Cedar Tree and Milky Way

 

A peaceful night staring up at the stars on a lake within Grand Portage State Forest in northeast Minnesota. 

Late Summer Loons

 

A beautiful adult and juvenile loon paid us a visit last week as we were out canoeing across one of the local lakes. Always a treat to see these magnificent birds. 

Heron Surprise

 

While out paddling recently I was surprised to come across a group of herons hanging out in the treetops. There were 7 or 8 of them all hanging out in various trees along the lakeshore. I was almost right underneath them when I finally noticed them. I had been so distracted by the beautiful lily pads along the lakeshore I wasn't paying attention to what was going on in the trees.  As I was photographing the lily pads I heard some guttural noises, so I looked up and said "Whoa!" as I spotted the 3 herons in the tree almost directly above me. As I slowly rounded the point that was up ahead, I saw several others perched in the various evergreen trees. It was such a cool surprise to see these birds!

Lake of the Swans

 

Lately I've been spending some time on a local lake where I've discovered quite a few swans hanging around. There are at least 14 of them, which is the most I've seen at any one time while spending time on the lake.  I don't think they're nesting anywhere on the lake, as I haven't seen any cygnets.  My guess is that they are using the lake for socializing. At any rate, it sure has been fun to see so many of them so many times this summer. 

Star Party

Tons of fun last night watching the night sky with friends both old and new!  We drove out to a nice wide open spot in the woods and spent about 4 hours gazing at the stars.  The aurora even made an appearance low on the horizon!  We also saw quite a few Perseid meteors and a LOT of satellites. There was a telescope in the group, and we used it to gaze in wonder at Mars, Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. Stars, aurora, meteors, telescopes and planets, great weather, awesome company and good conversation... life is good! 

 

Pigeon River Damselflies

Some more photos from one of my paddling outings last week. I did an out and back, paddling about 8 miles and right near my turnaround point I discovered that the north bank of the river was inundated with damselflies. I paddled over and spent about the next hour just sitting, watching and photographing these beautiful little spirits as they swarmed all around my canoe. It was another magic moment with nature, something I've been seeming to draw in lately... 

An evening with an otter

 

When an animal allows you to observe him or her for a period of almost 20 minutes, it's a special thing indeed. That happened to me a few days ago when I was out paddling my canoe.  I was headed downstream back to my vehicle when I saw two otters swimming upstream toward me.  As soon as I saw them I let the canoe drift into the grass along the edge of the river opposite from the side the otters were on. They swam right up to an old beaver lodge which they are apparently using as their den. While one of the otters presumably went inside the den, the other one stayed outside and eventually climbed up onto the old lodge and preened itself for a good 10 to 15 minutes. 

When it was done preening, it just sat there for a few more minutes basking in the warmth of the evening sun.  Eventually it slid back into the water and I'm guessing went inside the den as I didn't see it again.  I resumed my paddle downstream and just around the next bend I saw another otter.  Or, maybe it was the same one as this one was also very tolerant and let me drift quite close before diving underwater. What a treat it was, and I feel very honored to have been allowed this time with these special creatures. 

A magical day on the water

 

I enjoyed a pretty amazing couple of days paddling on some local rivers this past week. The weather couldn't have been nicer and the wildlife couldn't have been more cooperative!  Well, at least as far as the birds go.  I would have loved to see a moose, as I was paddling through some prime moose habitat.  Alas, no moose were seen on these outings. I did, however, have some very tolerant ducks swim much closer to my canoe than usual.  I also saw a bald eagle, a couple of sandhill cranes, and an adult swan with three cygnets. It was a special day indeed.