birds – Thomas J. Spence Images

Spring Is For The Birds

A little collection of feathered visitors during spring bird migration on the North Shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota.

After a long, cold, snowy winter, we have finally turned the corner along the North Shore of Lake Superior and in the woods of Superior National Forest in the Arrowhead region of Minnesota. The lakes have only recently opened up from their frozen, icy, winter covering. The rivers raged with historic, record breaking levels along the North Shore as the snow-pack and spring melt moved downstream. You can still find some snow in the shadows of the woods, but for the most part, signs point to spring. The cow moose are currently giving birth to this years calves and the bull moose are just starting to sprout their velvet covered antlers. Bears are awake and on the hunt for this years crop of nuts and berries and the deer seem to be moving into the woods, away from the shore. All good signs. All welcome signs. For me, one of the most reliable signs that spring may truly be here is the arrival of the variety of spring birds to the area. Weather it’s at the feeders in my yard, along the shores of Lake Superior, deep in the woods of Superior National Forest or just along Highway 61, there are always signs of the arrival of a new season if you are watching closely. You can almost predict who is going to show up and when.

Here’s a collection of feathered spring arrivals to the North Shore woods, along Lake Superior and in my yard the past few weeks. Keep your binoculars and bird books handy on your next spring visit. You never know what you’ll see flitting around in the trees this time of year.

Warblers are a nice arrival in late April and May in our area. The yellow-rumped is one of the earliest. It’s always nice to see those little flashes of yellow that give them away. Here are just a few that I have seen so far this spring. I’ll include a few of the strikingly beautiful, black-throated blue warbler that graced me with it’s presence in my own yard.
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Ruby Crowned Kinglet female – Tofte, MN – May 2022

Black-throated blue warbler – Tofte, MN – May 2022

You can’t imagine the thrill…
I was on my deck photographing a red-headed woodpecker that has been hanging around. I had ok light and it was eating worms in my yard, so I was standing still on my deck waiting with my camera in hand and ready. From the corner of my eye, a small bird landed. In a flash, I went through the ID process in my mind. Chickadee? No. Nuthatch? No. Warbler?!?! Yes. It stood on my deck for a second, flew to a branch for a second, landed on my railing for a second and landed on a planter for a second. It was a great yard bird to have visit and I’m glad I was ready! You can click on these to open the gallery.

Tennessee warbler (I believe!) Tofte, MN

Having a tough time confirming ID on this warbler. Comment if you know! Cape May? Pine? Bay Breasted?
Tofte, MN

Here are a few more interesting and notable visitors to the area including a new one for me here, a yellow-headed blackbird.

Yellow-headed blackbird – Taconite Harbor near Schroeder, MN – May 2022

Hairy woodpecker with avian keratin disorder AKD which can cause beak deformities. This one has been enjoying neighborhood suet for weeks.

Harris’s sparrow – Taconite Harbor near Schroeder, MN – May 2022

Another surprise, entertaining visitor this spring has been a red-headed woodpecker. I can’t recall having one in my yard, and this one seems to have all it needs here. I mostly observe it eating worms off the lawn. It eats, then rests for 20 minutes, then eats another worm. Not a bad day, really. It’s been a welcome addition to the array of feathered friends in the yard.
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Red-headed woodpecker – Tofte, MN – May 2022
peek-a-boo

A favorite roost for this red-headed woodpecker – Tofte, MN – May 2022

Blue jay and Red-head. They usually get along fine.

Taking a break in another favorite tree. Eating worms, taking breaks.
Red-headed woodpecker – Tofte, MN

Indigo Bunting male – Tofte, MN – May 2022

A pair of male indigo buntings – Tofte, MN – May 2022

Ruby-throated hummingbird – Tofte, MN – May 2022
We can be certain that most years, the hummers show up on Mothers Day here on The Shore.

Lastly, I had a fantastic close encounter with a scarlet tanager deep in the woods of Superior National Forest. I usually see one of these birds at home near a feeder during migration, but I hadn’t had one yet. On a drive looking for moose and other critters, I spotted an orange/red dot along a gravel road. Upon inspection I was shocked to see a scarlet tanager just hopping and flittering along the road. I thought it was injured, but it was hunting some kind of bugs and having great success! It may have been off course, but is was getting all it needed, it appears.

The glowing scarlet tanager – Superior National Forest – MN

Hunting for insects in Superior National Forest – Minnesota – Scarlet Tanager – May 2022

Thank you for reading along and taking a look at some spring birding photos. Please take a look at my online catalogs and consider a print purchase if you see anything you like. Stay tuned and subscribe to this newsletter. I’ll do a recap of photos from my early spring trip to Utah and the southwest in my next post. Happy Spring everyone!
Tom
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April – The Lake and its Moods, The Northern Lights and Wildlife

From Crazy to Calm – Lake Superior
April weather really covered all the bases this year. We had snow, cold, warm, rain, wind and gorgeous. The big April Gale on the 14th and 15th was a highlight for sure. The northeast winds brought massive waves crashing along the shore. some of the best places to watch a northeast gale are in the Split Rock and Tettegouche areas. The cliffs in the area can make for dramatic scenes from the waves crashing and rebounding off the cliff faces. Even a smaller gale can be impressive against these walls. This particular gale wasn’t accompanied by much precipitation which made for a fun day of photographing the waves. Often times, these gales come with heavy rain or snow which can hinder photographing them a bit.

_MG_1164 — Crashing waves at Tettegouche State Park – 4/14/2018

_MG_1121 — Massive splash on the cliffs along Lake Superior. Wave height was in the mid teens but splash heights were reaching 100 feet, 150 feet and more in places.

_MG_1100 — The ice coated trees take a beating in this little lake side forest at Tettegouche State Park.

The calm clear views from Tettegouche State Park and Split Rock Lighthouse State Park one week after the gales…

Earth Day was a picture perfect day to be outside in our State Parks. I made it a point to hit three in my travels that day. The calm, clear day was a huge contrast to the chaos of the previous week. Keep a circular polarizing filter in your camera bag. They are great for days like these. They can help you see into the water even more by removing some glare. They will also help create more contrast between blue sky and white clouds. A valuable tool to use in many photography conditions.

_MG_0054 — Lone tree on Shovel Point – Lake SUperior, MN

_MG_0067 — Beachside at Tettegouche State Park

_MG_0126 — Kayaking on the calmest of lakes…

_MG_0151 — Kayakers passing by Split Rock Lighthouse.

_MG_0042 — The view from Shovel Point looking towards Palisade Head

April Northern Lights – An All Nighter

_MG_1205 — April Aurora And The Setting Moon – 4/20/2018

The night and morning hours on April 19th and 20th produced a rather remarkable northern lights display. What started out as a faint glow for almost two hours, erupted into shimmering sheets and dancing waves of aurora which lasted until morning light. I put in a 4 1/2 hour shift of sky watching and photographing the lights. The slideshow shows you the progression, in a way, from around 10:00 PM CST on April 19th until around 1:00AM on April 20th. When the lights are strong, I have a pretty good view of the dark, northern skies from home. I spent another hour or two watching from the deck and even out the windows.
While there is no way to truely predict a good aurora display, you can do a few things to help alert you. Space Weather dot com is a great resource which can alert you via email when solar activity may cause aurora. They have a great photo gallery and information on all things space and sky related. Another resource are regional aurora “hunter” groups. These groups are full of entusiasts who will report in real time when the aurora are visible in your area. Great Lakes Aurora Hunters is a good one for my area. As far as viewing in Cook County, one needs to know that viewing with the naked eye and photographing the aurora can be two entirely different experiences. I won’t go into detail in this post, but our cameras see in the dark much, much better than we do, to make it short. So for viewing, you’ll want to get over the hills and into the darkest areas, away from towns, resorts, cabin lights. The overlook just past the Britton Peak parking area on the Sawbill Trail, just a few miles off highway 61 is a fantastic place to watch from a car or lawn chair. It has the best, widest northern view you can drive to that I know of. If you aren’t in Tofte, go up one of the “trails”, Gunflint, Caribou, Arrowhead, Cramer Road, and find a north facing lake, boat landing or hillside. Our dark skies won’t disappoint during a northern lights storm. For photography, I like to find a river, lake, or other point of interest for foreground attention and a sense of place or location. The scene becomes more important to convey the feeling, maybe, moreso than seeing the entire sky and display. If you have never seen the northern lights, and are not interested in taking photos, you’ll want to just stay put once you find a big, wide northern view. Hope this helps you see the aurora someday on the North Shore!

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April Wildlife

It was a good month in the woods for wildlife. From grouse to lynx to moose and loons!
Spruce grouse could be found most mornings pecking for roadside gravel. I have heard some drumming this spring, but not much. Moose sightings were few. I did manage to snap a few recent photos though. Two very healthy looking moose together at the end of the month.

_MG_1246 — Female spruce grouse – April in Superior National Forest

_MG_1247 — Male spruce grouse – Superior National Forest

_MG_1248 — Whiskey Jack or Canada Jay – Superior National Forest

_MG_0298 — Turkey vulture and the nearly full April moon.

_MG_0430 — Though I had heard loons the previous week, this was the first one I actually saw close enough to get a photo. Always a fun spring “first”.

_MG_0498 — A pair of moose on the run in Cook County.

_MG_0505-2 — One would emerge, briefly, and gone again!

20180412-_MG_1060 — I had a late afternoon encounter with 3 lynx in earlier April. I saw each one alone, about a mile apart from each other. Something tells me this was 3 of the 4 kittens I had been seeing earlier in winter with the mother. Once the mother mates again, the kittens are set off on their own to figure out how to hunt and survive alone. The size and proximity to one another tells me this is the same family, now entering the next phase of their lives as solitary animals.

20180412-_MG_1063 — A lone lynx prowls for an afternoon meal

_MG_0258 — Grouse – Superior National Forest

_MG_0265 — Male Spruce Grouse – Superior National Forest

Last year at this time we had already been on the lakes for almost two weeks. Now, we are still waiting for the thaw. The lakes still have a foot or more of ice on them in some areas. Recent warmer weather is helping to speed things along and I think we will see open lakes in the coming days. Fishing opener is near and I hope you’ll tune in again for all things May in my next post. Please subscribe so you’ll be notified when I post again.

Current conditions on local lakes as of 5/2/2018 – Little ways to go for that Fishing opener! 😉

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March – Two Full Moons, Some Moose and Florida

March 2018 was a fun, quick month in my world. This post will cover the month I had in photos. From two full moons, to moose, grouse and a lot of Florida birds, I hope you enjoy these photos and notes on the month of March. We still have a lot of snow and ice in the Northwoods and it still feels like winter here, though we shifted to “spring” on the calendar!

March 31st Full Moon Rise Reflection and Shadows

I had a few moose encounters early this month. We still had a lot of snow in the woods, and one moose had stepped into the “deep stuff” on the roadside and got itself into a bit of trouble. It was stuck to it’s shoulders in the snow. I can happily report the moose and it’s partner both safelyu made it into the woods that morning. Video below…

Another moosey month in the area. One of four I spotted earlier in March.

The two moose from the video after getting unstuck from the snowbank.

Spruce Grouse were plentiful in the early morning hours this month. I had numerous encounters with them as they pecked gravel on the roadsides in the morning sun.

Female Spruce grouse getting gravel in the morning sun.

We did have some aurora activity in the month of March! Here are a few photos from earlyh March along the Sawbill Trail near Tofte, MN.

Aurora and iridium flare from a satellite.

Star trails and northern lights – Sawbill Trail March 2018

Aurora along the Sawbill Trail near Tofte, MN

Florida and Smoky Mountains
March has historically been a time to get away for me. Below are a collection of photos from a roadtrip to Florida including a stop at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Cedar Key, Florida, on the Gulf Coast was my destination, but other stops included Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge, Manatee Springs State Park, Shell Mound Archaeological Site, Smoky Mountains, Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge to name a few.

Gator at Manatee Springs State Park near Chiefland, FL

Roseate Spoonbill – Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge

Barred Owl – Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge

Great egret – Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge

Cardinal – Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge

Cedar Key by Night – Old Fenimore Mill Condos

It was great to get away from winter for a while, but it is always nice to be back on The Shore, near The Lake. April should bring us some warmer weather and the hopes of open waters on the inland lakes for paddling and exploring. Melt and break-up are on their way. Stay tuned for notes on April next month.
Tom