Blog Archives
Sunrise Dancing
Dear Friends, our second morning on the Namekagon Barrens Sharptail Grouse Lek was warmer than our first morning, 47 degrees F and lots of sun. The male birds were dancing furiously and herding the females. I think the males have a control issue as they need to move the female, but when she stops, all the male birds around the lek, freeze in their dancing position and don’t move a feather until she moves again. Curious behavior that we had not seen before, but never had six females on the lek before either. The golden light of dawn makes this a really warm image, but that is the way it is, so enjoy til Tomorrow MJ
Morning in the Blind
Dear Friends, Wednesday was our first morning in the blinds of Namekagon Wildlife Area to watch the Sharp tailed Grouse dancing in the spring mating ritual. Not our first ever morning in these blinds , but the first this year. This male is almost in dancing position, but had stopped momentarily to give some verbal commentary. The morning was lovely but chilly, lots of sun and soon the birds just laid down and soaked up the sunshine, most of the real dancing took place just before dawn before there was enough light to photograph. Topped the morning off with breakfast with two friends from the cities then out to Crex to spend the rest of the day, perfection. til Tomorrow MJ
Afternoon with a Flicker
Dear Friends, spring has finally come to our northland and lots of outdoor activities to keep us outdoors. This Northern Flicker kept me company for a couple of hours this week while i kept my eye on a fresh wolf kill to see if anyone would return to the crime scene. When i first drove up i thought i saw a dog shape creeping away, but he did not return. I liked the high key treatment to reflect the brightness of our early morning sun. Excitement in the Crex Meadows as the ducks and other birdies are returning to find some nesting sites, til Tomorrow MJ
More Experiments
Dear Friends, this is a composite image resulting from 40 images taken with macro lens and a focus step approach, even at f16, the depth of focus was not sufficient to render all the details in this tiny group of green crystals, so i step focused with my Camranger and put the images together with photoshop, this tiny crystal cave is an area of about 1 square mm and the color of the rock around the crystal was a surprise, do you like? til Tomorrow MJ
Ruffed Grouse
Dear Friends, this cocky fellow was stalking the ditches looking for a girl grouse, he was constantly flipping the feathers of his ruff, thus his name ruffed grouse, or as known around our household, ruffled spouse, love that joke, til Tomorrow MJ
The Bog in the Namekagon Wilderness
Dear Friends, this is the black spruce bog in Namekagon Barrens that is now free of snow and the roads are getting in better shape for the upcoming sharp tail grouse dancing season. Yesterday was a wonderful cool dry blue sky day in the Barrens and i enjoyed my visit. I searched for agates and found two, one as big as my fist. I visited the Lek sites and the blinds are now in place. as i sat on the east blind, i saw three wolves hunting in the burned area to the northwest. This would also be east of the north blind, so be careful out there. soon we will be watching the grouse dance, til Tomorrow MJ
Chasing Northern Lights
Dear Friends, last night we were out in Crex Meadows chasing the northern lights and we arrived to this show, the clouds were lower than the lights and one small red light in the distance is probably a tower light, all in all we were pleased to get anything and the light show must have been very strong to shine through the cloud cover, the lights made an appearance over the cloud tops and the stars overhead were magnificent, til Tomorrow MJ
The Hairdo
Dear Friends, this female Common Merganser was found on the open water at Red Wing Mn. I love her hair, mine kind of resembles this in the morning before the brush tackles the mess, getting it cut tomorrow and a new permanent, til Tomorrow MJ
Red Tail Hawk is Closeby
Dear Friends, this Red tailed Hawk is only three hours south of us in Red Wing Minnesota, winter is still here, minus 22 this morning but may get above zero today, bright sunshine so good light for photography, i will go scouting this afternoon for some good subjects for the golden hour, also good to go for a sunny drive thru Crex, may see my friend Agogo over there, til Tomorrow MJ
Horned Grebe
Dear Friends, this horned grebe reminds me of the warmth of summer, we went north this last weekend, but too cold to do much photographing, maybe birdies will return soon and i won’t have to be limited to the pine siskins, redpolls and goldfinches that come to my feeder til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 