I love the night sky and I am so thankful that we have nice dark skies here in northern Minnesota! I can't imagine not being able to see the Milky Way like this when I look up at the sky at night. We have some of the best night sky views in the country, as this photo proves. This is looking south over Lake Superior along the lake walk section of the Superior Hiking Trail near County Road 14 just north of Grand Marais.
The stillness of the big lake that night was astounding. I could easily see a multitude of stars reflected in the water. This is not a common sight on Lake Superior, as usually there is enough wind stirring the lake's surface that you don't get these nice star reflections. Another oddity is that there was a beaver swimming around in the big lake. I never saw him, but I could hear him slap his tail on the water every now and then. There is some marshy land in this area so that must be where the beaver came from. I think he was enjoying the supreme calm of Lake Superior that night as well :-)
How stars are made :-) This is another Milky Way image from the early morning hours of Saturday, May 24th. I had been playing around with my flashlights for several exposures already when I came up with the concept for this shot. I had my back to the camera and was holding the lights skyward when I realized that if I tipped the lights slightly backwards towards the camera it would make these sort of "glowing orb" shapes in my hands. So, I held my headlamp in my left hand and my flashlight in my right hand then played around with different angles on the light beams and movements of my hands until I came up with this shot. To my mind when I look at this photo, I envision "Star Man" (we can thank my lovely wife Jessica for the title of this photo!) creating the stars with his mind while holding his arms up, then flinging the stars up into the sky. At any rate, I thought it was a super fun shot and one that easily lends itself to imaginative stories like the one I just described :-)
As many of you know, I am a huge fan of the night sky and I love making images of the night sky. Whether its moonlight, northern lights, lightning storms or the milky way galaxy, I always have a blast photographing night scenes. Just the other night we had one of the best nights ever for photographing the night sky. The sky was completely clear and there wasn't a lick of wind, which meant I could hear many things that you wouldn't be able to hear on a windy night. For example, as I made this image I could hear the haunting call of Loons from across the bay. I can tell you there are few things that inspire as much fascination as sitting at the base of the Spirit Tree, staring up at the Milky Way while a pair of Loons call in the distance.
Wow, I sure had fun watching the eagles yesterday at Grand Portage State Park! While standing on the viewing platform that overlooks the Pigeon River behind the visitor center, I noticed an eagle flying low and fast over the river. At first all I could see was the eagle but soon I realized he was being chased by a raven. Then, a gull joined in the chase. I don't know what this eagle did to aggravate these other birds but they sure were persistent in chasing him off. They flew several circles over the river at various altitudes then the eagle veered off away from the river and the raven and gull gave up the chase. Then, I noticed that the eagle had been joined by a second eagle and they were both flying in circles directly over the visitor center. They were flying incredibly close together and soon were chasing each other around. Every now and then one of them would flip upside down and bare their talons towards the other eagle. It was a fascinating display to observe but very difficult to capture good images because the birds were moving so quickly. I got a few that I think are kind of neat and thought it would be fun to share them.
The forecast is looking good for some sunny
weather this weekend so why not head up the shore and enjoy the
waterfalls in all their glory? Here is a photo of High Falls on the
Pigeon River taken just a couple of days ago at Grand Portage State
Park. The river continues to run at a high water level and on sunny
days this means that there are beautiful rainbows at the falls! Come on
up and see for yourself!
I couldn't resist sharing this image of this cute little chipmunk that was scrounging around while I was photographing a drumming ruffed grouse. It was actually an interesting interaction between the grouse and the chipmunk. The grouse was sitting on his drumming log and every minute or so doing his drumming routine in an attempt to attract a mate. In between drumming sequences I heard some leaves rustling and so did the grouse. He became very alert on his log, scanning the surrounding forest for the source of the sound. I was actually very intrigued as well, thinking that perhaps a female grouse was approaching. We were both disappointed, I think, when this little chipmunk popped up over the side of another log. The grouse saw the chipmunk and immediately turned away as if to say "I can't believe I was fooled by that!" The chipmunk went about his business and so did the grouse, resuming his drumming after another minute or two.
I suppose all young ones are curious, no matter what the species. I know these fox kits sure are curious! It's fun to watch them explore the area around their den. They are very playful but also very inquisitive, sniffing and turning over every rock and stick they can find. And, whenever a raven flew by overhead they were all eyes on the sky, watching the bird. Here are a few images that I think show the curious nature of these young fox.
