Lake of the Woods June 2018

This isn't the first time that I've asked myself "Why do I blog?" but it should be stated this might be the last legs of this blog. Due to changes in our online presence we now post updates, photos, and day trips on Facebook. In addition, I now post my personal thoughts and expanded bird reports on the Ruminating Birder blog. Until we figure out a different location to share them, memories from Canada and a few other topics may be shared here in the future.

Four years ago we took the girls to Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada for the first time. We have visited at least once a year since and you can see photos from the 2017 trip here. Below are highlights from the 2018 June Canada trip where Malcolm and Mike spent 5 days total while Cindy, Christine, Michaela, and Danielle joined them for the last three.

Smiles

Time with family and friends is easily the best source of smiles for the girls. Christine and I believe they should see different places, have the opportunity to explore different things and have time in nature.

The girls decided to ferry a Spiny Baskettail (Epitheca spinigera) from the middle of the lake to the lunch island.

Sunsets

The view from my parents' single-wide trailer is the best. It reminds most every one of the advantage associated with this location; affectionately naming it "The Deck".

(Above Top to Bottom): Sunsets views from the Deck on June 13th, June 15th, and June 17th 2018.

Below: A phone snapshot of Danielle taking the above sunset photo on June 17th, 2018.

Outdoor Activities

While sunset dominates the view, there is more. It is tough not to enjoy the rocky islands, lake, and everything else that differentiates this location from KC.

 

Kayaking (above), swimming, and hiking were all part of the last couple of days.



 

Fish

I used to think the single reason we went to Canada was to catch fish. Fortunately, I realized a while back it includes the fish but is for the memories overall. We released many nice walleyes on this trip: 27' fish for Cindy, four 26' fish split evenly between Mike and Malcolm, a 25' fish for Danielle, and another ten between 24' and 22'. We've caught larger fish before, but fishing Thursday through Sunday was really good. We ate fresh fish most of the evenings and even brought a few back to share.

 

Above (L to R): The ladies holding a regular sized fish and one of Mike's 26' Walleyes.
Bottom (L to R): One of Malcolm's 26' Walleyes and Grandma Cindy with the big fish of the trip.

 

2017 Summer Travels: Canada in June

Timing worked out early this summer and we were able to squeeze in a week trip north to MN visiting family and fishing in Canada the second week of June, which was almost unexpected given the our commitments around the KC area.  

We left Friday and stopped in Staples before heading to Lake of the Woods the next day.  We lucked out and Great Grandma Betty, Stacie, Tessa, and Morgan were available for supper at Tower Pizza.

The girls spent two days in Canada while I spent an extra couple of days there dad while the girls were back in central Minnesota. Here are some photos and their memories from this year's jaunt north.

Baudette Minnesota...perhaps the land of 10,000 statues!

 

Michaela's Journal

 

Danielle's Journal

Here are a couple more photos from the trip. The sunset is similar to one that we've seen many times before, yet is still something to watch each night. The lunch location is similar to many throughout the lake; it only requires a relatively nice rock to land the boat next to.

 

These Yellow Perch were brought back for family, we ate walleyes and let the Northern Pike go.

It was wonderful seeing so many extended family during a get together the last night. We played a few games of cards but didn't get too many people to try out the slip n slide.

 

Eagle Days

A recent walk through the woods.

As many of you know, I got into bird watching and birding shortly after Michaela was born. As a baby she would not sleep on her own, so carrying her in slings while we went for walks was one option. Since that time, we have went as a family to many outdoor education programs, introduced them to many species, and in general often try to spend time outdoors.

This past weekend we went to Eagle Days at Wyandotte County Lake. Three years ago we attended the event but this is the first year since then in which the schedule worked out.

While there were various activities going on during the event, the Operation Wildlife presentations and their educational birds, were the highlight.

Below are some photos from two different programs and the girls memories from the day (their written comments are below this paragraph). Just a heads up, I did not fact check their memory.....no worries, we'll just treat them as the gold girl's alternative facts if disputed.

    

A Peregrine Falcon (top left) is the fastest animal in the world and have nose flaps that help protect it while it is in a stoop.  Broadwing Hawks (top right) migrate to South America in large flocks.

Both of these Eastern Screech-Owls (below) are missing an eye due to getting hit by a car.
They are the smallest owl with tufted horns.

     

In order to keep a wild bird, the Operation Wildlife facility has to have a permit and the bird must have an injury that does not allow it to be released. Some of these birds were unable to be released as they imprinted on humans.  Raptors imprint for the first 13 weeks of their lives.  If you find a baby bird put it back in the nest or leave it alone rather than bring it home!

In the second program we went across the lake to the lodge and saw another dozen species.

    

If you wanted to have animals named after you should have been a friend of John James Audubon like
William Swainson (Swainson's Hawk) and Edward Harris (Harris's Hawk right side).

The tail of Bald Eagles are almost brown in their first year. In each year afterwards there will be more white on the tail feathers. It takes five years for the tail and head feathers to become completely white.  The name Bald is a historic simplification for the balled usage meaning white, but now we seem to think it means hairless.

    

All species in the Falcon family (American Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, and Merlin L to R) have a malar stripe
distinguishing them from other hawks.

The American Kestrel is the smallest member of the falcon family. The Merlin is the similar in size as the American Kestrel, but only appears in winter months for much of the US.

   

The Rough-Legged Hawks (left) have many feathers on their legs! The Barn Owl (right), also known as
the Ghost Owl, will nest in buildings and screams. 

Dad writing again.....the program was awesome for me, but the best was watching the kids sit still and pay attention for a couple hours straight!

Northern MN Birding: Friday January 6th 2017

After a wonderful day at Sax-Zim Bog on Thursday where we only missed one target species we decided to head north along Lake Superior to Lake County with hopes of finding Spruce Grouse, Boreal Chickadee, Black-backed Woodpecker, and Three-toed Woodpeckers. The other target for the day was a Bohemian Waxwing.  

We left early in the morning from Duluth and made our way north along Lake County 2. We were in the appropriate area at first light but did not have any luck finding a Spruce Grouse. Our basic strategy was to drive slow along the road and hope to find one along the road gritting. We tried Lake County 1 for a few miles but turned around to give County Road 2 a second attempt. Within 4 miles of the intersection, and almost exactly where the Sand River eBird hotspot is, we found a single male Spruce Grouse in the middle of the road. A lifer for all of us!

The bird seemed to have no worries toward us.

Click here for entire map.

We took pictures as it casually walked in front of us. Two other cars came from the other direction that were birders as well, elated to see this species also. From there we headed north to Tomahawk Road. I did not know the condition of the road but had hoped it would be open to attempt to find Black-Backed Woodpecker, Three-Toed Woodpecker, and Boreal Chickadee (the north east points on my map).

The road was only plowed for a couple of miles and we had to turn around before reaching our desired locations. We stopped at a small black spruce Pete area where someone had walked with snow shoes. I suspect it was one of the northern birding guides or birders in the area, as a Boreal Chickadee was right next to the road and gave us all decent looks of a fairly skittish species.

We tried a couple of spots for woodpeckers but were unable to find any. It was quite cold outside and if you do not have adequate winter clothing it gets downright uncomfortable. Luckily for us the van stayed out of the ditch and started the entire trip. There were a couple of locations along Lake County 2 that had Black-backed Woodpecker reports, but instead we went down Lake County 1 and tried for them instead. In hindsight we could have tried the other, as we only found more Gray Jays, Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and Common Ravens as we made our way back to Highway 61 along Lake Superior. This species is the closest thing we had for a miss during the entire trip, but it is hard to call it a miss considering the little time we actually put forward on it.

 

We didn't find any Moose, just a Moose sign! The trees were covered!

We did not find anything scoping the lake at a couple of stops and made our way back to Two Harbors in search of Bohemian Waxwings. Pine Grosbeaks were throughout the town and a flock of house sparrows that contained a Eurasian Tree Sparrow. We were able to relocate the Bohemian Waxwings fairly quickly stopped to take pictures.

 

A single bird landed close while the flock was often perched up high.

Mixed in with the Bohemian Waxwings were Pine Grosbeaks. This is the first instance that I can remember taking pictures of this species with any sun. Often winter is dominated by overcast skies.

 

Male and female Pine Grosbeaks (left) and male on the right.

Agate Bay did not contain any waterfall but did have it Thayer's Gull mixed in with the Herring Gulls. Leaving Two Harbors we had the decision similar to the week before with Kathy and Diane. Should we go after the Townsend Solitaire, the Golden Crowned sparrow, or Canal Park and gulls. This time we decided to try for the Golden Crown Sparrow and Canal Park. Just like last week we missed the Sparrow. Moreover there were no gulls at Canal Park. Micky and Jennifer got wonderful close views of American Black Ducks for comparisons with similar looking Mallards.

We ended the day a bit early and went out to eat with Kristina and Clinton. We talked for hours and it was wonderful to catch up with an friend. As much fun it is for me to watch birds and get others on life birds I value the memories shared and close friendship even more. During the conversations we were made aware of Northern Hawk Owl north of Red Lake. We had some planning to do that night. Little did we know that the next day would be perhaps the luckiest any of us have experienced with chasing birds.

Here are the "lifers" from our second day! 

Headed West

Summer Trip 2015

So, it has probably been a year (or more) since I have posted anything to the blog but Malcolm has thankfully taken up the slack.  As I sit down tonight in non-air conditioned room that barely has room to walk around, let alone sleep 4, I am trying to relax and let go of the small mistakes I have made on the trip.  We have been gone from home for 2 ½ weeks and it has been thoroughly busy but enjoyable.  As I look back, I see laughter, smiles and lots of love for my family.  We are lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to go on a trip like this and see our family.  No little ‘hiccups’ should get in the way of seeing this wonderful opportunity to make memories for both myself and my family.  So, though I am not the blogger that Malcolm is, I will try to fill in for him and chronicle some of our trip so far as well as provide some fun photos that we can look back on to remember our summer trip of 2015!

HEADING WEST

Though the days have been long and we are not even halfway to Oregon, we have already had some good memories.  We started off by taking back roads in MN and SD to get to the campground we had reserved in the heart of the Black Hills National Forest.  We made sure to stop at the huge Raven statue at the Belgrade Centennial Memorial in MN and the girls had a chance to run off some of their sillies and pose for the first of many ‘classic vacation photos’ to chronicle our journey.  It was beautiful memorial for such a small town in the middle rural MN and I had never been there that I recall. 

Our goal for the trip is to have a picture to for each state that we drive through so the girls can look back and have proof of which ones they have visited (maybe one day we’ll make an album!)  Here are the one we have so far,  notice that we were on the dirt backroads of SD/WY when we hit the state line…not such a fancy sign in middle of free range cow pastures!

BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK/Black Hills

This was the one thing so far that I wish I had planned differently.  We only got a chance to drive through the badland with a QUICK walk/climb in the park.  We were already so late that we had to race through it in order to reach our campground in the middle of the Black Hills.  I wish we had planned for time to hike and climb this beautiful landscape.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Danielle was an absolute daredevil making me squirm as she shot to the top of the rocks barefoot no less!  No fear for climbing, I guess, though deep, dark caves….not so much.  (more to come!)

Rushing on we made the journey to our campground but we arrived after dark and with a thunderstorm on our tails.  It was a very stressful 30 minutes trying to set up the tent in the dark with thunder/lighting sounding ominously in the background.  (Not my proudest of parenting times and I am sure not the most exciting of setups for camping the girls will have).  However, we got it up and we were in the tent not 10 minutes before first pea-sized hail then downpour rain hit.  We were so thankful to have it up in time but realized that it was the first hail storm we had ever camped in!  The girls were scared and Danielle spent most of the night at the bottom of the sleeping bag and I spent the next while worried that the tent would blow down and we would end up sopping wet.  The reality was that the tent stayed up but the waterproofing I had sprayed after our Texas trip did not hold up to the raging thunderstorm.  But we mostly stayed dry…just a couple of damp pillows/clothes but almost everything was still dry…thankfully!

Mount Rushmore

I don’t believe I have ever been to Mount Rushmore before this trip, I was surprised at how commercialized/built up.  Multi-level parking garages and the expected hordes of tourists.  It reminded me of an amusement park, that is until you see the beauty and wonder of the monument.  It is hard to fathom how they could construct it without modern technology with just the vision of a man and dynamite and jackhammers!  Super cool.  This was the one place that Michaela wanted to see on our trip though I am sure it had a large part to do with recognizing it from school.  Though it was not quite as she expected either as she was more under the misconception as I that is was more of a natural area and less of a ‘business/touristy’ feel.  Though both girls did think that the monument itself was “awesome!”

 

Black Hills Cave Tour

I decided buy a ‘groupon’ for a cave tour and we went there after Rushmore.  The cave itself was nothing spectacular but provided the girls with enough ‘fear’ that it was exhilarating for them and they enjoyed it.  The cave itself was mostly dead due to human pollution of touching and so forth, but it was cool to walk through the caverns and enjoy how nervous the girls were about exploring such a dark space 100s of feet below ground.  It seemed such a milestone for them to conquer their fear and continue the tour, though I am sure they will not be volunteering to go down one by themselves anytime soon! 

 

Taking pictures in dark caves are challenging.

On to Yellowstone

Today, we spent most of the day driving from the Black Hills to Cody, WY but we still had a good day and got to see Devil’s Tower as well, but it was a quick drive by/potty break before heading on.  After looking at our picture from here I had to edit it to sepia/black & white because it reminded me so much of the old time portraits where no one smiles!  My only defense is that it was REALLY bright!!!

Though one of the funniest parts of the day for me was at the beginning when we used the van’s “Shortest Route” navigation to Cody.  Being in the heart of the black hills and 1 hour from the freeway I asked the campground manager about the back way/shortest way to the free heading to Yellowstone.  He recommended that we should take it but made us aware that it had quite a bit gravel. After 20 miles our route turned to dirt and we had 6 cows laying in the road....luckily another option existed and we didn't have to backtrack.  Malcolm liked it as we were able to stop quickly for birds, including a Townsend's Solitaire just over the WY border.  More to come in a few days, we're hoping to find a camping spot in Yellowstone tomorrow....fingers crossed.