MN North: Lakewood | 365 Days of Birds

For the past week the weather in northern Minnesota has been gloomy, and for the past two days foggy and wet. At times one could not see much more than 50 yards. This makes for horrible photographic conditions. However, if God gives you lemons, make lemonade!

I hope you enjoy the photos I took during the fog. In adversity one finds success!

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

Day 325: A visit to the Duluth waterfront!

The crows in this picture are framed against Duluth’s Aerial Bridge. In addition, I hope you enjoy the freighter in the fog photos. Many of them have “birds” in the photos!

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Day 326: Hunting in the Rain! (immature red-tailed hawk)

I decided to return to my neighborhood Rough-Legged Hawk this afternoon and discover whether I could obtain some hunting photographs. As my photos demonstrate, the hawk definitely obliged me!

Here was my process. Once I located him, I stopped my car at some distance and let the hawk get accustomed to my car. After several minutes I inched forward at 1 to 2 miles per hour. Stopping again I then waited for the hunt to proceed. My patience was rewarded several minutes when the hawk dove on an unlucky mouse or vole. After it finished that meal, I was amazed when the rough-legged hawk flew back up to the telephone pole which was closest away from me (about 30 yards). It resumed its hunt. I decided to focus my camera on where I believed its attention was focused and hoped I might capture the instant of the kill. I did! These seven photos are all part of the hunt sequence.

I have cropped the last photograph to help readers see the rough-legged hawk’s feather legs. This hawk is one of the only birds which has feathers down to its talons. Given it spends the summer in the Canadian sub-Arctic, and the winter in northern Minnesota, the natural adaptation makes sense!