Tag Archives: MN North: Amity

Birding After Dark: Amity Great Horned Owls

Year 10,

Les and Amty, the Amity Great Horned Owls, were hooting up a storm last night. Like me, after three days of ugly weather including nights with 60+ and 40+ mph winds, everyone was thrilled to have a night of calm clear skies (and in the daytime too!). I was actually returning from an evening hike when my owls greeted me with their hoot song. I had been hiking shortly after sunset in Hartley Park chasing a Barred Owl Hoot! I hope to follow the Barred Owl’s hoot and find their nest.

Anyhow, I decided to go inside, get my audio recording equipment and record the Amity Owl’s love songs. When I reached their nest darned if the male had not left its daytime perch and was now perched right above the nest and perfectly out in the open. Oops … I thought this might be a great opportunity to try some night photograph of Les. One problem … I had not brought my camera gear (seemed too dark). You guessed it … I hiked home but as I was starting my return hike to the nest site I realized “the hoot” was now coming from my yard. Yup, Les had followed me home and was now perched on a pine tree next to my house!

Obviously it was time to try a night video! Although it was 30 minutes after sunset, I set my ISO high (3,200) and attempted to record the evening hoot. A few moments later while taking my first video, Amy decided to join the chorus. She arrived and perched only 20 feet directly above me in a dead tree (another reason NOT to remove dead trees from your yard unless there is a known infestation … the birds, bugs and mammals will thank you).

As a fyi … I have been working upon increasing my night time photography skills over the past few weeks … trying to learn how to take both better photographs and videos after dark. Quite frankly I impressed myself! Although I did not have a tripod, by using a monopod and learning against my house for further stabilization, I started my photo session. My ultimate goal is to to take videos of the owlets over the next two months starting at sunset when they become more active.

Here is a photo of Les, the Great Horned Owl 30 minutes after sunset. My Sony A6300 camera settings were: ISO is set at 3,200, Aperture is 6.3, Exposure is 1/8 of a second, lens is 70 – 350 mm Sony (at full zoom). I put the photograph through two passes of Topaz Sharpen AI … the first to focus upon removing noise and the second with a focus upon removing blurs.

It was actually a night photographing session with the Northern Lights two weeks ago which led me down this rabbit hole. Ultimately I purchased Adobe Premier Elements 2023 (the little brother of Premier Pro for video editing). Total cost was $99 (also included upgrading my copy of Photoshop Elements.

Here are Les and Amy Hooting last night (you are able to hear Amy’s hooting respones … and screeching which is normal for a Great Horned Owl female)(Owl Hooting Video Link for email subscribers)

I am also reworking my real time videos from the night of the Northern Lights (Sand River, Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area). Using Premier Elements I ran it through their “auto video noise tool, and tweaked the brightness). (Aurora Borealis Video Link for email subscribers). By the time I decided to shoot the video, the display had died down somewhat … and was green at that point.

A Pause Between Snowstorms!

Year 10

Unexpected sunshine and 39F this afternoon! Don’t tell Mom Great Horned Owl another big snowstorm is expected near Lake Superior tomorrow evening.

Soon she will look like Poppa Owl who I photographed early last week. Regardless, all is well in HootVille.

The owlets should be born soon, but unless there is a real warm day (none in the forecast), I won’t see the youngsters for some time.

Trumpeter Swans Arriving

Year 10,

Before I move on to today’s post, I will take an action that I rarely do upon this blog … talk about myself. After all this web site is about the birds (and northern lights), not me. Actually, keeping true to form I will NOT talk about myself, but let someone else hold forth about “my personal story”. I was recently interviewed for Destination Duluth … a civic organization dedicated to promoting our region. Thus, I bring you “The Owl Guy!” (me).

There is almost zero open water anywhere in the Northland, with the exception of Lake Superior and the large rivers with strong current, but area lakes, small rivers and streams are very much still ice bound. However, where there is a strong current and a bit open water occurs, you will now find Trumpeter Swans. These birds are some of the first to return to area lakes in search of top breeding areas. This pair was just one group of six swans I found in the creek along Stone Lake Road in Sax-Zim Bog.

Meanwhile back at home my local pileated woodpeckers have let everyone know my yard is their yard / territory. These images were taken the day before the swans after a four inch snow.