America the Beautiful Birding

Year 11,

I tend to “bird the sunrise”, which on June 14th is at 5 am in northern Minnesota. Because this means I am up BEFORE 5 am, by 9 pm I am often tired and in bed. However last night I went looking for owls at a new place after sunset (after 9 pm). While I did not find owls, this Osprey (photos best seen on a large screen) was gloriously setting off the sunset. Given I live at the bottom of the hill near Lake Superior, the geography of the hill means I see lots of sunrises, and very few sunsets. Boy, am I glad I went out last night. I found myself humming the melody of “America the Beautiful”!

Flaming Osprey Sunset (Canosia Wildlife Preserve)

Rescuing “Winston Churchill”, the juvenile River Otter, from the road. Look at the first picture! I hope you’ll understand my name for the otter. I did manage to convince “Winston” to leave the highway!

The explosion of color continued this morning when I still got up early, and was off to the Lakewood School and environs.

Morning Lupine

Northern Flicker

Green Heron

Birding Updates

Year 11, , ,

Some quick birding updates …

  1. The large pine blocking USFS Road #813 (Greenwood Creek Bird Feeders) has been cleared … a combination of my efforts and the forest service
  2. The trailcam at the Greenwood Creek Bog photographed some timber wolves. I have again slightly shifted the camera’s location as I better learn the preferred game trails.
  3. The Lester / Amity Owl family is doing fine. A few mornings ago I found all four owls, even Poppa (he tends to be harder to find). Some recent pics of the owl family included below.
  4. I took photos of the Lakewood Elementary School Wetlands. They are posted below, and will also be added to the post describing that birding location. See my Northeastern Minnesota Birding Locations web page.
  5. The Grassland Birds are busy trying to find mates. This is a good birding excursion, and the wildflowers are beginning to bloom (see images bellow of Bobolink and Killdeers recently seen at Sax-Zim)
  6. Believe it or not, the Red-Headed Woodpecker is still hanging out at the Park Point Recreation Area. Red focuses upon the flowering fruit trees just off the parking lot (next to road).

All images taken within the past seven days on various birding excursions …

Lakewood Elementary School Wetlands

Standing in the middle of the bridge … pics show both directions

Grassland Birds of Sax-Zim (Bobolinks and Killdeer)

Note: I obviously stumbled upon / got near a nest (broken wing display)

Red!

The Lester / Amity Owls (Momma and Owlets)

Day 65: (Momma winks, Owlet learning to hunt

Day 67: Poppa pulls the crows away

Day 69: Owlet being harassed by Robins

Day 70: Various events!

Day 71: Momma taking a break in the afternoon

Cancer Ducks!

Year 11
Cancer Ducks … all in a row! Today is Molly’s final Chemo treatment (of 18), not to mention a very hard surgery a few weeks before Chemo. The kids and grandkids made the correct assessment that cancer sucks, and thus a few weeks ago 100 “cancer ducks” were hidden around the house. Molly and I have only found 75 of the little ducks so far. Last night Karen, our daughter, and 2 of the grandchildren arrived for today’s “ring the bell” treatment. This morning at 5:30 am I found the “previously found” ducks all in a row!
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The flowers are from Betsy and Mike who came through Duluth yesterday to celebrate our epic journey. Thank you to all our family and friends. Cancer Ducks. (replace D with S!)

As a fyi, my task of taking care of Molly is partially complete, and I may now focus more on myself. Next week I will have Prostate Cancer surgery (remember … Cancer Ducks!). Thankfully many different scans have indicated the cancer was caught early, and has not spread beyond the prostate gland. My prognosis is excellent.