Crane Play

Hey, I'm bored--wanna play?

Leave me alone kid, ya bother me.

Oh, come on, look at me play-bow!


Look at me dance!


See, we can play with this feather! I'll grab it...


...and fling it through the air!


Wanna try??


Do ya huh?!?

Play with a feather?! ? Phooey!

I much prefer...

...to play with this stick!

Weee!! Woo hoo! Yipee! Yahoo!! I'm gonna getcha!! Ha ha!!


Oh crap, someone's watching!

Just play it cool, kid, and act like nothing happened.

Sandhill Cranes

After over two months I finally got back out on the water to watch my beloved cranes. I needed some subject matter for a new piece so I spent a few hours watching and photographing these wonderful birds. Here's just a sampling.

The Spruce Grouse

I will be upfront with you and admit, right off the bat, that when I saw this bird, I had no idea what it was. My bird identification skills are poor to begin with and are limited primarily to song birds. I am a novice birdwatcher. Sure, I know a handful of other birds, but I could not, on sight, tell a Redhead duck from a Canvasback--if I don't have a book, or get a photo to identify the bird by later, I may never know what I saw.

Such was the case with the Spruce grouse.

Karin and I were making our way along the South Old Woman trail, when we came around a bend and heard a flurry of wings. I looked up in time to see a young grouse fly up into a pine near the trail.



The bird fidgeted on the branch while I snapped a few photos. Scurrying somewhere in the underbrush was a second chick, but we couldn't see it.



Then Karin pointed out the hen, just off the trail ahead of us. She quietly ducked behind the shrubbery and was lost from view. We were thrilled to have had a close encounter with something other than a chickadee, but we both thought what we had seen was a Roughed grouse--never mind this bird has no crest, an easy identifier for the Roughed. What did I know about Spruce grouse anyway!



After our rest by the waterfall we looped back to the trail head, only to encounter (I assume) the same grouse family. A flutter of wings alerted us to their presence once again, and here is a chick up in a tree. It was mighty dark under the tree canopy but I took a few pics anyway. As I stood watching this chick I noticed a soft cooing next to me. I slowly turned to my right....



...to find mom and the second chick perched upon a small hummock under a black birch tree. I couldn't believe my eyes! She was no more than five feet away. I had to resist the urge to reach out and pet her.









As her chick made its way over and down the hill, mom followed, keeping a close eye on us as we stood stock still in the middle of the trail.



One last glance and she was gone into the underbrush.

It was not until I was home and sharing my images with the girls that Lori, after seeing several of the grouse pictures, exclaimed, "That's not a Roughed grouse, it's a Spruce grouse!" While their territories are similar, the roughed is more common in the states, while the spruce is primarily found north of the border. But the real reason this bird stood out in our minds is the recollection of hearing Julie Zickefoose, artist and birder extraordinaire, talk about it at the conference at the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory in April 2008. It was one of the few birds left in the states she had not seen, and had enlisted the help of a local birder to find one. See her blog here for the results. So I was all the more proud for stumbling upon this bird all on my own, even if I didn't know what the heck it was!


We are headed back, in a few weeks, to this wonderful park in Ontario. If you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Lake Superior Provincial Park is flush with wildlife, rivers, lakes and falls, miles of trails, canoe routes and back country camping. Remember though that you now need a passport in order to enter Canada, but its well worth the hassle of getting one to experience this wonderful place.

Good day, eh!

The Better to See You With, My Dear!

I know I said the next blog would be about a spruce grouse, but I have to interrupt that blog series (which is nearly done, darn it!) because I got me a new "toy".

I have suffered for years with cheap camera equipment, and let me tell you, you get what you pay for. I did have a nice pro-series 70-200mm for my Canon, but it didn't get me close enough to my subjects (birds) and was too slow of a lens to add an extender to. Too much info, perhaps, but what it means is that I couldn't get decent bird shots unless I was just about on top of them.

Well, after a really good show last week where I sold three original pieces, I decided it was time to invest in a good lens. So I ordered a 300mm f4 with a 1.4x extender, which makes it a 420mm f5.6--lots of jargon for some of you I know, but what it comes down to is the ability to take really good telephoto shots. It was delivered today, and of course my first target was our chickens.



Fancy, our "Easter egger".

I eventually moved out to the balcony and stood in one corner, camera on a monopod, and started shooting birds in the late afternoon sun.



White-breasted nuthatch, looking rather ragged.


Female house finch.



Chipping sparrow.


A downy woodpecker landed on the suet feeder right next to me, and though I wasn't more than five feet away I could still focus on her. This is not cropped. To be able to get images with such clarity is absolutely vital to an artist who does work with such a high level of detail as I do.

One of the things that had frustrated me up to now was my inability to get good hummingbird shots. But with this new lens and a nice sunny day, I had no trouble at all. I stood next to the house, and with the shed doors in the distance providing a perfect backdrop, I stood quietly and shot as these tiny birds came to our feeder.










This is my favorite--it looks like a stand-off between the bird and the ant.

The male hummer, who takes up his post in the crab apple just off the balcony, put on a show too.



What attitude!


Yee haw!

Remember, you can click on any of these images to get a larger version. Enjoy!!

Old South Woman River

Thursday morning dawned with a thick blanket of fog. We paddled around Crescent Lake for an hour or so, watching mergansers and hoping the fog would lift.





It did not.

So we planned a short hike along the Sand River, not too far from the camp ground. But as we drove up Highway 17 the fog still lay thick, obscuring views and leaving us feeling rather deflated. So we decided to drive up to Wawa, the small town on the north end of the park, in the hopes that when we returned the fog would have lifted. We needed to get gas and to check for a cell signal, both of which were non-existent in the park. Just a few miles down the road the fog lifted, the clouds fell apart and the sun shone at last. I felt like a weight had been lifted.



After filling up the tank but still not finding a cell signal, we headed back into the park and stopped at this beach, a gorgeous sandy expanse to rival any on Lake Michigan.



Karin pointed out the Old Woman in the cliffs along the shore, her head tilted towards the sky. Start at the bottom, where her chin rests just on the surface of the water, to her rounded nose and finally her brow as the cliff flattens out and away from the lake. She even has a cheek bone.



Since it was so pleasant on this end of the park we decided to hike the South Old Woman River trail, an easy loop of a couple miles along this pretty little trout stream.



Easy is a relative term. I know some people who would have trouble with this trail!



At one point the trail passed through the crook of a tree, and this little fellow was napping right where we needed to step. He was not about to move, however, and I was not inclined to get a nip on the thumb, so we worked around him.






The sounds of burbling, splashing water followed us all the way down the trail.



At the far end of the loop the river cascades down a short falls. The air here is cool and damp, a wonderful spot to spend a warm afternoon.



Past the falls the river spreads out into a pool lined with willow and fern. We spent quite some time here, just enjoying this place, the quiet, the solitude.



Next: The Spruce grouse