Summer is here! The lupine are blooming on the North Shore of Lake Superior! Oh yes … there was also a steam engine train this morning! Enjoy the whistle in the video.
Steam Train & Whistle (steam engine lupine video link for email subscribers)
#duluthtrains #visitduluth #exploreminnesota
Yesterday afternoon I found a Barred Owl in some Duluth prime habitat … tall trees with lots of cavities near wetlands and a small pond. Over the next few weeks I will see if the owl agrees with me and it wants to nest in this area. I hope.
Duluth Barred Owl
And I was super careful to not flush or scare the owl … it was sleeping by the time I left.
Tomorrow morning it is off to Sax-Zim Bog before sunrise. Part of my search will also include hoping to narrow down nesting territories. While Great Horned Owls nest in late January to February, Barred and Great Grays are now thinking of love. My owling plan is to arrive on Admiral Road around 7am … 15 minutes before sunrise … and then bird Admiral, McDavitt and Arkola Roads in that order. My logic is it has been both relatively cold and super windy for the past few days. Tonight’s forecast has continued strong winds plus a good chance of precipitation, but a few hours before dawn the weather is supposed to change … much lighter winds with cloud cover till around 9 am. I am hoping to find hungry GGO’s and a the bonus would be finding females being fed. Temperature will be chilly … 10F with chill factor down around -7F. The Bog is now almost 100% devoid of other birders. Thus, I will have all these areas to myself.
Colder by the Lake! As we drove home two days ago, the temperature was 65F across Minnesota … until Molly and I approached Duluth. Any weather forecast for the State of Minnesota at this time of year will always end, but “colder near Lake Superior”. The water temperature in the big lake is in the high 30’s F, which makes it hard to warm up the air if you live near Gitchi Gummi. Thus, 45F is a pretty common temperature at my house 800 yards above the shore if the wind is off the lake (or colder).
One practical effect of “colder by the lake” is spring food production starts later than spots inland. The Black Bear which raided my bird feeders last night understands this issue very well. Find a food source and stick with it! For birding, find the local micro-climate with food and migrating birds will be easily be found. Here are a few images I took over the past few days.
Amity Creek (my home area)
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Canosia Wildlife Preserve (Pioneer and Rice Lake Road Wetlands)
Greater Yellowlegs
Forest Hill Cemetery
Hooded Merganser
St. Louis River at Chambers Grover
White Pelican
Duluth Area
Fox Kits
Stoney River Forest Road (Greenwood Forest Fire Region)
Ruffed Grouse
Note: Stoney River Forest Road is clear of snow, but as you can see, not Whyte Road. The snow in the Boreal Pine Forest is still about one foot deep.
