Searching for Peregrines and Shots of Superior

First off, what a great way to start a Monday morning, eh?

So if you don't know the story of peregrine falcons, you should look it up. Very short version is that peregrine falcon populations plummeted due to DDT. They were one of the first species (along with bald eagles) to be placed on the endangered species list in 1973. Captive breeding became a large part of reintroducing peregrines to the wild. And a lot has been done on the North Shore because the peregrines love to nest on the cliffs of Superior. Wouldn't you if you were them?

The population has been very well monitored since then (bands and blood samples). On Monday we went looking for a nest at Pallisade Head, a place where they commonly nest. Basically that consisted of scanning cliffs with binoculars hoping to see a female peregrine nest sitting on eggs.

We assumed precarious positions to look and found one! We saw a but sticking out of a crevice in the cliffs. We set up a spotting scope and looked closely.

I was among the first few that hiked around to look straight down on the momma...and we found out it was actually just a Candadian Goose.

Look closely for a brownish butt.

So we continued the search.

And a few minutes further along the cliffs we found the remains of a song bird that had clearly been a delicious meal for a peregrine falcon. So we looked harder...

And we saw her! Look between the cedar tree and the cliff, and she is looking right at the camera. She's hard to see but she's there. We believe she was sitting tight to protect her eggs instead of flying around screaming at us. 

Here's a zoomed in shot. 

A shot of everyone looking closely at her. 

And now for some random shots....

Sawmill Creek (where we do stream study) is finally open!!!!

Creek entering Superior - dirty snow melt water. 

Crystal Cove

Big ship! (carrying iron ore or taconite or something or another like that.)

Crystal Cove - the beach where we've had fires and gone swimming. 

Kennedy Creek (coming from Raven Lake on Wolf Ridge campus) entering Lake Superior.

Water running off everywhere on top of Oberg Mountain (near Tofte).

Another overlook on Oberg Mountain. 

Ladies Weekend

I had the pleasure of hosting a ladies weekend with my  mom and entourage, Mary Jane, Mary Jo and Sue.

Thankfully the wildlife cooperated from the start and we had a snowshoe hare waiting for us right outside the hotel. They are named so because of their gigantic back feet which help with their flotation over deep snow in the winter. They turn all white in the winter for camouflage and all brown in the summer for the same reason. This guy just had white feet and tummy left.

The first night we went to Gooseberry State Park and the falls were raging with all the snow melt!

We spent Saturday morning meeting the animals of Wolf Ridge. 

Sue fell in love with Elcie (of course, who wouldn't).

Mary Jo got up close and personal with Thistle. (Elcie was jealous of the attention...or the peanuts).

And my man Chup flew for them.

We also put together enrichment
 for Korrpi and watched her genius brain at work. 

Next we hit up the ropes course, where both Mom and Sue tried it out and they did awesome!

Then we hiked to one of the best overlooks I've seen along the North Shore - Wolf Ridge's Superior View Hike. 

It was sunny, 60 degrees, I got a sunburn, and there was still tons of snow on the ground. They did great with the conditions (randomly having a leg sink down two feet and lots of sliding in the slush). Glad I could provide the opportunity to be hot in a t-shirt while surrounded by snow.

 We saw a willow budding along the trail. So even if mother nature is confused I'm convinced spring is still on its way. 

 We also had a wonderful dinner at the resort I'll be working at this summer. The gulls cooperated and lined up on their posts for a picture as the sun was going down. 

Tour de Raptor

The epic and insanely awesome Tour de Raptor happened over the April 19-21 weekend. You might be wondering what I'm talking about. I am talking about the Wolf Ridge wildlife crew doing a statewide tour of other places that used raptors and other animals for education. We visited two zoos, another RELC and the raptor center.

First up was the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth. It is a smaller zoo and runs as a non-profit. We met with their education staff (consisted of three people) and discussed their animals, programs, and working with other departments.

To the left is a screech owl, so tiny and adorable. 

To the right is a picture of a lynx, and they do also live in the wild in northern MN.

This zoo flooded last summer and is still recovering from that - the reason they knew the zoo flooded is there was a seal in the street.

We also discussed more about AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums  accreditation  because this zoo lost and regained theirs. Part of that is it used to be a city zoo and then switched to a private non-profit. AZA is an organization "dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation." They monitor enclosure regulations, education programs, as well as the captive populations and species specific conservation plans.  

 The next morning we visited the Raptor Center which is part of the University of Minnesota campus. It consists of a vet clinic, and to the right shows how many raptors they have seen this year, what's there right now, and how many they see each year. Birds that are seen are treated for injuries, sometimes they can be released and other times they cannot because of permanent injuries. The birds that can live a good life in captivity and have permanent injuries can become education animals. All of the raptors at Wolf Ridge came from the Raptor Center.

 The Raptor Center also has an education department and their own education raptors. They do programs on and off site, and have an education and conservation theme.

Here is a picture of a bald eagle transitioning from juvenile to adult plumage (head isn't completely white yet).

 Here is a turkey vulture sunning.

 Next up was the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, MN which is state run.

We explored the zoo which was very large compared to the Lake Superior Zoo.

Saw some bears playing in their pool...

... And a baby camel copying it's momma's every move.










But the real reason we went is the see the bird show. The bird show is independent of their education department and pretty incredible entertainment value.


We got a behind the scenes tour which was the best thing ever. They have a snowy owl (right) that flew during the program as well as...








...and eagle owl (left)which is the coolest and flew over us in the program. Eagle owls are the biggest of all owls and hang out in Russia.

We got to see them set up for the show which had them putting birds in the walls. The crates are built in the walls, and open with a push of a button when it's that bird's turn to fly. 

The show was about birds around the world and conservation efforts. After the show they let us hold one of their conures that flew to an audience member's hand during the show. 

We got to see their last weekend of the winter bird show which is held in an inside amphitheater but they also have a summer show in a gigantic outdoor amphitheater. The summer show has almost all different birds and we got to see the as well. To the right is a red-tail hawk that is more white than red :)

And a cool spectacled owl... who didn't really like us looking at him.

 The next day we hit up our last stop which was Audubon Center of the North Words, another residential environmental learning center. They have a number of raptors as well we checked out.

They also have a porcupine, but as you might be able to see in this picture no where near as cute as Thistle.

26 Inches of Snow on the Ground And It's Still Coming

First of all look at this adorable groundhog. 

He lives outside the dorm and I like to watch him out my window. 

Chup tearing apart meat like the awesome falcon he is.

I also made some equipment recently for Chup and the other raptors. Most equipment has been perfected by falconers and that knowledge has been passed down. This is a collection of bracelets that are always around the bird's ankles, jesses that are always on and go through the bracelets, and extenders that are used to hook up to jesses and leash. These are all made from cow leather. Sometime smaller birds' (like Chup) equipment is made from kangaroo leather. 

We're not letting this extended winter get us down and went hiking over the weekend. We hiked Laveaux Mtn which is near Tofte, MN (15 min north of me). Look at these adorable mouse tracks. 

View from the top shows Carlton Peak (another hike I did recently) to the south along the shore. 

 Looking straight out across the Lake.