Thankfully sunrise is now rather late, 7:05 am. This allowed me to head up to the Greenwood Forest Fire Burn Area before sunrise and still get back in time for church at 10:00 am. It was a fun morning with lots of fall colors, one Great Gray Owl and a number of Spruce Grouse.

Look carefully at this first image. I took this photograph last week smack dab in the middle of the burn area. While there are hundreds of acres which burned right down to the topsoil, there are also regions in the Greenwood Fire Burn Area where the fire shot through the region … burning the small trees and undergrowth but leaving the tall white pines undamaged and alive. In fact, the extreme heat causes the pines to drop their cones and start the next generation of forest. Wildlife loves these burn areas. Earlier last week I saw a huge Bull Moose right at the edge of the burn area. It was obviously munching on new growth trees (and perhaps looking for a female … it’s rutt season for moose)

This morning while the Great Gray Owl I found at sunup was ready to hide immediately from the bright sun coming up over the pines, I did find some cooperative female Spruce Grouse. Notice the fall colors in the background of the photographs.

Finally, I seem to never photograph Black-Capped Chickadees. I changed that trend this morning! The chickadee is perched on a tree killed by the fire.