Wild Things

Our long weekend at Hasty Brook was nothing short of perfection. Honestly, the weather could not have been nicer, daytime highs around 70 degrees, sunny and breezy and nighttime lows in the 40's. That might sound cold but it was perfect for bonfires and sleeping in the camper under piles of blankets. We did so much and took so many pictures I have to break it down into several posts starting with this one about the wild things we saw.

Check out this river otter that we saw at the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. I'll bet you didn't know that Minnesota river otters wore skateboard caps! (John was NOT happy to be posing for me) The Great Lakes Aquarium houses interesting displays of fresh-water fish from Lake Superior and around the world. Fresh-water fish aren't overly colorful but still pretty cool. They have a two story tank that has sturgeon that must be 6 feet long! They did have a few birds in the aquarium. One display had a pair of Common Goldeneyes that were a hoot to watch. I did learn something new- when the Goldeneye swam on the surface the feet paddled below the bird as I expected, but when the bird dove, the legs pivoted out to the sides like the pectoral fins on a fish! I had no idea!!

Our first evening up there this little black dog trotted up the driveway. We later found out his name is Spike and he belongs to the neighbors (about a half mile away). He's a very friendly and funny little dog and all weekend long he hung about, not begging for food (although he's terribly thin), but just socializing! Molly loves this dog and the feelings were mutual.

We spied this spider on the rocks along the north shore of Lake Superior. It was easily the size of a ping pong ball. (((shudder))) The mosquitoes were not bad as the days were breezy and the nights were so cool. The tick numbers seemed to be tapering off. They were mostly wood ticks but we did find a few deer ticks too. Tick checks were a must.

There were deer EVERYWHERE!! We quickly lost track of the number of deer that we saw. There were several does with little spotted babies. I was sooo excited to see a live badger in the wild along the road one day. I'd never seen a badger in the wild before.

On to birds. Here's an evening silhouette of one of the phoebes that sang and hunted along the creek. The singing veeries were all around us in the evenings. I had to listen carefully to hear the hermit thrushes down along the creek because the veeries were so loud. Chestnut-sided warblers were in the hazelnut thickets. I spent a good part of one afternoon watching the females gather insects while the males sang and sang. Black and white warblers spent their time creeping up and down the spruce trunks. Ovenbirds were creeping along in the tall grass and every afternoon a group of Cedar Waxwings flew in to feast on the ripe serviceberries. The most seen birds at Hasty Brook were Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. They seemed to be everywhere. A pair of Indigo Buntings worked through the tree tops one afternoon and a new bird for my Hasty Brook list- a Scarlet Tanager!

But you know I've saved the best for last

A new LIFE BIRD!!

The Brilliant Giant Red-Tailed Chicken!!