Lac qui Parle continued...

One more shot of deer walking on the frozen river...followed by deer being fed in the Lac qui Parle village. I couldn't believe the amount of deer roaming around the tiny village and we soon found out why when we discovered the hay bale.
The fawns were unfraid so I got some cute close ups!





There was some open water above and below the dam area and many geese were present. On such a cold day the water made steam in the cold air.
We watched many take offs and landings (my favorite) as they fed on a nearby corn field.


We saw two bald eagles roosting near the upper campground.

They were hard to shoot with all the tree branches around them.
We saw another bald eagle flying near the Lac qui Parle village. I couldn't get full focus before he was out of my sight line flying overhead and I was shooting out of the car window.
Hope you enjoyed visiting this area the last 2 days - Have a wonderful weekend!

Lac qui Parle wildlife...

Yesterday afternoon, Jeff & I took a drive to Lac qui Parle state park and the surrounding area in western MN to look for wildlife. This is one of our favorite areas to look for wildlife as well as fall camping and we have never gone to this area without seeing at least one deer. Even the park's sign reflects the deer.Because of the extreme winter we have been having and the deep snow, the Dept. of Natural Resources has started feeding the deer drawing many more to the area. Jeff estimates that we saw 300-400 deer as we drove around the area. Deer are everywhere and the deep tracks through the snow are as well. We noticed many traveling on the frozen river where it must be easier to walk including these...
and these.
One of the areas stocked with hay and corn was filled with more deer than I have ever seen in one place before. I fired off many photos and not all of them are good quality because of the shadows in the late afternoon sun but this series is my favorite. On the following photo, do you see the 3 deer in the foreground? Pay attention to the second & third, a doe & her fawn. We stopped to take a photo in a clearing in the trees and drew lots of attention.
The doe starts to get skittish and looks around nervously, at this point she must be telling the fawn they need to flee...
the little guy isn't fast enough to move so she jumps right over him...
it must be easier to leapfrog over him than to get off the path in the deep snow!

Once she gets to the clearing with the food she checks back to see if we are still watching...
and eventually decides we are not a threat and goes back to the hay pile for a snack.
I have many more photos to share tomorrow including some closer shots of the deer...
the geese...
and the eagles we saw.
If you live in the area and decide to take a drive over - be careful driving. Deer are crossing the roads everywhere!
It was -9F in the afternoon and as soon as the sun started setting it quickly started dropping. With the deep snow and cold, we are thankful these beautiful animals are being supplement fed this winter.
I know with Valentine's day approaching many are thinking of romantic dates...for me and my guy, this one was one of the best. He with his binoculars and me with my camera enjoying something we both love even getting blessed with a great sunset :)

COLD Sunshine...

Today, is a bright clear sunshine filled day but is bitterly cold...so cold I have built up frost inside all of my windows. So COLD that this is what our thermometer read this morning...so cold that the top temperature is actually reading the inside temperature at the windowsill. We do have our furnace set to 70 degrees so the interior areas of the house are much warmer.
The first birds at the feeders every morning are always the juncos and today was no exception. When the sun got high enough to light the backyard they puffed up and sunned themselves.
Do you see the wind catching his feathers? This morning the wind chill value was -40! We are in a wind chill advisory as the wind chill temperatures will be -22 to -34 through Wednesday night.
I have two variations of juncos visiting - do you notice the above bird has brown coloring while the one below does not?

The male hairy woodpecker constantly makes his presence known with loud pips but I notice the females are always silent. The male is also more camera shy but posed long enough in the sunlight for me to fire off a few shots this morning.



Today, I am content to stay in the warm house and fire off bird shot through my windows. I wish I could say the same for Jeff as they are outside working in this extreme cold repairing a broken water main in a nearby town. It's bad enough being outside in this weather but in a wet mess is even worse, it took them quite a while to get all the trucks & equipment running and warmed up this morning. Thankfully they have heated equipment to take turns warming up in!

Richard, Josh, Rich & Shane

This morning another central MN blogger, Richard (At the Water), forwarded me an email titled Holy Humor. This cute little story was included in the content: A father was approached by his small son who told him proudly, "I know what the Bible means!" His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the Bible means? The son replied, "I do know!" "Okay," said his father. "What does the Bible mean?" "That's easy, Daddy...", the young boy replied excitedly," It stands for 'Basic Information Before Leaving Earth.'

I've loved that acronym ever since I saw it several years ago on a trailer I presume is owned by Josh, Rich & Shane. I don't know them at all as I only saw their trailer but it looks like they are not only some adventurous guys with a racing team, but they also know God and are not afraid to let everyone at their events and driving behind them read this eye catching acronym.
Looking through the archives for the trailer photo I spent a few minutes looking at spring photos. With the deep snow outside and our days all looking white and cold I was reminded how much I miss the colors green, yellow, pink and purple!
Have a wonderful weekend and THINK SPRING!

the girls...

are happy we are back home! After being gone for a week in northern MN all the birds are quite happy we are back and Jeff filled all the feeders. The hen pheasants (we had 4 at a time this am) spent most of the morning eating corn from the sleigh and spilled sunflower seeds.Pardon my blue snow...when I photograph snow in the shadows I usually get blue snow. Any tips out there on how to avoid it? You can see the white patch of sunlit snow she is walking towards.

Between the sparrows, bluejays and pheasants the corn is a popular feeding area today...


but, the area under the sunflower feeders are just as popular.



The girls are easily spooked and frequently head for the cover of the evergreens.
I appreciate these beauties a lot but sure wish the boys would come back as well. I miss Joseph and Johnny.

lighting up February...

I watched the sunrise over the frozen Lake Superior this morning...
the clear skies and bright sun are...
such a welcome sight to see after the...
snowfalls of the past few days.
Impossible to capture with the camera lens but...
the rough ice just sparkles like diamonds in the early low light.