My wife, the ornithologist

Today was the kind of day we've been dying for up here. The sun was out, and temperatures were rising. Late in the afternoon, the temperature was 50F here (10C). That's warmer, I think, than most places in the region. Didn't see any other places in the U.P. or northern Wisconsin warmer than the 40s.

The weather was nice enough for a walk, and my wife took a walk into town. She came back just as I was getting home from work. We had to run a couple errands, and she told me to take my camera along when we did: "I think there's an owl at the building next to the bank." She said it was whitish gray and was saying "Whoo, whoo."

It was a dream come true. I love snowy owls, but they are very rare in this area--usually they don't range this far south. I think I've only seen one in my life. It was maybe 20 years ago, when we were shooting on Tri-X (black and white negative film). I got close enough to get a picture of him looking at me from atop a post next to a fire hydrant. The next picture was of him flying the other way, white wings outstretched.

I checked the camera before leaving, and I'm lucky I did. When I turned on the camera, the screen said "Batteries exhausted." Fortunately, I had some in the charger upstairs. So with fresh batteries installed, we left for the bank.

We parked in the lot, maybe 100 feet away from the building (it's downtown, next to the highway). I looked over but didn't see anything. Then there was a flash of gray, from the eaves of the house next door to the peak of a roof nearby. There, the big bird sat. I picked up my camera, zoomed in to the max and got a picture. Then I walked a few steps closer. But the owl must have seen--it flapped its wings and flew away.

Well, anyway, I had one owl picture. But it didn't seem right. The owl flew off much more easily than other owls I have seen. It didn't look right, either. Too dark. I was puzzled.

After we got back home, I transferred the files to the computer and took a look. Here is what I saw ...


It's a pigeon. A bloody pigeon! No doubt about it. And the "Whoo, whoo" she heard? It was the pigeon going "Coo, coo."

We had a good laugh about that. We had a nice supper of chicken parmagiana (boy, did I butcher that spelling) and will be watching a movie later on. I betcha some popcorn will be part of the evening as well.

I haven't posted photos for a while, so here are some I got earlier this month. This shot was from early in February, on one of our coldest mornings ...


(I must have been shivering as I took the picture.) Brrr. That cold is long gone now.

During a recent drive to Iron Mountain, it was close to zero, but one of the lakes we passed was alive with ice fishermen. Look at all the cars and sheds on the lake here ...


If you don't know, they make the holes in the ice with an auger. That's what the guy on the left side of this photo is doing.

Once upon a time, a dedicated ice fisherman had to hand-turn the auger. Today, most of them are gas-powered.

These next photos are from last week. Same route, same destination as usual. This one shows how little snow there is on the snowmobile trails--and in the brush next to the trail.

It doesn't take long for that much snow to melt once the sun starts showing its power.

Later, I saw a couple white-tailed deer walking across the road. I stopped a distance away, but they saw me. Luckily, I already had my camera up ...


But once they got in the woods, they seemed to feel safer and turned around as I crept closer ...


They walked deeper into the woods ... and then turned around for another look ...


From there, I went on my way, and presumably so did they.

There have been winters up here when the snow gets very deep and the deer starve. Not this winter. You can see how little snow there is in the woods. I'd venture to say that the deer have it made.