Here I am … a hard working photographer out at sunrise, and some “reject” insists on photo bombing my work!

Greater Scaup / Blue Bill … with some unknown joker in the foreground.

This was actually my third birding stop of the morning. I left the house at 5:40 am for the short hike to my “owling grounds”. Sunrise here in Northeastern Minnesota was 5:37 am this morning. If a person wants to see other than sleeping owls, you need to be out with the sun. By the time I arrived at the nesting area (5:50 am), the sun was just starting the kiss the tops of the taller white pines. Today I will feature Ma and Pa Great Horned Owl. For the next twenty minutes after I arrived this duo put on a great display for me. Actually, they actively attacked and defended their owlets against the sunrise crow attack. However, by 6:20 everything had settled down … the crows had departed and owls were starting to snooze.

Given how deep the parents perch within white pines, I can only surmise that the youngsters don’t have the same “warming effect” yet from their feathers. At sunrsie the triplets (yes … in fact all three owl chicks survived!) are always out in the open to catch the warming rays of the sun. It was 39F at sunrise this morning. The owlets don’t tend to perch in deeper cover till much later in the morning. Obviously this makes them easy targets for crows which is why the parents are always on the lookout.

Ma Great Horned Owl (truly the first golden light of the morning)

Pa Great Horned Owl

Ma and Pa in a White Pine (click upon to view full sized … both parent owls are present … this pair is very difficult to find once they embed themselves in deep cover … move one foot in either direction and the parents disappear from view)

One of the Owlets (much later in the morning)

Finally I hiked the five ponds at the Lester Golf Course. I keep hoping to see some warblers, but new arriving migrants were few and far between … just the tree swallows pairing up to raise some new families.