Northern Flicker

I happened to be watching my bird feeders when a Northern Flicker appeared at the suet feeder. This the first time I’ve seen a Northern Flicker on the farm. She spent most of her time hiding on the other sided of the feeder.

Late Spring on the Red Cedar Trail

Skiing is done for the season and the barriers have been removed from the trial head so it is now OK to hike on the trail. We walked down South from Irivington.  It was a beautiful day. We saw Sandhill Cranes, Wild Turkeys, a Pheasant, Deer and Robins. The trail is still mostly covered in packed snow from the grooming although there are starting to be some bare spots. Once the snow is gone the trail will likely be muddy during the day. typically it hardens up overnight and then gradually softens up during the day making walking difficult.

This a shot of grass floating in the spring melt water.

 

The leaves are melting into the snow.

There is still ice on some of the spring melt .

Last years cattails can still be found along the trail.

 

 

Last ski of the Winter

Last week we went out skiing early in the morning several times. It was our last ski trips of the season. By noon it was way to warm to be skiing. We noticed this nest in the trees above the trail.

 

The Canada Geese were out enjoying the spring like weather.

The ice wall was still standing but quickly disappearing. We checked both of the Bald Eagle nests near the ice wall and neither on had nesting eagles.

It was a beautiful day on the trail.

Last of the Winter Birds

I’ve wrapped up my winter bird photography. These are a few of my last shots.

Blue Jay

Hairy Woodpecker

House Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Woodpecker

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Pileated Woodpecker

Dark-eyed Junco

American Goldfinch

 

Bond Falls in the Winter

Bond Falls is know as a great place to photograph in the fall and is known for its iconic Z which is photographed with fall color reflections. However it also a great place to photograph in the winter because is always has open water flowing. It is located just below a dam so the falls area never completely freezes.

 

Centennial Mine Shaft

On the way back to Calumet I noticed the Centennial Mine Shaft and that the road to the Shaft was open. Later in the day we decided to drive back to take a closer look and hopefully get a few photos.

 

Birds seen the last week at my Feeders

Dark-eyed Junco

White-breasted Nuthatch

House Sparrow

Red-breasted Woodpecker

Black-capped Chickadee

CopperDog 150 Doghouse Race

After visiting Copper Harbor we decided to skip the finish the second stage of the CopperDog 15o and drive back to Houghton and see if we could catch to CopperDog 150 Doghouse Race. I also had to purchase a new pair of ski boots because my current boots were being held together with shoe glue. Unfortunately the races were over by the time we reached Calumet. I managed a few photos of some of the doghouses and race participants.

 

Driving to Copper Harbor

After watching the start of the second stage of the CopperDog 150 at Eagle Harbor we drove highway 26 to Copper Harbor and then up to the end of highway 41. Highway 26 is a nice drive along the shore of Lake Superior. This is a shot of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse.

We pulled off and took photographs at several places along the road. There were a number of folks out on the ice taking selfies. The second shot is a panorama looking out onto Lake Superior.

We drove out to the end of highway 41 and took some shots of the Copper Harbor Lighthouse. It was a little disappointing because there was not a lot of ice formations this year. Usually we stop at Fort Wilkins but there was not as much snow as we have seen in the past.

CopperDog 150 Sled Dog Race – Stage 2

Saturday morning we drove up to Eagle Harbor to watch the second stage of the race. More photos from the race can be found on my website.

We arrived in time to watch the mushers get their dogs ready for the days race.

Some of the dogs seemed to be a little excited. This one was under the truck trembling. On the other hand the second dog was relaxed.

A race of this size cannot happen without lots of volunteers. Here they are heading out to meet the mushers and teams they will help get to the starting line.

Just before the start the trail crew heads out onto the course to make sure it is clear and safe for the racers.

I walked around and watch the mushers and volunteers hitch up the dogs to the sleds. With some of the teams it is quite a challenge to get them to the starting lines. Other teams just wander up.

I spend some time at the starting line photographing the teams as they were taking off.

I happened to be out on the course photographing when I captured this scary sequence. The race officials had only put snow on one side of the road. Unfortunately several of the dog teams decided to head down the asphalt side rather than the snow covered side. The racer then fell down in her attempt to stop the team since they did seem to be obeying her commands to stop. At the start of a race the mushers usually have to step on the breaks to keep the dogs in check because they have so much pent up energy. The dogs dragged her at least 60 yards. She was still being dragged when she turned a corner. She must have been Ok because she finished the race in 6th place. Several other teams had problems before the race officials lined up a bunch of people to prevent the dogs from straying onto the asphalt.

This is where her team should have been.