40 years ago while I was in graduate school and dating Molly (now my wife now of 37 years) she asked this outdoorsy guy who loved sports: “Would you want to attend a Broadway musical that was touring the country?”She was afraid I would not enjoy some “culture”. I naturally responded: “What musical”. Her answer was The King and I; Yul Brenner was making his last appearance and would die of lung cancer just five years later. I enthusiastically exclaimed: “Yes!”.  Yul Brenner was the ultimate in terms of being both coll and macho. I loved attending the musical, and for some reason this morning as these two Great Blue Herons danced their love at the Canosia Wildlife Preserve, all I could think of was the song … Shall We Dance from The King and I!!!

I’m not sure I ever danced this well when courting Molly, but we had fun! Their dance also reminds me of Snoopy who Dances for Joy because its spring!

Here is the Great Blue Heron Dance!

Here is Yul Brenner … Shall We Dance! (video link for email subscribers)

A few more images from this morning at the Rookery including a pair of Trumpeter Swans

And some videos from my visit.

The Beaver Dam and Rookery (video link for email subscribers)

The Beaver! (video link for email subscribers)

Green-Winged Teal (video link for email subscribers)

Trumpeter Swans (video link for email subscribers)

As you can tell it is a fantastic place to visit, but requires a 2/3 mile hike to get to the best rookery … no trail, just wood ticks!

FYI … I have downgraded the image quality of these photographs a tiny bit for this post. There are so many photos I do not want the content to take eons to load.

Some time it pays to be lucky! However, you make your own luck. I know from previous springs that a certain Osprey nest in an old steam shovel bucket is the preferred nesting site in the Duluth area. This nest always has ospreys on it first, and this spring was no exception. What makes this nest special? Proximity to both Fish and Rice Lake in the Canosia State Wildlife Management Area, or in other words … plentiful food.

Three mornings ago while visiting an old nest, I noticed a male looking for a mate. Yesterday when I visited mid morning, I thought I was in for a boring non eventful session. While there was an osprey sitting on the nest, it was hunkered down against the strong NW wind. The temperatures was cold for April 21st (28F) with a windchill. The lakes in the area were still ice bound. I didn’t expect much. After watching the Osprey take off and circle out of sight, I decided it was time to go home. However at the last moment I caught sight of two Ospreys far off in the distance. I changed my mind about leaving and walked back to a good nest viewing spot. I knew it was worth waiting. Four years ago had watched four osprey fight over this nest on a similar morning. After all in addition to easy food, how many nests are built in Mike Mulligan’s Steam Shovel?!

Wow! Uff Dah! I saw these two Osprey mate. Their total time on the nest together was less than five minutes. The mating was over in a few seconds. Thankfully I was prepared and had my camera pointed at the nest.  Here is the sequence of 15 photographs.

Waiting for Godot (or an Osprey thinking it should have used the new online bird dating app from eBird!)

How about tonight dear? Let me think about it …

You’re going to watch? with a camera??!

The approach …

Ospreys Mating

All done … just a second or two

I’m tired … need to rest!!!

Was it as good for you as it was for me, dear?

Lady Osprey by her lonesome. After about ten seconds of resting, the male Osprey flew off to a dead snag about 300 yards distant. I watched the two birds for about another fifteen minutes. Neither moved an inch. I went home!