When it rains, it pours! I had never seen Yellow-Shafted Flicker chicks before this morning (my earlier post with video), and then while biking up the shore of Lake Superior from Duluth this afternoon, Jackpot!!! Found another nest (heard the chicks first). I always carry my Canon SX60 Super Zoom camera and monopod with me on my bicycle rides. Glad I did today, and this was the result!
Tag Archives: MN North: Lakewood
Lake Superior Lupines at Dawn
Three nights ago I got up at 12:15 am to photograph Lupines in the moonlight. Well, the following morning at 4:45 am I was out on the shores of Lake Superior awaiting the sunrise to photograph my favorite flowers. The first photo was taken 20 minutes before sunrise, whereas the final two were a few minutes after dawn (about 5:15 am).
Given the challenging light, I combined 3 images via HDR into one photograph such that I could both photograph the sun (or sky), but also bring out the colors of the flowers. This leads to the question, which photograph best reflects reality? Surprisingly the answer is not as easy as one might think. Right after the sun popped above the horizon, if a person looked directly at the sun, the flowers would only appear as silhouettes. However, if one made sure not to look directly at the yellow orb, the color of the flowers would be obvious. Thus, in my mind all the photographs are realistic.
20 Minutes Before Sunrise: Lupines on the shore of Lake Superior
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5 Minutes After Sunrise: Lupines on the shore of Lake Superior
Northern Shrike: I Eat Tweety Birds for Breakfast!
Yup, that’s what Northern Shrikes do! After catching said bird, a shrike will sometimes impale the songbird on barbed wire to store its catch for a later meal. Ouch! May not sound nice, but it’s Mother Nature at work.
Found this Northern Shrike twice today at the exact same spot on Scenic 61 about 1/2 mile north of the Lakewood Pumping Station. Work the tops of the pine trees on the lake side from the Northern Shores Townhomes to the Inn on Gitche Gumee. The shrike would tend to perch of the very tops of the pines, and then dive bomb to the trees lower down below the cliff’s edge. I assume it was attacking songbirds. I saw the bird immediately after church around 12:00 noon, and I took this photo at 4:00 pm … same exact stretch of shoreline. Thus, there is pretty good chance it will be around in the same area on Monday morning.
