Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge

In spite of the fact that it is a national wildlife refuge I rarely manage to photograph any wildlife at Trempealeau. This trip was different. As we drove through I noticed a large number of Gulls flying around a backwater. When I went over to see what they were doing I found they were fishing. I watched for a while and managed to capture a few of them.

I also noticed a number of immature Bald Eagles watching the activity. On the trip we probably saw in excess of 30 Bald Eagles.

I was surprised to find the Painted Turtles out sunning themselves. It wasn’t all that warm out.

We noticed quite a few ducks in one of the backwaters so we stopped to watch. I managed to get a photo of this Northern Shoveler as it swam by.

While we were watching the ducks a Muskrat also swam by.

Birds of Canal Park

When we were in Duluth Looking for the Ivory Gull we encountered a variety of birds in Canal Park.

Great Black-backed Gull

Thayers Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Mallard

Herring Gull

Herring Gull

Grand Marais, Minnesota Harbor

One of our stops on our trips to the Minnesota North Shore is usually Grand Marais. We usually stop their to end our day and use it to get an early start for the Canadian border and the Minnesota state park to the north.

This fall was no exception. We arrived late in the day, had a bite to eat, then headed out to the Harbor to photograph the sunset. It was really warm, in fact it was one of the warmer evenings I’ve spent in Grand Marais. As a result we stayed to watch and photograph the last rays of the sunset.

On the way out to the lighthouse we found a number of folks had written their names and messages on the rocks. The nice thing about it was they didn’t deface the rock they just used smaller pebbles to create their message. This was the first time I had seen this done in the harbor.

After the official sunset the sky turned a beautiful read so I photographed the lighthouse in silhouette. There were a number of other folks out in the evening enjoying the sunset so I captured their silhouette as well.

Grand Marais Harbor Sunrise

The next morning we got up early to photograph the sunrise. I had hoped to go out to Artists Point the evening before and scout out a location but we didn’t have time. It looked like the sunrise wasn’t going to be all that great anyway so I decided to photograph from the parking lot. I captured these rocks with the sun rising.

Juvenile Herring Gull

I had put all of my camera gear away when my wife asked me if I had ever seen a gull sitting in a tree. I hadn’t but there was one sitting in a Mountain Ash tree feeding on the berries. I unpacked my camera and took a few shots.

More shots of Grand Marais Harbor can be found on my website.

 

Wisconsin to the Minnesota North Shore 11-3-2011

Gile Flowage Sunrise

Gile Flowage Sunrise

On Monday we were up early to catch the sunrise at Gile flowage outside of Hurley, Wisconsin. This is a great place to photograph the sunrise because county highway D runs through the flowage allowing you to photograph the sun rising over the flowage (right) as well as the front lit trees (left).

Ring-billed Gull

After photographing the flowage we headed toward Ashland, Wisconsin on highway 2. The trees along the route will likely be close to peak next weekend. We photographed this Ring-billed Gull on the dock at Bayview Park in Ashland. It allowed us to walk right up to it and didn’t make any attempt to get away.

We continued to Superior on highway 2. Again the leaves likely will be near peak next weekend. The trees closer to the lake will likely peak a week later.

Tettegouche Camp Dock

Once in Minnesota we headed north on highway 61 with our first stop Tettegouche State Park. After consulting the ranger we decided to drive inland and hike to Tetegouche Camp. This is a shot across Mic Mac Lake from the camp boat dock.

After our hike we continued north along highway 61 to Grand Marais. The trees from Duluth north were not very colorful. They are mainly birch and the birch are dying, they are also being stressed by the drought along the North Shore. The strong winds of last week didn’t help matters. The water levels in the streams are very low. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera when we walked over to Gooseberry Falls. Given the fact that the parking lot was full I figured you wouldn’t be able to get a photo of the falls without people. I forgot that older folks don’t climb around the falls and the kids were in school.

Grand Marais Harbor Sunset

After a great dinner at My Sister’s we headed out to the harbor for some sunset photography. We just made it as the sun was setting. We walked out onto the breakwater where I took this shot, about a half hour after sunset, of the lighthouses with the Sawtooth Mountains in the background.

Grand Marais Harbor Sunrise

In the morning we were back at the harbor for some sunrise photography. I didn’t have a chance to scout out Artists Point for morning shots so I decided to shoot from the parking lot. This is the sun rising over the east side of the parking lot.

Juvenile Herring Gull

We had just finished shooting and I had already put my gear away when my wife asked me if I had ever seen a gull in a tree? I said no why was she asking? Well there is one in the Mountain Ash tree. I got my camera back out and took a shot of this Juvenile Herring Gull eating the berries on the Mountain Ash.

We then drove down to Oberg Mountain. This is a popular hiking destination in the fall because of the great views of the interior colors. We weren’t disappointed. The colors were some of the best we have seen. There were quite a few leaves already down but those that remained were worth the hike. We were a little surprised at the large number of people on the mountain. Normally we would expect to see these numbers on a weekend not during the week. This is a panorama shot from one of the viewpoints looking north into the interior.

Oberg Mountain

Heartbreak Hill

We took a couple of drives inland to view the great maple colors. This was taken at the top of heartbreak hill on the maple leaf drive outside of Tofte.  It got its name from the early logging days when loggers found their hearts were broken when their team could not make it up the hill.

I know it is a bummer but we expect 40 mph winds later in the week. I’m not sure what this will due to the leaves.

We then headed home. It would have been nice to stop at Betty’s Pies but the place was packed both times we passed it.