Over the last couple of weeks I have had a Black-backed Woodpecker feeding on an old spruce snag in my yard. I was able to take a couple of pictures, but my camera only has a 6x optical zoom and I was not able to get closer without scaring him off.
My mom lives across the bay from me and has had a pair of Cardinals coming to her feeder. We never used to get them this far north, but they are even nesting in Grand Portage now. I will try to get some photos of them to post.
Birding is a lot of fun for me, and I have seen a few rarities around Grand Portage in the winter - the best one was a white phase Gyrfalcon about ten years ago. It was flying low over the softball field and at first I thought it was a Snowy Owl, but the head was much smaller and not round, and the wings were more pointed and tipped with black. It flew by only about thirty feet away from me and I had a great look at it.
OT and just for fun, here are a couple of photos of our puppy Maggie Maye and I getting ready to
watch the Vikings.
