lake effect

There are days that I work to make an image and there are days where luck is on my side. Today was a lucky day. I was driving through the monochromatic landscape in southern St. Louis County when I noticed this eagle on a snag. I was fortunate enough that the eagle allowed me to drive past, slam in reverse, turn down the radio, roll down my window, and make some photos. As I saw that he was comfortable with the car I decided to press my luck a bit more. I slowly opened my car door and sneaked out of the vehicle to make more photos. The eagle tired of me clicking my shutter and decided move on to the next snag and that is when I made this frame. I have often tried to photograph eagles that I see while driving and often just slowing down the car to a stop spooks them. That’s why today was a lucky day.

This is a studio portrait of a blue and gold macaw that I had the opportunity to make today. He is a privately owned bird that is about 15 weeks old. I was simply amazed by the brilliance and range of color on the bird as well as the diversity of textures of the feathers, skin, and bill on the bird.

The beach near the Knife River Marina was a busy place this morning. A beaver swimming past, fishermen returning to the marina after checking nets, and a laker in the distance departing from Two Harbors to make another trip across the lake. The season is definitely changing, there was the hint of a light frost, and my hands were freezing by the time I returned to the car. It is hard to believe that November is only a few days away.

We were walking the end of Park Point heading back from the Superior Entry when the sun decided to poke out one last time for the day. I looked out over the outer breakwater and there were hundreds of gulls circling over the end of the wall. It was weird, kind of spooky. It made me wonder what floated out into the lake to catch their attention. I think they were celebrating the last warmth of the sun for the day before the cool autumn night set in. Whatever was happening it was a cool site to see.

I photographed this bird near the top of Corundum Point in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. I returned home got the image up on the screen and tried to identify the bird, so I grabbed my National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds Eastern Region. This guide has plates of color photographs that you compare your bird to. I thought this might be a waxwing or a grosbeak because it was eating berries. I could not match it up with anything in the book so I emailed a copy of the photo to Laura Erickson, an ornithologist who lives in Duluth. Check out her excellent website at http://www.lauraerickson.com/. Laura identified the bird as a baby cedar waxwing. Many thanks goes to Laura for her help. After this situation, I would like to switch to the Sibley field guide to birds.

This bird is taking advantage of the food that has taken all summer to mature. I had to cover our tomatoes tonight because they are still all green on the vine and we have yet to pick a red one. It seems early to me to have the killing freeze of the season already. I am willing to cover our plants in the coming weeks to extend thier growing season so that we can use the food they provide just like this young cedar waxwing eating mountain ash berries.