Oct. 8, 2017 - North Shore Birds

I did take some bird photos when Diana and I visited the North Shore. I saw this Black-capped Chickadee along Park Hill Road, a short gravel road in Lake County. The colorful fall leaves made a nice background.

ChickadeeBlackcappedParkHillRoadLakeCounty201709194x6

I always like to check out Taconite Harbor when I’m visiting the North Shore. That’s where I photographed this Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It’s a tiny bird, only 4¼ inches long, and very active. It rarely sits still so getting a good photo of one of these kinglets is difficult.

KingletRubycrownedTaconiteHarborCookCounty20170917

Magnolia Warblers were starting to migrate along the North Shore. This photo was also taken at Taconite Harbor.

WarblerMagnoliaTaconiteHarborCookCounty20170917

Here’s a Downy Woodpecker that I saw on Park Hill Road. The red spot on the head tells you this is a male.

WoodpeckerDownymaleParkHillRoadLakeCounty20170919

I saw this female Common Merganser in Grand Marais. When I first saw her, she was resting on these rocks along the harbor. As I watched, she got up and started flapping her wings. I was ready and took a whole series of photos; this was my favorite.

MeganserCommonfemaleflappingGrandMaraisHarbor20170918

On Park Hill Road, I saw two Ruffed Grouse foraging in someone’s driveway so I stopped to take photos. Grouse are funny. They think if they freeze and then move ever so slowly, you won’t detect them. This one was making its way to the edge of the road and I caught it in mid step.

GrouseRuffedParkHillRoadLakeCounty20170919