Category Archives: Wildlife
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
The Hunting Eye
Friends, another wolf face from the International Wolf Center in Ely Minnesota. This is a male, but not sure if it is Boltz a ten month old puppy, or Aidan, the five year old. They appear to have very similar markings, at least on the face. Regardless of which wolf it is, the eyes are tuned into a hunting mode, and like Luna, he was chasing the ravens away from the tidbits of food left over from the Saturday night feast. til Tomorrow MJ
Luna the Wolf
Friends, this is Luna, the black wolf from wolf center in Ely. I took lots of images of her, but not sure why my camera was so attracted to her. Is it because she is female, because she is black, because she was most active chasing the ravens, or is it the faraway look in her eyes. She is young (10 months) and still ambitious, I am old and not so ambitious anymore. I envy her energy chasing illusions of wildness, even tho they fly when she approaches. Not unlike the humans watching her. 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
Denali-Gray Wolf
Friends, this male timber wolf is in the enclosure at the International Wolf Center in Ely Minnesota. His name is Denali and he is five years old this spring. While he is a captive animal I think that the pose and eyes still reveal a wildness that resonates in my soul. I am basically a wild human at heart. 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
Wily Coyote
Friends, this is a wily coyote from the WSC in Forest Lake, and again a captive animal. This male was adding his two cents worth to the wolves howling with some yipping and yapping. Many books have been written about the clever”trickster” of native legend, but the best in my estimation is God’s Dog written by Hope Ryden, This researcher did her homework well and has written a definitive work on the natural history of coyotes. til Tomorrow MJ
Quiet Time
Friends, this wolf is taking a nap on the snow, his coat is very thick and protects him from the cold. He may look sleepy but his yellow eyes followed our every move. We have timber wolves in Crex Meadows but we rarely see them, they prefer the cover of darkness to hunt deer and teach their young how to hunt. At night, we hear the howling at our house, the wolf pack that stalks the Clam River sometimes passes our place closely. When we visited these wolves at The Wildlife Science Center, the chorus of howling was probably the only wildness left in these captive animals, but they sang of green forests and bogs where their relatives still roam free. til Tomorrow MJ
Testing the Wind
Friends, this wolf is testing the wind, trying to detect whether us humans are well-intentioned. Humans to these wolves are the bearers of food and so they cannot be allowed to run again in the wild. I think the yellow eyes still speak of wild places and lifestyle, I empathize. More wolves tomorrow, til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 