Category Archives: Year 2

Stars Align: Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

August 13, 2015Year 2MN South: Minneapolisrichardhoeg@gmail.com

The stars aligned in suburban Minneapolis yesterday evening. I watched, photographed, and videoed a lifer, a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron. Normally this beautiful bird hangs out in the southeastern part of the United States, and normally you would find me in the forests of northern Minnesota, but last night while working my way south to my son’s wedding in Iowa, I was lucky! HUGE thanks are owed to Laura S. who allowed me to bird in her back yard.

Hope you enjoy the image, and video. Make certain to watch the video in HD. Given it was after sunset when I ended up only 10 yards from the bird, viewing in high resolution helps!

If you’re new to my blog, you might also enjoy a 36 second time lapse video I took of the Northern Lights about three weeks ago. It was a special night on a remote Lake in northern Minnesota. Link to my Aurora Borealis video.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

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Bird Nerds Watching the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron
(I’m the guy in blue up against the tree)

Invasion from Up North: Lesser Yellowlegs & Wilson’s Phalaropes

August 12, 2015Year 2MN North: Minnesota Pointrichardhoeg@gmail.com

The shore bird invasion of Duluth from northern Canada and the Arctic continues. Last weekend’s rains have made for one HUGE puddle / pond at the end of Park Point (Minnesota Point) on the playing fields. The shore birds have been enjoying a bonanza of easy food … drowned bugs and grubs. For the past two days I have been visiting this location at last light and dawn. The birds have not disappointed me!

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

Lesser Yellowlegs

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Wilson’s Phalarope

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Semipalmated Plover

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Least Sandpiper

A Migration Ride on Lake Superior’s NE Wind: Plovers, Willets and Yellowlegs

August 8, 2015Year 2MN North: Minnesota Pointrichardhoeg@gmail.com

The fall shorebird migration is in full force riding yesterday’s strong NE wind off Lake Superior. These birds spend very little time on their northern breeding grounds in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, and are now working their way south to the Gulf Coast, Central and in some cases South America. Over the past two days in the Duluth area, we have had significant rainfall which has turned the playing fields at the end of Park Point (also known at Minnesota Point) into a large wetlands / puddles which are a perfect bug hunting area for shorebirds.

A Willet