Tag Archives: MN North: North Shore of Lake Superior

Getting Drenched and Loving Every Second!

Year 9
Question of the day: How fast do you get soaked when watching High Falls on the Pigeon River in ONE second?? I answered that question yesterday. Given the fast snow and ice melt occuring, High Falls is experiencing record flow. The answer is FAST!
.
These two photographs were taken less than two seconds apart (camera burst mode). Notice how the number of water droplets have exploded on the camera lens (Google Maps Link: High Falls). As a teenager I often helped friends with their store right at the Canadian border on busy summer weekends. I would fish in a rowboat right beneath this waterfall, but that was always in August!
.
eMail subscribers make certain you watch my short video I took of the falls yesterday morning (Wednesday, May 11th). All the lakes in off the Gunflint are still socked in with ice, and back in the deep boreal forest there is easily 1+ feet of snow on the ground. I had to turn around twice with my Subaru Outback (all wheel drive) on back roads which were impassable … creeks now rivers flowing over the road, and a combination of deep snow / mud on the dirt roads.

Here are a few more random photographs I took on my drive and three additional videos: (video links for email subscribers: Driving the Backroads | South Brule River Bridge at Sunrise | No Name Lake Socked in with Ice)(river and lake videos have commentary by me … all short)

Approaching civilization … I stayed at the Hungry Hippie Hostel and would recommend it w/o reservation.

A no name lake (smaller and shallower) … still socked in with ice. These smaller lakes normally go ice free before the big, deep lakes. No black ice yet.

Snowstorm?!

Year 8
The number of Snowy Owls that have appeared in the past nine days is amazing. I am hesitant yet to call this an irruption year, but for the moment I am very much enjoying this “snowstorm”!
.
This morning … the owl was hiding from the wind in Northeastern Minnesota (not the Bog). I watched this owl for two hours, and very briefly it stood up … looked around, and went back to sleep.

Rescuing a Northern Goshawk

Year 1

Yesterday evening a good friend texted me. They had found a young hawk on their lawn, and needed identification help. Shortly thereafter through the exchange of photographs I figured out the bird was a Juvenile Northern Goshawk. By chance a Ruffed Grouse had hit their window earlier in the day. Knowing grouse were a favorite prey of Goshawk’s, the dead grouse was offered to the young hawk. It happily took the offering.

The Goshawk was willing to let my friends get within a few feet. Knowing this was not normal, I asked them to contact me in the morning if the bird was still present. At 7:45 am I received a phone call that the Goshawk was again standing in their yard eating the remains of the grouse. No matter how close they got to the bird, it would not fly (no obvious injuries).

My assessment was that the juvenile was starving. When parent birds stop feeding youngsters, the juveniles need to quickly learn how to become successful hunters. I drove over to my friend’s house, and the hawk let me walk right up to it (not normal). I then hand captured the bird by dropping a blanket over it from behind. This accomplishes a few things:

  1. Birds talens only go forward. Thus, coming up behind a bird protects me.
  2. Covering a bird with a blanket has a calming effect. Although a bird is stressed out from the capture, covering its eyes makes life a bit better.

Once the Goshawk was in my car, I called WildWoods Rehab Center. Just by good luck, they had a driver going down to the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center in 45 minutes. Anyhow, I put the pedal down on my car and safely delivered the Goshawk and made the relay. The hawk should arrive at the Raptor Center about noon. Life is good!

The Northern Goshawk enjoying some grouse (just before I hand captured the bird)

Having its meal …

(video link for email subscribers)

The Rescue: I did have to keep one hand on the blanket to encourage the Goshawk to remain covered and not get free!