Category Archives: Birds
Spring Sandpiper
Friends, this sandpiper is a yellowlegs, but i do not have the expert birding knowledge to identify it definitely so I will leave that to my viewers who have that knowledge, I just like his fishing pose and the circles of water in front of him, i think it tells a story, but some are more interested in the details, the feathering is very mottled in colors to blend into the marsh grasses of spring, still no water around here but hope is in the air, til Tomorrow MJ
Great Gray
Friends, this great gray owl is flying at you in black and white, still practicing my black and white conversions, the background provides a web of branches that makes a statement about his environment. The owl and the web waiting for an unsuspecting lemming to venture out under the snow cover. The round parabolic face serves to concentrate sounds so the owl can detect small critters under the snow. They dive feet first into the snow and can retrieve food six inches under the snow. til Tomorrow MJ
A Promise of Spring
Friends, this Sandhill Crane was walking in water last year at this time, but not this year. I have not seen a crane yet and definitely no water except where the water is running fast like a river or stream. It is snowing again this morning and I am getting really tired of waking up in clouds and snow. But March is usually our snowiest month so I should know better than to fret over the winter blah weather. So i send you this warm spring sunshine this morning to promise that warmer days are coming (for those of us in winter now) 🙂. til Tomorrow MJ
Swans in the Air
Friends, I will never get over the elegance of swans in flight. They look so formal against the sky,and this week they are returning to the Meadows where there is open water. Most of the open water available is on moving streams and rivers. So glad to see them return and to hear their welcoming hoarse honking, like a goose with a cold. til Tomorrow MJ
Cranes in Spring
Friends, yes the cranes will return to Crex Meadows soon in all their spring finery, this image was taken last year about this time of year, but last year we had no snow at this time, now we have feet of snow on the ground and more coming today, ugh!!, but the color in this image helped to brighten my day, hope you like, til Tomorrow MJ
Luna Chasing the Ravens
Friends, Luna is a black timber wolf found in Ely in a wolf enclosure at the International Wolf Center. Saturday night is dinner for the four wolves in this enclosure and we were present at their Thanksgiving dinner, deer with a side of beaver. Sunday morning while the boys were sleeping off their dinner, Luna, the single female, was busy tidying up and chewing on tidbits left behind. The ravens also showed up to help her, but she told them to buzz off, the tidbits were hers. til Tomorrow MJ
Raven
Friends, a little late this morning, sorry, we visited the wolf enclosure over the weekend and they fed the wolves on Sat evening, so Sunday morning the ravens arrive to clean up the scraps, hard to shoot black birds against the white snow, but i gave it a crack, here is my best bird, til Tomorrow MJ
More Gray Owls
Friends, this Great Gray Owl was one of the many who migrated south in the winter of 2005-2006, they came south looking for food and such a migration is called an irruption. They say the owls are irrupting again this winter and we did see two on the way to Two Harbors Minnesota on Saturday. It was a sunny day so the yellow eyes did not show on our recent images, this owl and the one in the image below were taken on overcast days, so the yellow eyes were visible and the owls were very photogenic. til Tomorrow MJ
The rest of the story
Friends, this Great Gray Owl flew out of a tree directly at me, at the last second he banked away and this image above was the result. I think I ducked and he landed in the snow beside me, the image below was taken as he rested in the snow watching me, I wonder if he had been fed by the banders that in 2005 were roaming the bogs of Minnesota trying to determine the state of health of these birds that irrupted to the south. Maybe he was expecting me to produce a mouse or other small rodent. After a few seconds sitting on the ground, he flew back to his tree. Definitely a close encounter of the wildest kind, til Tomorrow MJ
Great Gray Flight
Friends, yesterday i showed you some Great Gray Owls from 2005, yesterday we saw two on our way to Ely Minnesota to visit the International Wolf Center. Yesterdays birds were facing the sunrise so their eyes were very squinty, but this one flew right at me on a cloudy day, so yellow eyes were dramatic. She flew straight at me and landed in the snow a few feet away, look at me for a few seconds while i leaned on the motordrive, then she flew back to her tree. til Tomorrow the rest of the story MJ
MJ Springett 