Early this morning just after sunrise I drove up to Two Harbors and walked the shoreline. This made for two days in row with deep blue skies, and although the temperature was a brisk 35F for a later day in May, the wind was calm. In short, it was a great morning to be alive. If you’ve never walked the trail that snakes around the point which forms the Two Harbors harbor, I highly recommend it.

The warbler invasion of the Northland that occurred a few days ago is now over, but there are still a few birds migrating through northeast Minnesota. I found this Chestnut-Sided Warbler hunting the puddles along the shore. It was fun to watch this bird and take photos. At one point I had a Cape May Warbler alight almost in front of my nose and remain motionless on a tall stalk of grass. Warblers never remain still. I assume this bird really wanted its photo taken. I obliged.

I finished off the perfect morning with a trip to a local fox den. By this time it had warmed up into the mid 40’s and the kits were enjoying the morning sun!

Chestnut-Sided Warbler

———-

Cape May Warbler

———-

Red Fox Kit

Decided today was a great day to try photographing “white on white during white!” Thus, I drove up to Two Harbors from Duluth (a challenge in itself given our major winter snowstorm in progress), and hoped I could track down the Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese which have been hanging around the area. When zero birds were viewable from the car, I decided hiking was in order and trudged into the snowstorm in hopes I would find geese. After about 1/2 mile I heard honking … perhaps I would be in luck. About 1/4 mile further on I found hundreds of geese, but the question was if my “white friends” were among the multitude. After another 10 minutes of searching, I saw the Snow and Ross’s Geese fly overhead, and disappear into the snowstorm. Thankfully, they decided to come back and I was able to do my “white on white during white” photos!

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

The Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese

———-

Some Herring Gulls and a Cackling Goose get into the act!