Urban Peregrines

Well . . . . I'm currently back home now . . . and I can't load pictures from here. I had gone to hang out a bit at Paneras, and was able to load pictures no problem. Maybe there is something wrong with the settings of the WiFi at home. I'll have to explore that sometime, as I was able to load pictures earlier this evening. (Update . . . next day at the library, loaded no problem . . . so the problem must be with the connection at home.)
While on my little mini trip last week I did an Internet search first, and discovered that Hawk Ridge near Duluth, MN has a Peregrine Watch going on right now in downtown Duluth. Seems a wild pair of peregrines have taken to the nestbox that was placed on one of the buildings, and have been raising a family. They laid 4 eggs, but so far only one eyas has survived. I followed the instructions on the website, and found the watch location. On that particular day one of the naturalists, Julia, was onsite with a couple of other volunteers from Hawk Ridge to give information to people, provide telescopes to see the nest and birds, and there is also a remote camera that has been placed inside the nest box.

While I was there visiting I did see both parents doing their job. The tiercel hangs out pretty much on a church tower in the downtown area. The people from Hawk Ridge call it his 'garage' . . . for he must hang out there a lot. I spotted him and noticed he was feeding. He must have just recently caught something . . . most likely a pigeon. While there, we saw him fly up and do a food transfer to the falcon. For any of my non-falconry audience, the female peregrine is always called the 'falcon' . . . the male the 'tiercel'. The term 'tiercel' means 'one-third' for the male is about a third the size as the female. The term 'tiercel' has become a standard term applied to male raptors, though technically it really only belongs to the male falcon. So, we saw him 'bring home the bacon', and the falcon then took the food into the nest box, and I was able to see her feed it to the eyas on the camera. It was all good! I visited with the volunteers, and we chatted raptors.

Hawk Ridge has a banding station in the fall during the migration. Duluth is one of the major hot spots for migration, for many birds are routed through because it is at the tip of Lake Superior, and birds migrating south are very reluctant to fly over large bodies of water. So they hit the lake, and then follow it down until the lake ends, which is at Duluth. If I was able to, I'd love to go volunteer for a couple days in the fall while that is going on.

Go visit their site if you are curious about it. Click on the link ----> Hawk Ridge

If you navigate that site you will also find a link to a photographer who has used much better equipment and gotten many really good close-up shots of the pair, and previous successful nesting attempts. He's been kind enough to allow Hawk Ridge to use some of his work for promotional purposes.

The Waterfalls of Wisconsin

At some ancient point in Wisconsin history, so says the informational brochures put out by the State Parks system, there was a massive earthquake that caused a portion of the geology in what now is the north lands to drop suddenly, forming a perfect channel for water to naturally follow. Thus, several of the waterfalls of Wisconsin were formed. The most interesting thing I noticed while here was the color of the water. It is a dark brown orangish, what they were calling root-beer colored. This is perfectly natural for this area, due to abundant vegetation in the upper headwaters that stain the water with their tannins. But it did look wierd!

Amnicon Falls, where I camped, is really a series of somewhat smallish falls that twist through the park. Normally swimming is allowed, but the river is high right now, making that activity unsafe.

Look at the suds!! Who dumped detergent into the river?? Actually, no one. The force and churning of the water was frothing it up, making substantial accumulations of foam.

After leaving Amnicon I drove south-west, and visited Pattison State Park. This is the location of Big Manitou Falls, and Little Manitou Falls. Big Manitou is the largest in Wisconsin, and according to the State Parks, the fourth highest east of the Rockies. It was rather impressive! Be sure to click on the picture for an enlarged view. It will bring subtle details into better focus.

Big Manitou Falls

At the other end of the lake that forms the two falls is Little Manitou Falls. Not as steep, but much wider! Again, all the water here is a dark brown-orange color. None are as pretty as what I saw in Oregon . . . . but still beautiful!

Amnicon Falls

Hey!! Lookie there!! Seems picture upload is working again!

I'll have to come back later and post the ones from last week, and then finish this one up.

This weekend I had 2 days off, so I went up north to check out some of Wisconsin's waterfalls, and camp out a night. Currently, I'm sipping a cold over-priced foofy drink and tapping into the free WiFi in some little coffee shop in Eau Claire. I only need to get home and do some homework tonight, so I might veer off West from here and check out another State Park on my way home.
Above is a view of one of the falls the Amnicon river goes over. Usually, this is a river that can be swam in, but with all the rain of late, it is flowing really high. I saw no one in it, and I myself would never dream of getting into it. Glad I skipped buying a bathing suit on my trip up, because I had forgotten my own.

Back later to finish this up and post more pictures.

Devil's Lake

On Friday June 6th I took myself camping to Devil's Lake. And it was a good thing that I did it on the 6th, and not the 7th. As I was driving home on the next day I drove through the massive storms that resulted in all the flooding in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. I understand that there was damage to Devil's Lake, and of course the loss of Lake Delton!

It's taken awhile for me to be able to finish loading the pics here, as Blogger was having some issues for a good bit of time after my trip. But all seems to be working fine now.

I find on my days off I really need to "do" something. It is best that I not sit around the house, twiddling my thumbs. So, I've started to go and see and camp at many of the state parks. Because I've not seen any of the parks around the Dells, I chose Devil's lake. I ended up getting a really nice spot, and it was a lovely evening for camping. I don't really "do" a whole lot when I camp either . . . set my tent up, start a fire, cook my meal, read some sometimes, and usually go to sleep once it gets dark. But the next day I'm usually up with the birds, and go and see what needs to be seen at the park I've camped at.
For the Friday/Saturday I was at Devil's Lake, I could not stay around long, for I had to get home to be to work by 3:00 pm. So I got up early, packed my stuff, then drove around to see the park. I decided the thing I would see was Balanced Rock. It was a bit of a climb up, but not too hard. While there, yes, see those ropes! There was a group of rock climbers testing out their abilities to scale verticle surfaces, and rappel back down.

Once I left and started to drive home I ran into the storms. I hope these folks got off the "mountain" before it hit them!
Below is a golden dragonfly sunning itself on the rocks as I climbed.

Into the Wilderness

Last night I did something that I was suddenly struck with an inspiration to do about a week ago. The impulse was incredibly strong, so I followed through with it last night. I had this weekend off, making it possible. Classes start up for me again tomorrow, Monday, so my available free days are becoming less available.

I took myself out camping (nothing different there, for I've been doing that quite a bit of late), but this time I hiked out to a spot in the true wilderness. I won't say where I went on this open forum. Let's just say I was not supposed to be there. It was a location I am familiar with, and that I felt comfortable being in, and is not too terribly far away. I did walk to the spot for about a mile carrying for the first time my backpack loaded with what I would need. No idea how much extra weight was in it, but I did just fine. I did not stay in a campground (obviously), but I also did not light a fire, as that would have been an absolute 'no no'. Besides, it only got down into about the 50s last night, and there was no need for me to cook anything, for along with the journey I was fasting for a day. All I left behind was some crushed grass, and some salts and nitrates in the grass. I harmed no animals, other than killing a few of the abundant mosquitos.

I felt compelled to go on somewhat of a 'vision quest'. I wanted to spend a night in the true wilderness, a fair distance from any people, civilization, and to spend some time meditating. There is an issue in my life that has been weighing rather heavily on my mind, a committment that I feel I'm supposed to be making to myself . . . and I have been resisting. I will not share any of those personal details here . . . . but the evening was somewhat fruitful for me. As I said previously I also tested my resolve, and for this one day, for more than a 24-hour period, I fasted. I've never done that before, and found surprisingly, it was rather easy to do. When I felt hungry, I drank water. Lots of it. It took the sensation away. Also, last night, once I got to where I was going, and set my tent up, and got into it (as it was the only safe place to be with all the bugs, to include ticks) I spend a couple hours until darkness meditating. The lack of food in my system, distracting some of my body's energy, allowed me to attain a meditative state far easier. My mind was clear. My focus more acute.

I listened to the night creatures take the stage. A whip-poor-will sang most of the night. In the earlier hours I heard a duet, with the new singer being wound up a bit tighter than the first, for it whip-poor-willed a lot faster. I did not hear any owls. Nor coyotes. Or, sadly, no wolves, which I was kindof hoping for, as I was in an area where they are known to be. I did hear someone hustle by my tent this morning in the dark pre-dawn hours. I could not see who, but most likely it was a racoon, wondering what the tent was, and did I have any food. I listened to the first bugling calls of a crane this morning, answered off in the distance by others. The misty morning bounced their calls about, making locating them difficult. I resisted the urge to see if I could find them. I'm sure long before my clumsy steps would bring me into their view, they would take wing and be gone.

I found insight! There are some things we can go without, for a period of time, and it's OK. Also, during my journey in, I found the half of an upper mandible to a beaver. I wish I had picked it up on the trip in, instead of looking for it on the way out. It brings to mind the idea that even though we grind away at certain concepts, all things come to an end eventually, must come to an end.

Give up the grinding. Accept the lesson! Accept the committment.

It was a good experience!

I know of another official campground up at the tip of Door County that has a remote site you hike into. I proved to myself yesterday that I could do this. Sometime this summer or into fall if I find myself with a few days off, I should go do that. It would be nice to hear the surf of the lake right outside my tent.