Rain Crow! I had never heard this term before yesterday’s Cuckoo Quest blog post. However one of my readers (Lisa) commented how cuckoos reminded her of how her Grandma used this name for cuckoos. Given cuckoos are somewhat rare for the Northland and thus I don’t see many, I needed help from Google. Apparently “Rain Crow” is a familiar name used for cuckoos, particularly on hot muggy days before storms. Cuckoos often call out for a loooonnnng time just before a storm. While the name is applied more often to a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo in the southern part of the United States, I did find references to the Black-Billed Cuckoo also being called a Rain Crow.

Well, storms we had yesterday. Some humdingers passed through the area just after sunset. I enjoyed watching the initial storm clouds dance across Lake Superior around 9 pm last night. All I can say about the kayaker, “Stupid Is as Stupid Does” (Forest Gump). I took these two photographs near the mouth of the Lester River. I was already seeing lighting strikes about 800 yards to the east of the kayaker. The glow on the clouds in the pictures is from some sun peaking through clouds to the west.

Now on to Mr. and Mrs. Barred Owl. A good friend of mine invited me to accompany him to some family property yesterday evening. We had a grand time. Make certain to watch the video to see how the Barred Owl pants in an attempt to beat the heat (video link for email subscribers). It also shakes its entire body to belt out a “Who cooks for you?”.