After work yesterday I went for a fat bike ride just across the border into Canada from where I work. However, the route I had planned to do ended up being impassable about 4 miles in so I had to turn around. Since my ride was shorter than planned, I had some extra time so I decided to drive all the way through Arrow River Road. Along the way I saw SEVEN bears! They were all very skittish and the sight lines along Arrow River Road are very good, so they saw me coming and scattered long before I could get close enough to get a good picture. Only in one instance, where I crested the rise of a hill and saw two bears, was I able to get a photo of one of them.
As soon as I came over the hill, I saw the two bears foraging along the edge of the road. They immediately turned and ran, but ran into the woods on opposite sides of the road from each other. I knew there was a good chance that if I sat and waited one of them would cross the road to join the other. Sure enough, after only 2 or 3 minutes of waiting, that is exactly what happened. That's when I made this photo. It was cool to see so many bears in one evening along the same road. I also saw a porcupine and a lot of ruffed grouse. I wish I had seen the porcupine early enough to get a good photo of him. When I saw him I was on my way home and it was getting pretty dark, too dark to get a photo. Still, he was cool to see as well!
The other night when I got home I was walking from the truck to the house when I heard a rustling up in the trees behind me. I turned around and saw this Ruffed Grouse perched up in a willow tree, eating the buds from the branches. I went in the house to get my camera then went back out and made this photo. It was after the sun had set, so the light was dim. I made this photo looking west, where there was the most light still in the sky. It made for a nice silhouette shot of a bird normally seen foraging around on the ground.
Last night I had the good fortune of finally coming across a Spruce Grouse! I have known for a long time that these birds have been in the forest of northeast Minnesota, but until last night I had never seen one before. I don't know if we have them in Grand Portage, as I still have not seen one here. This one was near the intersection of the forest roads known as The Grade and Sawbill Trail, which is closer to Tofte, MN.
This guy sure did not mind posing for the camera. I was driving down The Grade when I saw him on the side of the road. At first I didn't slow down because I thought it was another Ruffed Grouse (of which I had already seen several throughout the day). As I drove past, though, I realized it was a Spruce Grouse. I had to stop and walk back towards him to get his photograph. As I approached him on foot he hopped up into some trees and promptly started to put on a display, puffing up his chest and every now and then fanning out his tail feathers. What a beautiful bird! Seeing him really made my day!
Chilkat River - Haines, Alaska
Last night I was looking through photos from our November 2014 trip to Alaska. I came across this one that I had somehow missed when picking favorites upon returning home from the trip. This photo really shows the majesty of the Chilkat River Valley, also known as "The Valley of the Eagles". You can see an eagle perched in the tree near the center of the photo. There are a few others in the trees far off in the distance as well, but you can't see them unless viewing the original photo at full size. There is also an eagle nest blending in with the distant tree line. Seeing this photo really makes me want to go back to Alaska!
A photograph of the Milky Way Galaxy over my new favorite maple tree :-)
The Milky Way sure was bold and beautiful last night! I spent part of the night out making photographs of the sky. The night was very calm and peaceful, the best kind of night for enjoying a beautiful dark sky full of stars!
It is once again the season of the prescribed burn! For the past week or so the local fire crew has been going around the village and burning some of the ditches and meadows, as they do each spring. Prescribed burning is done to reduce excessive amounts of brush and shrubs and encourage new growth of native vegetation. It also helps maintain many plant and animal species whose habitats depend on periodic fire. Not to mention helping to reduce the sometimes catastrophic effects of wildfire. Grand Portage has a very good wildfire crew that each year does prescribed burning around the Grand Portage Reservation. Members of the crew also help fight wildfires and do prescribed burns in areas all over the country. Thanks guys for all the work that you do!
