Category Archives: Year 9

Nature’s App Notifications

Two nights ago I was up at our cabin on Northstar Lake, which is 30 miles north of Grand Rapids, and 100 miles northwest of Duluth. I have Nature 2.0 installed in my brain! What, not an Android or Apple app?! Nope, but my app is even better, and includes notifications which may NOT be turned off. Do you pay attention to nature’s notifications?

About 1:30 am in the morning all the loons on the lake started yodeling. I know from experience that when the loons yodel during the wee hours of the morning, a good northern lights display is often in process. Thus, even though the temperature fell to 41F that night, I threw on a heavy sweater over my pajama tops and walked down to the dock. The loons were correct. While I have seen much better Aurora Borealis displays, it was worth the short walk.

The next morning I found this Common Loon Mom and her nest. It will be fun to see her young. The nest is only 250 yards from our dock.

Pine Island State Forest Fox Kits

At 6:50 am this morning I was introduced to the Pine Island State Forest red fox family. Mom fox watched me for a while, and then decided the big blue machine (my Subaru) on the dirt road was harmless, and she left for the morning hunt. The kits were curious, and often came out from their den area and walked within 5 feet of the car. This magical experience went on for almost 30 minutes. Experiences like this one in the deep boreal forest are why I keep going out day after day. They’re magical.

Mom Red Fox Checking Me Over

Peak-A-Boo Kit!

Taking a Break (after eating daisies!)

Returning to my cabin, Molly and I went out for a pontoon ride. Only 200 yards from our dock, I discovered the Common Loons had moved in next door!

Common Loon on Nest

Finally, the Showy Lady Slippers are blossoming, but I estimate still 5 to 7 days away from peak displays. I have a stretch of road near my cabin where while bike riding I now see thousands & thousands of daisies. and the number of Lady Slippers is easily at least one thousand. There is color in the woods for those that choose to go see it!

Time for Youngsters!

It is a great time of year to take a ride in the countryside. In fact, here in northern Minnesota the forecast for Monday morning (tomorrow) is most excellent … cool, clear and calm winds. Get out shortly after sunrise and you will get to enjoy a wildflower bonanza is perfect light. I plan on visiting some favorite birding bog habitat up near the Canadian border. Birds are very busy feeding their young, and many species have already fledged.

While in Sax-Zim Bog yesterday morning I came across a bunch of Harlequin Blueflags on McDavitt Road. A great tool for easily getting a successful ID of your wildflowers may be found via “WildflowerSearch.Org“. Make certain you enter your location and date.

In addition this year’s Thanksgiving dinner was hanging out in a tree. The young wild turkeys could not be more than a week old, but they could already fly.