Tag Archives: MN North: Lakewood

North Shore Bicycle Birding Bald Eagle Take-Off!

Year 6

It’s not often you get to watch a Bald Eagle take off from above, but during today’s bicycle ride I suddenly spied an eagle sitting on a small cliff overlooking Lake Superior. Thankfully I was above the eagle and I knew given the wind, the geology of this cliff, and my location our nation’s bird would have to take off towards me … giving me a unique vantage point.

Now a pause for a few birding photography comments. One reason I really like super zoom cameras is that this kind of camera easily fits in my bicycle front handlebar bag. Remember, you can never take the picture if you don’t have the camera with you!

In addition, continuous high speed mode means the sequence of seven images took place over the course of 1/2 second. If you are taking wildlife photographs, you need to use your highest burst / continuous mode for all photographs you take. While all the pictures are good, numbers 4 and 5 are my favorites.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Bald Eagle Take-Off on a North Shore Lake Superior Cliff

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Image 5

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Image 7

Headwind Deflection Hunting

Year 4,

37F … clouds and occasional slushy snow … 15 mph winds out of the NE.

In short, yesterday afternoon’s weather did little to encourage me to take my daily bike ride up the shore of Lake Superior! However, being addicted to exercise and grumbling all the way, I walked down the outside stairs to the garage and mounted my bike.

Man alive, boy am I thrilled I took my ride! In an hour’s cycling I saw well over 30 Rough-Legged Hawks, including this individual which was doing what I have named “Headwind Deflection Hunting”. This kind of hunting goes like this:

  1. Migrate down from the Arctic
  2. Find the largest freshwater lake in the world
  3. Migrate with the wind down the shore
  4. Occasionally turn into the wind, and use the headwind pushed up off the 20 foot cliff to hover in place w/o expending any effort
  5. Dive and eat mouse
  6. Resume migration

It is amazing how many hawks I saw hunting in this manner. What a treat to get off my bike (of course I had my camera … need you ask), and watch this bird hunt for five minutes.

A few days earlier up in Two Harbors, Minnesota I observed ring-billed gulls hunting food in a similar manner. By flying into a stiff wind, and stalling out next to a berry covered bush, the gulls were able to eat the fruit. One enterprising individual even managed to crash land on purpose in the shrub. Gull’s webbed feet are not made for tree or shrub perching. I did not even know gulls ate berries off trees.

Both examples show why one should try to be truly observant while birding. During bad weather conditions I learned how birds adapt. In each case I suspect I was watching adult birds. Juveniles would need to be taught how to use a strong wind.

Finally, here is one more early winter photograph. Normally a few snow geese migrate through our area, pushed off their more westerly migration paths over to Lake Superior. This fall, one may easily find a few snow geese interspersed with almost every flock of Canada Geese.

Blue Morph and White Snow Geese

Peregrine Falcon on the Lake Superior Shore!

Year 4

I could have also titled this post: 500 Pics + 2 Videos + 1 Dawn Bike Ride = 1 Peregrine Falcon! In short, it was a fantastic time ten minutes after sunrise yesterday. While cycling along Scenic 61 at dawn I first heard a hawk’s fierce killing call, followed by a flash of movement in the corner of my field of view. I decided to get off my bicycle to investigate, and quickly found a peregrine falcon finishing up a morning song bird snack!

I was able to scramble down the steep bank to the shoreline rocks where I slowly inched my way towards the peregrine. As my angle to the bird put me directly in the morning’s low direct sun, I must have been invisible. Stopping only 20 yards away from the falcon I enjoyed watching the raptor as I clicked away with my camera. Realizing this might be a once in a lifetime experience, I tried to perfectly time the crashing waves on the rocks with the peregrine falcon in the foreground. To state it mildly, this was not your typical shorebird!

Upon getting home I chuckled to myself when I discovered I had taken 500 photographs and 2 vidoes. Isn’t burst mode a beautiful thing?! Here is one of my favorite images and a video. This experience just reinforces my next previous post … Birding by Bicycle .