation spot. The birding world is all excited, including me about this bird. Ivory Gulls normally hang out on Arctic pack ice, and are almost never seen in the continental United States.

Yesterday morning I was down at Canal Park and along with 35 of my best birding buddies, saw and photographed the Ivory Gull!

Ivory Gull
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The visitor from the Arctic pack ice is NOT impressed with the locals ability to land on ice. This Ivory Gull judge gave the local from Duluth a two … kind of reminds you of the East German judges in the Olympics!
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Range Map from WhatBird.Com
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The “Other Bird” Starts Out Year #3!

Year 3

The “other bird” … this was not the bird with which I was hoping to begin the third year of “365 Days of Birds”. The “other bird” is beautiful in its own right, but folks … I wanted to photograph a rare Arctic Phase Great Horned Owl! This owl has a beautiful off white color, and occasionally comes south down to Minnesota in the dead of Winter.

Thus, yesterday I hike for 90 minutes looking for my target bird. Walk 25 yards, stop, turn the head and scan all the trees … repeat … repeat … etc. … success! 30 yards from me on a horizontal oak branch was the rare Arctic Phase Great Horned Owl. I was motionless. Only my head was turning. Eureka … perfect line of sight through the branches and soft sunset light was on the owl. There was never time to raise my camera which was turned off and hanging around my neck. I pleaded in my mind for the owl to not fly, but to no avail. Oh no! Madam owl took a look at me and said sayonara! I have a great picture in my brain of this bird, but no pic in my camera! 🙂

Oh yes, the “other bird”. Fifteen minutes earlier while looking for the owl, I found this pileated woodpecker. Normally a pileated posing for a photo makes me happy!

Happy New Years folks, and welcome to year #3!

The Other Bird … A Pileated Woodpecker
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