Northern Lights on August 19, 2026

 

What a beautiful night last night! The space weather forecast was calling for a slight chance of northern lights, so I decided to head out for a few hours and see if anything would materialize. At first, there was no discernible glow of aurora in the sky, but the stars looked amazing! I found a nice spot by a local stream and set up my camp chair for a while to just sit and take in the view. It was unbelievably calm. Not a lick of wind, not a single mosquito, and absolutely no noise coming from anywhere in the surrounding forest. It was so calm and quiet it was almost spooky. 

After a while I drove to the location seen in this photo, overlooking a small lake with a nice pine tree in the foreground. It was 2:00 AM when I made the photo. The aurora was visible to the naked eye, but was very faint. The high sensitivity of the camera sensor and the exposure length of 15 seconds made for a very nice image. Things have been pretty hectic and busy lately so it was nice to get out and spend some quiet time with the water, forest, and sky. 

Sandhill Cranes near Thunder Bay

 

What a special treat it was to be driving to the movie theater in Thunder Bay yesterday and randomly see about 100 sandhill cranes hanging out in a farm field just minutes away from the city! 

A Lazy August Afternoon

 

That little turtle is definitely living his or her best life!  Check out the outstretched rear legs... looks like a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon!

R/V Kiyi - Grand Marais Harbor

 

While in Grand Marais this evening, I was excited to see the research vessel Kiyi tied to the breakwall near the lighthouse. There was some fog floating in and out of the harbor which really made for some interesting photos. 

Showy Lady's Slippers

 

The other day I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing some beautiful Showy Lady's Slipper orchids. I was kind of surprised that they were still in such good shape, as typically they would already be done blooming by now. I'm guessing they're a little late this year because of the long, cold spring and early summer that we experienced. In stark contrast to that, the day I photographed these flowers it was unusually hot, in the low 90's, which is rare for as close to the Lake Superior shoreline as these flowers were. I felt very fortunate to have some really nice light on the flowers at the time that I was there. 

Painted Turtle

 

Last week it was a snapping turtle. This week it was painted turtles. I've seen several of them but this one stood out from the rest. When I came across it, I was driving down a forest road and it was on the edge of the road. As I slowly drove by, it turned and hightailed it into the ditch. I stopped to watch as it crawled down the bank, thinking I would see it crawl up the opposite side. Instead, it had turned around and a few seconds later it crawled back up and was peering at me from the edge of the ditch, presumably waiting for me to move along so it could go back to its business. 

Snapping Turtle

 

Last weekend my brother was up for a visit and we spent one afternoon exploring the forest roads. The coolest thing we saw was this huge snapping turtle laying eggs in the gravel. While they are definitely around, you don't come across them all too often. Painted turtles are much more common to see. My favorite thing about them is how prehistoric looking they are.