I stepped outside for just a moment the other evening, not expecting to see a colorful sky since it was so cloudy. However when I got out in the yard and looked to the west the sky just above the horizon was on fire! The clouds just above the trees had this amazing pink glow from the setting sun. It sure was a nice surprise!
Yesterday we had to run down the shore to do some errands and on the way home we stopped to do a couple of fun things. One of which was to stop at Cascade River State Park to see a Ruffed Grouse doing its annual drumming ritual. Ruffed Grouse "drum" their wings in an attempt to attract a mate. Usually they choose to do this from the log of a fallen tree, but this grouse has chosen a nice moss-covered rock to do his drumming. It is a beautiful location for the grouse to be but the lighting is best in the evening. Unfortunately we were there mid-day and the grouse was in complete shade while the forest behind him was in bright sun. If my camera had a flash I could have gotten a better in-camera exposure, however I have never owned a flash for my SLR camera. The highlights and shadows tools in Lightroom allowed me to edit my original image into a pretty decent shot, though. This photo was taken right after the grouse stopped drumming. After they've drummed they stay "puffed up" like this for a few moments, with their tail fanned out. From a distance these birds appear somewhat drab in color, but up close you realize how much detail and color is actually in their feathers. They really are quite beautiful birds!
We finally saw the foxes! Jessica and I went to watch the den early this morning. After 3 previous unsuccessful attempts at seeing the foxes at various other times of the day, I was confident that being there first thing in the morning would give us the best chance. This time of year that means getting up pretty early. We left the house at 5:00 AM so we could be at the den in time for sunrise. We arrived at 5:40 and right away before we had even stopped the truck Jessica noticed one of the kits peeking out of the den. She only saw him for an instant. We waited maybe 5 minutes then he came out again and this time walked around a little bit. This was before either of the adults had come around. After 2 or 3 minutes the kit went back into the den and there was no activity for quite a while.
About 30 to 40 minutes later dad showed up with a piece of meat. We couldn't tell what sort of animal the meat was from, since it was just a hunk of flesh, but when he showed up two kits came running out of the den to grab the food. We only saw 2 kits, so that makes this a small litter unless there had already been others that didn't survive. For the next 45 minutes both kits were in and out of the den, chasing each other and playing. 4 times dad brought in pieces of food for them. The last time he came in with food, it was a huge rabbit. It still had all 4 legs attached, but it looked like the rump had been chewed off. The more aggressive of the two kits chased the other one away from the rabbit, then proceeded to tug at the meat and try almost unsuccessfully to drag the rabbit into the den by himself. At first he couldn't budge it but after several tugs managed to pull it inside the den. Once the rabbit and both kits were back in the den, dad took off for another round of hunting. We ended up with about a 45 minute show of fox activity. It sure was a fun way to start the day!
Apparently winter isn't done with us yet! It snowed ALL day today, and is still snowing as I type this! We got about 5 to 6 inches of new snow. Kinda getting sick of it, but you can't deny that it makes for a beautiful scene at High Falls in Grand Portage State Park!
After photographing the high water on the Beaver River I continued down the shore to Gooseberry Falls State Park. Gooseberry is a park that is absolutely loaded with photographic potential. In a relatively short stretch of river there are numerous waterfalls with endless photo possibilities. I spent about an hour and a half at the park and not only was the river nice and high but the clouds were very cool which really added interest to the photos I took. I also saw several rainbows but my favorite was the one at the base of the main waterfall.
Check out the photo below, I think it's fascinating. To me the water looked like caramel. This is the spring run-off at Upper Falls on the Gooseberry River in northeast Minnesota. A 1/4 second shutter speed smoothed out the appearance of the water and added to the "caramel" look.
Yesterday I went down the shore to photograph some of the rivers at their spring flow. The rivers have really opened up over the weekend and boy was it ever cool to see them flowing at such high capacity. There was water everywhere along Highway 61 as I drove south. The ditches were full of water and temporary waterfalls were everywhere along the highway rock cuts. The rivers were bursting at their seams with water. Some of the larger rivers still had chunks of ice that were floating downstream. The photo you see here is of a waterfall on the Beaver River. It is a location that I visited for the first time last year, but I was there when the water was low. At that time I thought it would be cool to come back when the water was high, and I was right! This spot was amazing, I love how it doesn't even really look like a river, it looks like the water is just running straight down through the forest. It was 71 degrees here when I made this shot, and just a few miles away where the river empties into Lake Superior, the temperature was only 43 degrees! I guess spring and "cooler by the lake" is now officially here :-)
Last night I drove to a local lake near my house to see if the beavers were active yet. As I approached the lake I could see an opening in the ice near the beaver lodge and figured they would be out. Sure enough, as I got closer I could see two large lumps on top of the ice near the water... it was the beavers! I spent about an hour sitting on the bank of the lake watching and photographing the beaver family. There were four total... the parents and two young ones. They sure were fun to watch as they took turns sitting on the ice and going for a swim. We got a bunch of rain this morning so yesterday may have been the only opportunity to watch them on the ice. The ice might be gone today!
