Tag Archives: MN North: North Shore of Lake Superior

North American Frito Bandido Bird

Year 5,

Everyone likes to photograph mature Bald Eagles, but I think the birds under three years old look cool! Till that age Bald Eagles do not acquire their white heads and tails. A few of us locally know these juveniles as the “Frido Bandido Bird”. If I have to explain why, you obviously are not a child of the sixties!

Birding continues excellent here along the North Shore of Lake Superior. The skies are clear; the air is cold, and the owls are everywhere. After 4 to 5 years of not seeing a single Boreal Owl (not just me, everyone), I have found a Boreal every day for the past 3 days. As much as it is fun to watch the Boreals, a few Northern Saw-Whets have reappeared. I personally think they are much more handsome than the Boreals.

A Boreal Owl with somewhat open eyes!

My normal snoozin view!

A Northern Saw-Whet Owl

I also went looking for Pine Grosbeaks today. I found a small flock on a rural road with lots of small crab apples, but as I started to take photographs the local snow plow came by for the first time in weeks … scared all the birds away. Sigh!

Oh yeah … the sunrises continue to be glorious over the Lake Superior Ice Fields!

Snow Storm Raptors

Year 5,

It was not worth checking out most of my owling grounds today. Any smart owl was in the deep woods due to the presence of this Bald Eagle.

Yesterday was a good day north of Duluth. After many days of high winds, the air calmed which I knew would make for easier birding. Remember, Great Gray Owls hunt by listening for voles and mice running underneath the snow. High winds make it very hard to hear anything. I found this owl hunting very near my house!

Finally I found this Boreal Owl sleeping before sunset along the North Shore of Lake Superior!

Snowy Owl in a Snow Storm!

Year 5,

A winter storm hit the Duluth area this morning. Wind driven snow is being blown out of the Northwest at 29 mph. Now most people might think these are lousy conditions for birding, but for me it just increases the challenge. Since in Duluth photographing a polar bear in a blizzard is impossible, I looked for the next best thing … a Snowy Owl. I will admit a bit of luck was involved in capturing this image. The wind and snow abated a touch for a few minutes, and during this respite the owl I was watching telegraphed to me it was about to take off. The strong wind meant of was able to take quite a few photographs as the bird had to flap its wings quite a few times to get moving forward.

Before the storm hit last night I went up the shore a bit and found this Great Gray Owl hunting at sunset. Although the light conditions were very dark due to the heavy clouds and light freezing rain, I was still able to get some neat images. Don’t be afraid to run the ISO up on your camera. These owl photographs were taken with an ISO of 3,200. In both the flight shot for each owls, the wings are a bit blurry. This adds to the impression of motion, but it is important to still have image focused correctly … in this case the eyes.