Tag Archives: MN North: McQuade Harbor

Falling Down … Getting Back Up!

Year 8
When you fall down, you get back up!
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Today I took my first bicycle ride up the shore since I collapsed due to my bad heart valve. I told Molly I was going on a ride, and she asked if I wanted her to come along. I thanked Molly, but said I needed to conquer my fear on my own (I was greatly afraid of collapsing and crashing).
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While I am not out of the woods yet, and have another heart operation scheduled for April 2nd, I am doing well. However, when your last ride led to a crash due to “blackouts”, taking your first ride since getting a new valve is scary.
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Everything went fantastic, and I saw perfectly … no blackouts … no crashes. Given the 40F sunny day with light winds it was a great day to bike the shore. I both cried for joy, and then hummed the theme from Rocky.
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I was dog tired upon getting home, but it was a good tired. Oh yes, Molly was smart and decided to take a bike ride of her own. While I am certain she just wanted to get out enjoy the fantastic weather, just perhaps she also wanted to insure her husband was okay. It was nice to see her bicycle by on the other side of the road.
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Oh yes … remember I always bike with my Canon Sx70 Super Zoom camera. The Bald Eagles are migrating north. Seen during my ride today.

North Shore Reprise!

Year 7,

As you’ve heard me say (write?!) many times, find the food in the winter … find the birds. Exactly 24 hours later I refound my Ruffed Grouse and Red-Tailed Hawk in the same exact trees. The grouse will continue to use the this berry tree till the fruit is gone, and the hawk must have found good hunting. Even with raptors, winter will find them hunting from the same spots as long as prey holds out. The key is birds do not want to use any extra energy during cold winter days.

One interesting observation, unlike songbirds which tend to grab berries and pluck the entire piece of fruit off a tree, grouse pick the fruit off a tree where the stem attaches to the branch. Thus, grouse grab the stem, pluck, and then must flip the fruit into their mouth.

A bonus was finding a cooperative Rough Legged Hawk … in a secret location (LOL!)

There is a neat project that tracks Rough Legged Hawks via GPS devices. This relatively new banding technology really helps us understand birds and their breeding / migration patterns. Our hope is to band some Northern Hawk Owls us at Sax-Zim Bog with this technology this winter.

One bird’s paths over three years … It is amazing how far this hawk ranged through the Arctic.

Birding Rejoined!

Year 7,

Yesterday afternoon I was granted medical clearance to drive and venture forth on my own! While my recovery still includes a long road ahead, it is obvious I am on the correct route. I wasted little time in heading out and having a delightful time. Days are short this time of year, and from a photographer’s vantage point it is the “golden hour” in terms of light all day long. The sun rarely gets to high in the sky.

My wife gave me ground rules for where she said I was allowed to go (doctor withstanding), and I quickly focused upon winter food sources. It was great to take some short hikes and be rewarded with some nice birding results. Enjoy! (I did!).

Found this Red-Tailed Hawk conducting its afternoon hunt. In the second two images I had backed off on the zoom, expecting the hawk to take-off (a correct guess which comes from watching birds habits a long time)

Ruffed Grouse in a Berry Tree (were you perhaps expecting a Partridge in a Pear Tree? Not possible here in northern Minnesota)(in a the second images, a berry is stuck on a grouse’s beak … note the slight difference between the final two images … the photos are identical except for the beak being slightly open which changes the image’s focus point.

Common Redpolls eating Tansy Seed Popsicles (while most of the redpolls I have found are females or immature males, the final two images show a male … thus the “redpoll name”)