Early in the morning while biking the 70 miles from Ely to Beaver Bay on the North Shore of Lake Superior, I heard a hawk screaming off to the side of the road. I got off my bicycle and waded into the forest. My reward was to find this merlin (kind of falcon) enjoying its breakfast. My payment was incurring a huge number of mosquito bits in the search for this picture!

I’ve also included a photograph I took 45 minutes after sunrise of the Kawishiwi River. Hopefully you will begin to understand my love of northern Minnesota! You’ll note that my final photo of the hawk finally had blue skies. The weather was clearing, but the bugs drove me away from lingering to take any more pictures!

My thanks to Owen Strickland, one this blog’s readers who helped me with the identification.

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

Madam Merlin (highway #1 near Ely, Minnesota)