Tag Archives: MN North: Amity

Boats and Birds

Year 7,

I think I got my wires crossed yesterday. I photographed boats at night, and owls during the middle of the day! Regardless after four days of fog, often dense, it was fantastic to have a perfectly clear sunny day.

An hour after sundown, I went over to the Duluth Port Terminal and photographed these two salties which were unloading windmill parts. Duluth is a transhipment point for windmill parts bound for all over the North Central states and Manitoba.

I was also very surprised to find my friend, Hoot, out hunting in the middle of the afternoon. Perhaps after four straight days and nights with for (often extremely dense), the owls success at hunting had been limited over the past few days. I guess Hoot was hungry!
“The Look” you have when hunting squirrels in a pine grove and the darn flicker just won’t shut up. (if not for the Northern Flicker squawking in alarm … I never would have found the owl … thus, not a mob, but just one bird led me to the owl)
Some more images of my Great Horned Owl friend from yesterday afternoon.
 
In closing, last night the young owls began begging for food from their parents only 30 minutes after sunset. Normally they don’t start demanding to be fed till 60 minutes after sundown. I really wonder if the fog made for difficult hunting.  Regardless, the owlets need to hone their own hunting skills. The nights of getting much food from the parent owls are extremely limited.

Fog Bounding Birding: Hoot & Friends!

Year 7

Here at the Head of the Lakes (Duluth, Minnesota) we have settled into a weather pattern caused by Lake Superior’s cool waters, and warm air being blown North from the Gulf. The end result is fog which often does not clear to afternoon (sometimes not at all during the day). We northerners don’t mind the fog too much, as we know the alternative is hot steamy temperatures found even just 30 miles away from the big lake. My daily bike rides are now in beautiful 57F to 65F weather.

Fog does not mean a lack of birding opportunities. In fact, it can be the exact opposite. Assuming the weather is not too damp, the birds will be out feeding and normally closer to the ground (fog can often be thicker a bit higher in elevation). Thus, birds will come down more to ground level to escape the dampness found in the tree tops. This morning was one of those foggy days. I decided to see if my local owls would be somewhat out in the open. I knew they would like the dark light, and desire to get away from the constant dripping in the woods (fog condenses on leaves and branches). Although it really was not raining, during my birding hike I felt like a constant light drizzle. The fog was essentially condensing on me.

Jackpot! I took these images around 8 am, and had a fun time with my owls. I did not even know the second owl was nearby till the owl I had been watching for fifteen minutes flew over to join its sibling. I also found some of Hoot’s friends. In short, fogbound birding can be a great time, but be prepared to get damp!

Two of the Three Great Horned Owl Juveniles

A short video while I was watching the first owl. You can hear the dripping of the fog off the trees. Yes, I was getting damp! (video link for email subscribers)

Individual Owl Portraits

While walking home, I discovered my Pileated Woodpecker family working on a dead tree. I saw them fly off in the direction of my home. I found it humorous  that when I got home the Pileateds were snacking upon my suet. They are able to reach my house muck quicker by flying. I have to take a circuitous route which involves a footbridge at a waterfall. (pileated woodpecker video links for email subscribers … video 1 … video 2)

Think Like an Owl!

Year 7,

Advance research pays off! While this isn’t one of my best photographs of the Great Horned Owls that live near my home, I’m proud of the image for several reasons … a whole lot of research went into finding this bird.

  • Recently it has been difficult to find my local owl family. Thus, I decided to think like an owl. I remembered that while cross-country skiing at night last winter, I would often hear the owls hooting at a particular spot on the ski trails. Yesterday afternoon I hiked to this area, and explored. In my humble opinion it looked “owly”, but I did not find any birds. The pine grove was extremely thick and dark even during the brightest part of a summer afternoon.
  • This afternoon I returned and jackpot! I think this is the “Dad” of my local owl family. I took the photograph 5 minutes before a downpour hit (yes … got quite wet). The exposure time for this image was almost 1/2 second but thankfully owls will sit very still, and I had a monopod.

I knew my family of owls were still very much around. They actually woke both Molly and me up last night around 3 am. Long story short, there was a huge racket outside our bedroom window. I am convinced one of the parent had made a kill, and junior threw a temper tantrum when it did not get fed! The juvenile screeched extremely loudly at the top of the tree fifteen yards from our window. We could easily sit it. Like all youngster I finally realize the meal was not going to be provided, and it flew off to hunt on its own.

I also went up to Sax-Zim Bog yesterday morning where I found this family of Sandhill Cranes (two birds not in the picture)