Trip photos - highlights: Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cedar Waxwings

[Patti from Kentucky]

I finally got photos from a another trip organized.  These are from an early September trip to Minnesota where we hung out with a couple of friends over the Labor Day weekend, and then explored the North Shore of Lake Superior:

http://photos.bellhanley.com/Trips/Hiking/Minnesota-2011

There are so many birds in this album I considered putting it under "general nature discussion", but it really is a vacation album.  However, we saw gazillions of Cedar Waxwings, and visited one of the major raptor migration spots in Duluth (Hawk Ridge), where Patti got to release a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

So there are plenty of bird photos to keep folks interested...and a couple of videos.

[Paul Hamilton]

Thanks! I really enjoyed comparing this area to the Lake Winnipesaukee area in New Hampshire, where we go every summer.  I love the North Woods, whereever they are, but the Lake Superior area just blew me away.  I had no idea that there were big cliffs in Minnasota, and the waterfalls were astounding.  And, of course, the loon.

Paul

[NoraH]

Hi Patti, I've been meaning to get back to you ever since you posted this and I looked at them.  Being from MN all my life until four (wow four already) years ago I really appreciated seeing them.  That's great you got to see more of Split Rock lighthouse than just the outside, the time I was there years ago it wasn't open.  You got lots of great pictures as usual and had a great few days!  Someday I'll see a cedar waxwing, most people I know have 

[NoraH]

Patti, a gal I know from MN posted this link on FaceBook and I thought you (or others) might like it...

http://journal.northshoreimages.com/2012/02/split-rock-aurora.html

[Patti from Kentucky]

Patti, a gal I know from MN posted this link on FaceBook and I thought you (or others) might like it...

http://journal.northshoreimages.com/2012/02/split-rock-aurora.html

Thanks Nora, the aurora was really nice, and I perused several other galleries there...I love the winter shots.  We visited the same two friends several years ago during winter -- they took us snowshoeing and cross-country skiing (things we don't get to do in Louisville), and we made it down to the North Shore to see the ice piled up...it was a pretty magnificent sight.

We didn't get to hike as hard as we originally intended when we planned the trip because I injured my knee just before we left...but I limped around on the trails and made the best of it.  It's a really beautiful area (both Ely/Boundary Waters and the North Shore of Lake Superior).  I don't think I could survive a whole winter there, though!  I'm constituted to tolerate heat much more than cold...

[Carol P.]

Hi Patti - Looks like you and Jeane had another wonderful trip.  Beautiful pictures.  The birds and the wild flowers are gorgeous.  Thanks for sharing.