I just wrote and photographed an article on this topic for the just published issue of Lake Country Journal. Although wildfire can and is often tragic, the article reviews the benefits of fire to our ecosystem. Our forests need to burn to stay healthy. My story includes research and interviews with The Nature Conservancy of Minnesota, the Minnesota DNR, one of the world’s leading experts in forest health from the University of Minnesota, Professor Lee Frelich, and Outdoor Writer and Photographer, Michael Furtman who owns a cabin right in the middle to the Greenwood Forest Fire region.
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Here is a photograph I took near the end of the Gunflint Trail. The location is the overlook near Gunflint Lake and the image was taken during the summer of 2020, 13 years after the Ham Lake Fire … beautiful once more.
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This is what the region looked like from the same exact location just four years after the fire in 2011.
Forest Fire Rebirth at Gunflint Lake
Colder by the Lake! As we drove home two days ago, the temperature was 65F across Minnesota … until Molly and I approached Duluth. Any weather forecast for the State of Minnesota at this time of year will always end, but “colder near Lake Superior”. The water temperature in the big lake is in the high 30’s F, which makes it hard to warm up the air if you live near Gitchi Gummi. Thus, 45F is a pretty common temperature at my house 800 yards above the shore if the wind is off the lake (or colder).
One practical effect of “colder by the lake” is spring food production starts later than spots inland. The Black Bear which raided my bird feeders last night understands this issue very well. Find a food source and stick with it! For birding, find the local micro-climate with food and migrating birds will be easily be found. Here are a few images I took over the past few days.
Amity Creek (my home area) Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Canosia Wildlife Preserve (Pioneer and Rice Lake Road Wetlands) Greater Yellowlegs
Forest Hill Cemetery Hooded Merganser
St. Louis River at Chambers Grover White Pelican
Duluth Area Fox Kits
Stoney River Forest Road (Greenwood Forest Fire Region) Ruffed Grouse
Note: Stoney River Forest Road is clear of snow, but as you can see, not Whyte Road. The snow in the Boreal Pine Forest is still about one foot deep.
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.
