Squirrels Use Bear to Defeat Yankee Flipper!

Alas … my Yankee Flipper is no more! What the squirrels could not destroy, my friendly black bear was able to accomplish. My local squirrels were tired of being flipped off my feeder and enlisted the help of a black bear to defeat their nemesis.

However, this story has a happy ending as the folks from Droll Yankees have replaced the plastic cylinder on my flipper w/o charge. Thus, watch out squirrels on northern Minnesota … within days you will be flipped one more. Life is good!

Here is a photo of said bear going after some of my other feeders a few weeks ago.

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Day 291: White on White during White Bird Photography!

Decided today was a great day to try photographing “white on white during white!” Thus, I drove up to Two Harbors from Duluth (a challenge in itself given our major winter snowstorm in progress), and hoped I could track down the Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese which have been hanging around the area. When zero birds were viewable from the car, I decided hiking was in order and trudged into the snowstorm in hopes I would find geese. After about 1/2 mile I heard honking … perhaps I would be in luck. About 1/4 mile further on I found hundreds of geese, but the question was if my “white friends” were among the multitude. After another 10 minutes of searching, I saw the Snow and Ross’s Geese fly overhead, and disappear into the snowstorm. Thankfully, they decided to come back and I was able to do my “white on white during white” photos!

The Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese
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Some Herring Gulls and a Cackling Goose get into the act!
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Day 290: Beauty Before the Storm

Our first major winter storm is bearing down on the Northland. It appears the birds must know this fact, and were busy foraging and eating all day long. Here are a series of photos from sunrise to just before sunset.

20 minutes before sunrise at Brighton Beach (Canada Geese)
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Look at me! I can walk on water! (Mallards)
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Food! (Blue Jay)
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