MN North: Canosia Wildlife Area | 365 Days of Birds

What a great way to spend the 100th day of my year long bird photography project. After six days straight of rain, snow, sleet and high winds, the sun came out for a short while in northern Minnesota. This was all the incentive I needed to hike into a Great Blue Heron rookery which I had been meaning to visit. The snow had finally melted on most of the trail, and after a decent very, very wet and mushy hike I arrived at the rookery.

I hope you enjoy just a few of the photographs I took this morning. It was so much fun to watch and photograph these majestic and glorious birds. In total I spent almost two hours on location including my hike from the trail head. Upon reaching the rookery I spent fifteen minutes slowly moving close enough for decent photographs. I did not want to spook the assembled multitudes, and thankfully effort that was successfully rewarded.

Finally, the entire time I was photographing the herons, a red-shafted flicker was serenading me. I’ve included two photos at the end of the post. The flicker found a mate!

View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon image to view at full size)

The Happy Couple building their nest

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The Happy Couple

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The same couple … backing off a bit with my zoom

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The same couple … backing off even a bit more with my zoom

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When I first arrived, one section of the rookery was bathed in brilliant blue sky

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Clouds are now rolling in as I take one last photo before hiking back to the trailhead

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Looking for a good woman!

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Found!

Discovered shis morning while going to check out a heron rookery that some ospreys had moved back onto a next atop an old steam shovel. I visited twice and was fortunate to see the ospreys not only work at rebuilding the next, but saw the male fend off competitors for his lady. It was a fantastic experience. I plan to visit through the course of the spring and summer.

Oh yes … I have also included one photo of the Great Blue Heron rookery which I originally set out to find this morning. I got distracted by the Ospreys which I discovered first, and did not have much time at the rookery. I’ll post more photos in a few days on a return visit.