Great Sky of the North

Lake Charlotte Double Drowning & Shots From the Weekend

2012-01-15T22:17:00.001-06:00

My deepest condolences to the families of Brad Skafte and Adam Patnode who died in a tragic snowmobile accident on January 14th on Lake Charlotte. Bad ice has been a real problem this year all across the state.

Pretty sure MN statute requires ALL operators or passengers on an ATV under the age of 18 to wear a helmet. You know, accidents do happen.

Again, my heart goes out to the parents of these guys. Just horrible.

After attending the Minnesota Storm Chaser Convention on Saturday, I was anxious to get outside and do some fun shooting.

The morning started out frosty and clear. View on the Mississippi River at Snuffy's Landing. Sure wish I could have been out in the kayak today.

Swans at Snuffy's:

Notice the one goose who had to photobomb my shot.

Mirror mirror....almost.

This pheasant was roosting up so high in a tree...like 30+ feet up, I did a double take driving by. Weird.

One eagle near the Clearwater River in bad light.

I did stop to check a road kill I moved off the shoulder of a road a week or so ago when I saw 2 eagles starting to feed on it. Good to see the youngster still feeding on it without any lead worries.

A red fox escaping after he caught me totally off guard. I wasn't even ready to start shooting when he zipped out of a low grassy area and booked it for the woods.

Overall a very satisfying day. Unfortunately the snow we got on the 14th all but disappeared today so it will be back to shooting brown again for a while.

Barred Owl! and shots for the weekend

2012-01-08T21:14:00.001-06:00

Persistence paid off finally! After getting glimpses of the barred owls near our home, it finally happened on Saturday evening where the light and the ability to shoot come together! Very exciting as while I was taking pics of the owl, there were others echoing the "who cooks for you" call nearby! My #1 wildlife experience of 2012. I'm willing to bet it holds it's #1 spot in my book for quite while!

Woods...owl habitat.

Not exactly a "normal" winter scene for January in central Minnesota.

The typical scene this winter in our area. We would normally have a couple of feet of snow on the ground by now.

So close to being a really cool shot.

Near 40° temps on Sunday was enough motivation to get my out in the kayak to check out the Mississippi River Islands Scientific and Natural Area near Elk River, MN. I am not a big fan of paddling in urban/suburban areas but this held some promise with the mild winter.

LOTS of waterfowl. Thousands of geese, mallards and common mergansers. Several hundred trumpeter swans also. Most were out feeding in the bare fields I'm guessing.

A new family moving in. They were carrying sticks to their new home. I didn't have a long lens with me and I didn't want to disturb their activities so I paddled by in a hurry after snapping one photo.

A trio of trumpeter swans flying by the Dimmick Island campsite.

Towards the end of my trek and my take out point at the Otsego Park, a pair of bald eagles lead me downstream. All in all I saw 16 bald eagles on this 10 mile trip. 11 mature and 5 juvies. Everyone looked health and happy thankfully!

Eagles vs Lead Awareness Campaign Continues

2012-01-02T22:08:00.000-06:00

First off, thanks again to Ken Knutson for getting me the full sized images off his phone. The media really wants to use the image of the eagle sitting on the kayak for the stories. That one photo may end up saving an eagle or two from an awful, slow death.

Secondly, met up with Jim Douglas from KARE 11 today and shot some video of the short version highlights of the Christmas Eve drama. Kind of brought back memories of Tim Pastore, Matt Renner, and Zac McFarlane grilling me during green screens on TS. I definitely feel more at home behind the camera, but this story needs to be told. I didn't go through the effort of trying to save that eagle for nothing. Like I said before, if I can keep this eagle alive in spirit through this story, his death was not meaningless.

Third, I want to give a shout out to Jacob Thumberger and my TVN comrades for offering to save me a seat at the Minnesota Storm Chaser Convention coming up on January 14th. It sounds like I will be a chance to tell the eagle story on live TV that morning and I don't want to miss an opportunity like that to get the word out eagles and lead. At the same time, I also want to go talk convective temps with my chaser pals, devour some BW3's and wash it down with a couple of beers afterwards.

So, thanks again to everyone helping to spread the word. The next time you see an eagle soaring overhead, that may be the eagle you saved. Keep it going....

Finally some snow worth shooting! New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T15:28:00.000-06:00

It didn't last long and only gave us about an inch and a half of covering, but is was sure fun as it was coming down. We were under a winter storm warning (more likely because of the number of people who would be out and about than anything) at the time...happy to see any snow which cuts in the 14" deficit we have for the season already.

What made this a unique photo opportunity was not just the size of the snowflakes, but the rate at which they were falling. These flakes where falling slowly, but there were a lot of them! The falling snow flakes were creating images almost resembling smoke trails!

Eagle rescue! HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE DANGERS OF LEAD!!

2011-12-25T19:12:00.005-06:00

First off, I hunt deer. I love hunting deer. I love venison.

HOWEVER...deer hunters need to bury or cover gut piles or carcasses after the kill! Remember it only takes a piece of lead the size of a pencil tip to kill a bald eagle.

So today, Christmas Eve 2011 I decided to kayak down the Mississippi River from Snuffy's Landing near Becker, MN to Montissippi Park in Monticello, MN. Usually takes me about an hour and forty minutes to go the 8 miles or so. I shot a lot of video along the way and was nearing a group of small islands just upstream from the Monticello nuke plant which usually holds a lot of waterfowl. Yup, today was no different. Lots of giant Canada geese and trumpeter swans. The west bank of the river has a long stretch of ice which extends out a few hundred feet the birds rest on. As I got to the end of the ice shelf and was preparing to line myself up to navigate some more riffles, I noticed a mature bald eagle take flight from near the river bank. Nothing out of the ordinary for this area. Eagles are very abundant along this stretch of the Upper Mississippi with it's wild and scenic designation.

As I turned the kayak sideways to get some video of the eagle in flight, I spotted another eagle standing on the ice next to the water. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. However, instead of taking flight to follow it's mate (assuming), the eagle jumped up onto the shore and went into some tall canary grass. It spread it's wings totally out and both sides were symmetrical so it did not appear a wing injury was present. I immediately called Melinda and asked her to call either the local conservation officer or the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. Well, she couldn't reach the game warden but she was able to leave a message at the raptor center and within minutes I got a call from them letting me know they had dispatched a capture volunteer from Becker, MN who would restrain and transport the bird. The other issue was the bird was on property owned by Xcel Energy and with the location being a nuclear facility, security was going to be an issue. The Raptor Center contacted the Wright County Sheriff's Office who dispatched a deputy to assist (3 actually ended showing up). The Raptor Center called back and said the capture team was about 45 minutes out and they would call me for the exact location as where to meet us. As I neared my take out point, the team from the Raptor Center called and we coordinated where to meet myself and the deputies for the security escort.

I met the deputies at the spot along county road 75 I thought would have the easiest access to the bird and we hiked in. It only took me a few minutes to locate the eagle who was perched on a gnarled basswood stump about 2 feet off the ground almost exactly where I had seem him jump up the bank. As we waited the eagle spooked and flew about 75 yards out onto the ice shelf and landed on a giant granite boulder out in the river surrounded by ice. He was obviously struggling but I was surprised he was able to fly at all. As we waited to see what his next move was, I noticed three large areas of blood on the ice about 20 or so feet apart with a lot of eagle tracks on the spots right in front of us. It didn't look like a kill as there was not any fur or fins in the blood. Odd. However, there was a small stain of green bile infested eagle poop which is a tell-tale sign of lead poisoning. I pointed this out to the deputies and suggested we go back to our vehicles and wait for the Raptor Center team.

Once the team arrived, I told them where the eagle was currently located and I was still confident something was very wrong with it. I offered to portage my yak back up the river to see if I could get the eagle to fly back to shore. They agreed so the deputies took them back through the woods to the river and I shouldered the 51 lb yak upstream of the eagle to find a suitable spot to launch onto the ice shelf. Getting back into open water was tough. I never trust river ice so I got into the yak, fitted the skirt and used my hands to scoot back to the open water. After a little difficulty, I finally crossed the 50 feet or so to the point where I did break through and was able to push-pole myself with the paddle the last 20 feet to open water. The current is fast in this stretch so I quickly scanned the shore to find exactly where the capture team was. I ended up taking three runs at the edge of the ice shelf in an attempt to get the eagle to fly back to shore. The third attempt worked and the bird took to the air about 3 feet off the ice and came to a semi-controlled landing on the shore just upstream from the team. They made an attempt to approach the eagle but it flew a few hundred feet up the shore then landed in not so majestic fashion. This scenario played out 2 more times. I tried to follow the edge of the ice shelf and paddle upstream but wasn't having much luck to so I found an eddy and parked myself to watch them attempt to corral the eagle.

The Raptor Center team's strategy was to tire the eagle out so they could capture it in a large fishing landing net and prep it for transport. On the forth attempt to approach the eagle, it decided to fly to the other side of the river. About half way across it was evident it was not going to make it. Into the water it went. As most of you know, I spend A LOT of time out photographing eagles. I have seen them stand and bathe in the water as ice is forming in front of our home. They are quite water resistant under normal circumstances but this was not normal. This bird was obviously weak. The adrenaline kicked in and I paddled against the current using the strongest strokes I could pushing against the foot pegs and thigh braces in the yak for extra leverage. I remember thinking "Please God. Please don't let it end like this." The last thing I wanted was for the bird to drown without a chance for the Raptor Center to at least try to help him.

What seemed liked minutes was most likely only one as I closed the distance between myself and the eagle. Between the swift current and my paddling efforts, I pulled up next to the bird. He was able to keep his head above the water and was attempting to "swim" using a flight-like motion. This went on for a minute as I ran every scenario through my head I could think of as how to help this guy and not let the ice-filled 32° water kill him from shock.

Then the amazing part began to happen. We have all seen pictures and heard stories of how wild animals will let their guard down as a last minute desperation effort to live. Eagles have an unbelievable will to live. This guy was no different.

As the current rushed us downstream, I held the eagle against the side of the yak with my paddle as I looked for an area with slower water near an island where I could figure out my next move. The idea of a talon with over 125 lbs of force per square inch digging into my hand or arm didn't sound like much fun.

The he did it. My kayak, a Current Designs Breeze, it fitted with a lot of shock cord right in front of the cockpit. The eagle grabbed a cord with it's beak and grabbed another with his left talon and tried to pull himself up onto the bow of the kayak! At this time I reached into the water with my right hand and gave him a boost. Within seconds he was perched on the bow less than 2 feet away with his back turned! At this point I grabbed my paddle and began to steer us though a shallow area filled with riffles and boulders. I was amazed at how well he was able to keep his balance! As we rounded the north side of the island, I lost view of the rescue team and the deputies. Also about this time, I also realized I had left my cell phone in the truck. No communication. Great.

There was no way I could paddle back upstream to the last point I had seen the rescue team. I decided I had two options. Make it to the nuke plant and risk being arrested in the name of trying to save the eagle or paddle the mile or so to Montisippi Park. On my earlier run through here, I had seen several fisherman and figured one would still be there with a cell phone who could call Wright County for me and relay info to the deputies and rescue team. The eagle seemed content so Montissippi it was.

About this time the eagle (who had been extending his wings to dry them), decided he was rested and was going to take another run at the shore. He made it about 5 feet. Back to shadowing him in the water until once again he decided the kayak was a better option as he tried to pull himself back up onto the bow. With a little assistance from me he hopped up but this time ended up right on top of my spray skirt. I was a little nervous about having those talons within millimeters of my bare skin but the eagle had this strange sense of calm. He would turn his head, cock it, then look at me as to say "let's do this". I began to paddle harder while scanning the shore in hopes of locating a fisherman. Christmas Eve, late afternoon.....no luck.

As I rounded the final bend before my take out spot. I started to run contingency plans through my head. I decided the only option would be to wrap the eagle up in my hoodie and walk the mile and a half or so up to country road 75 if no one was still around. Then I saw one, then two, then three vehicles in the parking lot at the access. I was worried about spooking the eagle if I had to shout to the fisherman for help so I started having a conversation with him. He seemed to tolerate it, cocking his head if I would whistle. I was still confident this was going to work out.

When I approached the shore, the look on the faces of the stunned fisherman is something I will never forget. The only thing I can compare it to is the look of disbelief on the faces of tornado victims right after the storm passes: "This can't be happening!". Three guys fishing and one guy watching. I hollered if anyone had a cell phone and asked if they would call 911 to Wright County dispatch and have one of the deputies who responded to the original call alert the rescue team I was in possession of the eagle and to come to the Montissippi access point. Mr. Bruce Iving made the call. (Thanks Bruce for helping out.) Wright county said they would send a deputy. As we waited, I asked if anyone had a tarp or an old blanket as now the eagle had hopped up on the bow again and was facing me. He still had this calm about him and I was not afraid he was going to lunge at me with his beak or talons. I noticed he had some type of trauma to his chest and was wheezing somewhat. The wound sure looked like it could have been from a small caliber rile. Had he been shot??? Bruce grabbed an old blanket from his truck. I gave him some basic instructions on how to handle the eagle as I was confident he would try to jump to the shore once I got close. About this time Mr. Ken Knutson also came down the access. He was willing to help out and readied himself with Bruce. It suddenly dawned on me no one was going to believe this story without photo proof. In the storm chasing world the rule is: "If you don't have photo or video proof, it didn't happen." One of guys who was fishing took a pic with his phone (sorry I didn't get the name) and texted it to me. Ken snapped a few picks too.

So it was now or never. I pointed the yak towards the shore and just as expected the eagle jumped. Bruce was ready and got control of the eagle's legs while Ken helped get it wrapped up safely in the blanket. These guys did an awesome job! About now the deputy showed up and let us know the other three had gone off shift and no one had the phone number for the rescue team (except for me...on my cell phone, about 3-4 miles away). Ken said he would hold the eagle as the deputy gave me a ride back to my truck. When we got there, the people from the Raptor Center were just getting back to their van. Perfect timing.

We all headed back to the park and met the guys and eagle. The Raptor Center people had Ken and Bruce quickly load the eagle into a plastic pet crate (still wrapped safely in the blanket) and off to the University of Minnesota down in St. Paul they went. I briefed the guys on how we could check on the eagle by calling the Raptor Center and to be sure to give their phone numbers to me.

I loaded the yak onto my truck and again thanked everyone for helping out. I really had hope for this eagle. I knew if his biggest issue was a small caliber gunshot wound, his prognosis for at least survival if not a full recovery would be be good. I called Melinda and told her to check her text messages in a minute as I knew she would never believe the story. I forwarded her the photo and headed for home, looking forward to Christmas Eve activities with my family.

Ken with the eagle while waiting for the Raptor Center people to arrive.

During dinner, I told them this story and expressed my confidence the Raptor Center would be able to help him. My mom is a HUGE eagle fan which started with my photography over the years, progressed to the eagle nesting cams, and moved on to following the rehab eagles which are released back into the wild and tracked via GPS. Once again, her semi-crazy son had an experience almost too weird to be true. "An eagle rode a couple of miles on the bow of your kayak? Yeah, riiiiiiiggggggghhhhtttt."

Then the call came. It was from the Raptor Center team. One of the initial tests they do on a bird which is delivered to them is to run a toxicology test to check for lead levels. This guy tested positive. My initial hunch about the green bile was correct. She said his level was "very high". I have been in this game long enough to know what that meant. He couldn't be treated. The eagle would be immediately euthanized. My heart sank.

With all the time I spend in the field in pursuit of bald eagles, I know this happens. Last year my good friend David Drufke and his wife, Kristen, had the same thing occur. Here is their story. It doesn't make it any easier. Much like being one of the first to arrive after a tornado strikes, the overwhelming feeling of sorrow and helplessness ensues....but it needs to be kept in perspective. This eagle was going to die regardless. He was terminal. All we did was keep him from dying a slow, painful death. I thought of the other eagle I had seen with him. Most likely it was a female and his mate based on the size difference. Eagle pairs have an incredibly strong bond caring for each other much like human couples. Then it dawned on me what the blood spots were I have seen back on the ice shelf earlier. That was food she had brought for him since he was took weak to hunt. Faithful to the end. We could all use a lesson in compassion for each other from this. Melinda and the kids also share my love for eagles. It was sad. Very sad. But as Ken stated in a text to me, "God put us all there for a reason tonight". I believe that.

In wrapping this saga up, I once again PLEAD for sportsmen to be responsible with the use of lead shot, lead slugs, lead bullets and fishing weights. It only takes a piece of lead the size of the tip of a pencil to kill one of these majestic birds. Bury or cover up those deer gut piles and carcasses. Use non-toxic products! They are out there. It's the responsible thing to do. I can't think of anyone who doesn't enjoy the sight of an eagle soaring overhead. Well, there is one less chance to see an eagle in flight after tonight.

Whaaaat??? December 18th, no snow and 45°?? Time for a kayak trip!

2011-12-18T19:02:00.001-06:00

Last year:

This year:

This pic was taken about 10am on the 18th. Temps warmed well into the mid 40's during peak heating.

Cullen and I took full advantage of our freakish December weather to drop the kayaks in the river as Melinda and Cailyn did some Christmas shopping.

Cailyn helps us with the final rigging before we pushed off into something with the consistency of a melting snow cone. I do not think any of the upstream ice jam at Clearwater let go.

Pushing off for 9 miles of relaxation.

One last wave...see you in a couple of hours.

If I can't be under a meso, this is my favorite place to be.

The water was a lot faster than our last trip. Lots of riffles over the boulder fields kept the 'yaks bouncing right along.

Trumpeter swans passing over. I only had a kit 18-55 with on a D50 so the perspective is waaay messed up.

More riffles!

A few hundred golf course rats...errrr, Canada geese taking flight in front of us.

Highway 25 bridge in Monticello.

Pretty much the end of the trip as we pass under the bridge and head for our take out at Ellison Park in Monticello. Was fun to see all the fisherman out today too. Lots of HUGE smallies being caught, photographed and returned to the water!

Shots from the weekend....brown is getting old

2011-12-12T18:58:00.000-06:00

A year ago today the Mall of America Dome had the roof collapse under heavy snow. This year we have nothing. Over 10" behind average now and nothing in sight which will give us the white blanket until spring.

Yes, that is a motorcycle on December 12th in Minnesota.

Mississippi River sunrise on the 10th.

Painted sky to start the day on the 10th.

Road block

Kayaking just went to a screeching halt due to a large ice jam at Clearwater.

Ice piled up at the access point.

Looking downstream from Snuffy's Landing near Becker gives the illusion the river should be open for paddling but the problem is you don't know if there is another jam around the next bend. With no access points for about 8 miles it is best to leave it alone until spring I guess.

Sunday was another futile attempt at locating a snowy owl. Saw a few bald eagles out in the fields but nothing worth posting here as most were a quarter mile or further away. Did stop in at the Blanchard dam to see if there was any ice on the leaky gates after our cold spell last week. I should note it was about 45° when I took this. What a difference a year can make!

Nothing of interest on the weather front either. The mid week system which originally looked like it was going to give us our Christmas snow finally this year (we are well over 10" below normal now), is going to do nothing but dump heavy rain over the area effectively chasing all the early ice fishermen off the lakes. My snowshoes are mighty bored.

A few misc shots to get caught back up...WEIrD GraFFiTi!

2011-12-03T09:04:00.001-06:00

Man...are we caught in a drought right now in central Minnesota. This is a graph of the Mississippi River gauge down by the 'Cities. Looks like the value of my 401k.

The lack of snow has the mushers still running their teams in the ditches around here. Hopefully we get some good snow for them soon.

After the last post of the Blanchard dam portage, I should note I actually started out upstream at Little Falls, MN. There is some really cool history behind the town and the dams which have been built there over the decades.

I wish the 9 miles or so down to the Blanchard dam all looked like this.

Yes, please.

While up at Blanchard, I did find some rather unique graffiti. Not the usual crap for sure.

I like the idea!

This one I stood in front of and contemplated for a while.

My weekly obligatory eagle shot.

North Twin Lake before ice up.

The treat this week has been some spectacular sunrises on the drive into the metro area for work.

And finally, first ice on Lake Sarah.

The snowstorm this weekend will miss me to the south and east which may end up being a good thing because with a little luck and good conditions I may have a real treat for you readers tomorrow night. Stay tuned!!

Blanchard Dam Portage on the Mississippi River

2011-11-27T20:04:00.007-06:00

(looking east)

OK...this post has nothing to do with weather or wildlife. It's simply my PSA to other paddlers who are wondering if the horror stories of the Blanchard portage are justified. Simply...YES. Depending on which publication you read, one will tell you 125 yards right or 300 yards left.

The 125 yard "portage" to the right (west) is not even officially recognized. Bottom line is to use this portage, you will get in close to the dam on the water, cross a soft, sandy, litter infested parking area on the west side, then take your chances going down an unimproved trail which has more litter, unstable rocks, and even a spring seeping water to create a muddy mess. Then to launch back in the river, it will be in a partially submerged boulder field.

Looking downstream on the west side.

So, the "official" portage is east of the dam (left side).

Pretty easy to make out the yellow sign.

This is the landing for the exit area above the dam. These photos were taken on November 27th during freeze up so don't let the ice freak you out. Less garbage on this side...but that is a super soaker of some sort half buried in the mud.

After a somewhat gentle climb up the first rail grade (a dolly will do well so far, you go down then right back up a second grade which is an access road to the power house and substation for the hydro at the dam. This is considerably steeper than the first climb. Note the third climb coming up in the background.

This is the third climb which is VERY STEEP up an old rail grade converted into a state recreation trail. Being they constructed steps, it is a pretty good indication of what you will be up against. Good luck pulling a dolly with a yak or canoe full of gear up this!

Once you cross the rec trail on top of the grade, there is another short set of steps going down the south side then you are on your own side-hilling (with some small loose rocks) until the trail starts to flatten out as it crosses the bridge in the photo. This is where I began to get skeptical of "300 yards" as the trail isn't exactly very straight as you angle to the right and back towards the river downstream of the tail race below the dam.

This is easily the straightest portion of the portage. It's funny as over time people have made their own trails through the woods to cut off the curves but there is no way you will be able to carry a boat down those narrow corridors through the thick brush.

Once you come off the curvy, heavily wooded trail, you come to the parking area for the re-entry/carry in access point on the east side of the river. The trail going back down to the river is marked just to the left of the blue sign. It's little muddy but there is enough sand mixed in to keep it from becoming total soup.

Finally back down to the water "300 yards" later. Remember this is during low water. You can see the rec trail and dam to the right. Look at the elevation of that rec trail. You had to climb up to it, then climb down again. Good news is you are almost back in the water (unless you need to make another trip or two for your stowed gear). If you took your chances on the 125 yard unofficial portage, your re-entry point would be just to the left of the first bridge piling for the rec trail bridge. Good luck.

Down on the water. Time to get back in the Mississippi and head downstream to Sauk Rapids where another dam (or damn) portage awaits you at the paper mill in the town. I'll do a photo sequence of that portage (as well as the one upstream at Little Falls) sometime in the future as long as the snow stays away.

Happy paddling...

The Biggest 8 Point Buck of My Photo Career

2011-11-24T15:47:00.000-06:00

I've always wondered what the dominant buck in the river bottoms looked like. The afternoon of November 23rd I found out. Three hours of cat and mouse with this guy as he followed a doe who almost in standing heat before I finally got the shot I was looking for. Darn near didn't get it either as the sun had just dropped below the horizon. I lucked out as he was looking directly into what was left of the light to the west.

He ran off every other buck he saw including a nice 12 pointer and a pretty big 10 pointer! This guy is going to be a MONSTER next year if he gets some mass to his antlers. I would estimate the brow tines at about 12" and the main tines over 14". The main beams are easily 24".

Here are some other shots of him from throughout the day.

I think a little shed hunting may be in store later this winter.

November - The Time for BIG BUCKS in Minnesota

2011-11-12T21:57:00.003-06:00

David Drufke and I visited one of our favorite spots to shoot some photos and video of some big whitetail bucks in full rut. Last year wasn't very good due to the late summer flooding which occurred but this year with lots of fresh vegetation on which to feed, the numbers are back in full force. I probably won't go back until there is snow on the ground.

Here are my favorite pics out of about 200.

Pretty evident how high the flood waters got last fall.

Itchy nose

Yawning deer

Upcoming kayak trip scouting...Ottertail River

2011-11-06T20:47:00.000-06:00

Took a break from deer hunting this weekend and battling the 40+ mph wind gusts to head just east of Fergus Falls and check of the Otterail River for a future kayak trip. For the most part the Otterail is a slow, lazy flow with a lot of tree debris and shallow spots. Spring just after peak flow is the target time as a lot of the shallow gravel bars will be easily navigated. I had heard about some advisories for faster water above Broken Down Dam which I wanted to see at low water to get a feel for any rock hazards. Turns out to be no big deal so now it is just a matter of waiting until next April to do a 15-20 mile short trip. Here are a few shots from that area.

The city of Fergus Falls maintains a park at the dam site. I was a little surprised to see the name of a high school classmate who had accidentally died about 10 years ago on the Adopt-A-Park sign. Trevor was one of those guys you couldn't say anything bad about. Way too soon.

Cailyn navigating down the steep trail to the dam site.

The actual dam with a narrow chute which will keep a portage from happening on the trip.

Some minor rapids above the dam. Will be interesting to see what they look like in the spring with twice or three time the flow. The DNR has no rapids ratings on here and only posts advisories during high water.

A 2s exposure (no ND filter...I need one though)of the water coming out of a pool above the dam site.

Cailyn figured she was in need of a walking stick to help her balance of the way back up the steep trail. Someone should host a clean up day for some the the junk along the river...and a roll off dumpster. The old steel and bales of old wire (a pet peeve of mine from my USFWS days) really need to go. The usual park garbage is one thing, but the junk really is disgusting. Let me know when and I'll be there with a pair of gloves and a winch to hoist it up to the top!

Hiking back up to the truck.

Yup, this will be a fun, easy trip in the spring! In the mean time, we will continue to bask in 40 something degree temps this week (if you live in MN, you know each day above 32 with no snow is shortening up the winter from here on out) as we head toward the middle of November!

Ely MN trip and signs of the times

2011-10-27T22:51:00.002-05:00

I talked Melinda and Cullen into making a trip up to Ely, MN 10.22.11 in hopes of getting a few shots of a bull moose this year. Once again the moose eluded us but we still had a good time. I am seriously considering siding with those who think the DNR needs to close the moose season until they get a handle on what is causing the population to decline such as it has in the past 5 years.

Took the Crane Lake road out of Cook, MN and stopped at a couple of portage accesses along the Vermillion River as a pre-scouting trip in anticipation of a kayak trip up to Crane Lake next fall.

The southern part of the Vermillion (it flows north) is pretty tame. The water is really low right now and I can see a problem with shallow rapids and gravel bars.

However, the scenery is really hard to beat as you approach Buyck, MN. (pronounced BIKE)

The upper part of the river as it approaches crane lake is a different story with class V and class VI rapids and waterfalls. This is the only video I could find of the Vermillion Gorge as it nears Crane Lake along the Ontario/Minnesota border.

Anyhow, we only went as far as CR116 (Echo Trail) and took the wilderness route over to Ely (only deer, no moose again) for some dinner and to let Cullen watch them feed the wolves at the International Wolf Center. I always feel kind of uneasy there as I know the majority of the people around me are not in agreement with my wolf management beliefs. So, I just smile and nod.

With the rotation / management model they have for their resident pack, only two wolves are currently accessible. Until they bring in new pups in a year or two, straight up it is not worth your time and money to stop. Very little interaction or action on any level. You are better off going up to Winton and out on CR18 or east towards Isabella on highway 1 at night and seeing if you can hear the wild packs. That would be more interesting and exciting than the IWC currently.

The best part of the trip was some interesting signs we saw:

Like I said, there is a need for wolf management in MN now. One crisis is over. Lets not let another one start.

Um, ok.

Best one on the west end of the Echo.

This one is actually up in the Soumi Hills north of Grand Rapids.

Is this (or is it not) the proper use of the word "have" or should it be "has"?

Yellow tamaracks as the Soumi waits for the snow to arrive.

The weather is pretty tame. From here on out each week we avoid snow is just shortening the winter season. BUT, I am looking forward to getting out on the ice for some fishing in 6 weeks or so!

October 24 2011 Strong Aurora

2011-10-25T22:09:00.001-05:00

I had another blog entry just about ready to go of our trip up into the St. Louis county MN wilderness and the Vermillion River, but I got a little sidetracked on Monday night. After giving up hope by late afternoon the clouds were going to break after a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) hit the earth around 18 UTC, I was working on the other entry when a flood of text messages and phone calls from by chaser buddies down south finally got me interested to take a peek at a infrared sat image. When Tyler Burg called and said we was seeing auroras in Lincoln, NE and the Bz was hitting a -10S, I walked outside about 8:15 and looked at the north horizon expecting to see a faint green glow in the cloud deck to the north. The first thing I noticed were the bottoms of the green spikes were starting at about an altitude of about 50° and soaring overhead to the point I had to look a little south to see the tops! HO-LEE-CRAP!!! I knew this was not a "normal" aurora show we see up here. No sooner did I get a cam and tripod set up in the front yard (pointed STRAIGHT UP) did the real show start. I have never seen orange tinted auroras this far south that I can recall. For a little less than 10 minutes time stood still. It was perfect.

Complete set of images HERE!

Keep in mind all of these shots are at 11mm!

The peak of the show about 7:35 pm

As the main show began to wind down, the sky overhead with filled with a gentle river of reds and greens traveling from northwest to southeast.

What a great show! Having the clouds break just long enough to allow us to see the brilliant show was a blessing we are very thankful for!

October 15 - 15 miles in the kayak

2011-10-16T12:35:00.000-05:00

Time is running out...that all I could think on Friday night as one of the items on my before-winter-to-do-list was to kayak from Clearwater down to Monti. After talking Melinda into getting up at a semi-reasonable time on a Saturday morning with all the kids gone wasn't met with much resistance so a little before 9 am I loaded the kayak onto the truck and she dropped me off at the Clearwater landing just a little before 10 am. I am too chicken to bring one of the good cams with me so outside of the first shot Melinda took with her phone, the rest were taken using my old Sony DSC-H1 Cybershot.

The weather wasn't too bad. When we left home, it had warmed from 40° to about 50° but the northwest wind gusting to near 20 mph definitely had a bite to it. The positive was I would be traveling southeast so it would help push me along. The negative was the sun is getting pretty low on the horizon now so I was paddling into the sun most of the trip.

My view for almost the next four hours. The water was down pretty good and in a few of the wider spots I had to be careful not to get hung up on gravel or sand bars and periodically had to dodge huge granite boulders just under the surface.

Juvenile bald eagle. Looking at the beak, I'm assuming he was from this year's hatch.

This osprey was trying to head up river to the northwest. With the strong headwind, he wasn't making very good time.

Eagle nest a few miles downstream from Clearwater. If I was a squirrel, I would definitely pick a different place for my nest.

I am no good at gull identification. So, here is a shot of a "gull".

One of the mature eagles who watched my slide silently past.

This is rather odd. Looks like someone has been putting out deer carcasses for the animals.

Look at how intact the rib cage is (and on top of the rest of the carcass?). I have no issue with people doing this as long as they are POSITIVE the deer carcass is lead-fee. It only takes a bullet or slug fragment the size of a piece of pencil lead to kill a bald eagle.

An eagle very close to the deer carcass.

Deer on the riverbank just upstream for Monticello.

Pretty crazy as you pass the water discharge from the cooling ponds at the Monti nuke plant. All of a sudden the northwest wind felt a lot warmer...but I didn't see any two-headed fish.

So, the count for the day was 16 bald eagles, 1 osprey, 3 redtail hawks,and 2 deer. Anyhow, Melinda met me at the Montisippi Park access point 15 miles later.
The trip may not be the Kenai, but the only other people I saw were two guys and a Siberian husky who stopped on a sand bar to rest. A perfect trip as far as I'm concerned.

Last "summer" hike of the year? and Buffalo Stars and Stirrups October 8th show

2011-10-13T22:10:00.001-05:00

Didn't do a lot of shooting this past weekend and the kids had a horse event which I was quite content just to observe. The Buffalo Stars and Stirrups Saddle Club had a new photographer at this event, Al Braunworth. I have seen Al at some other horse events and had seen some of his work before. Good stuff. He is a super nice guy and very approachable. One thing I like about Al's style is he shoots a more candid / journalistic style than the stuffy one location only like the previous photog did. Be sure to check out Al's site HERE!

Anyhow, here are a few of mine from a half-assed attempt:

Jessica Beckers on Penny

Maddie Day on Brandi

Bridget Anderson on Atti

Tuesday looked to be the last of the really warm days and was also the Hunters Moon. I wanted a telephoto shot of one of the eagle's nests with the moon behind it for an upcoming contest and thought I had it all figured out....maybe not.

Whoops! Slight miscalculation. By the time I realized my error it was too late to adjust. Needless to say I will not be entering that particular contest.

One the way out to the location, I snapped off this shot of one of Sherburne county's finest:

Bad cop. No donut. I also award you no points for what is quite possibly the worst hiding job ever. Had he been driving a smart car, maybe.

Anyhow, after the moon fail, here are some other shots since I had time while hiking out and getting chased by swarms of biting gnats.

...and a couple of orphan shots from Sunday when Melinda, Cailyn, and myself went on a short hike to gather some leaves and birch bark to share with her class.

Nothing huge on the schedule coming up. This weekend looks to be quiet but the following weekend of the 21st may make a trip up to the International Wolf Center in Ely for some fish in a barrel shooting. Will also take a stab at some of their wild brothers and sisters roaming Itasca county.

Annual trip into the BWCAW and Superior National Forest

2011-10-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

The 93,000 acre Pagami Creek Wildfire decided to take a rest so we headed up into Lake and Cook counties on our annual wilderness trip. Everyone should take a few days each year to enjoy the true peace of the wilderness. We get so caught up in the day to day routine we call "our life", we forget what it is like to just stop and breathe. The days we spend on this trip each year do more to heal the soul than anything else I can think of.

Full set of images HERE.

This annual trip just reinforces my goal to one day live on the edge of the Alaskan bush.

BIOMN VIII....the 2011 video. Coming late fall!

2011-09-20T22:29:00.000-05:00

Time to buckle down and finish up the 2011 video "Bring It On Mother Nature VIII" known as BIOMN VIII. About an hours worth of wild weather and breathtaking beauty from the northern and central plains! Destructive tornadoes, sculpted supercells, livid lightning, eagles, wolves and auroras! One thing I am realizing is I spend way too much time thinking photo when I should shoot video first and stills second. Note to self for 2012...back to the basics.

Pagami Creek Wildfire, R is for RACE, fog and TWISTED METAL!!!

2011-09-18T09:56:00.005-05:00

Weeeee, the debate continues on if the USFS did the right thing in not quelling the Pagami Creek wildfire sooner. Yes, it was in the BWCA to start with but where was the common sense in asking the question "if"? "If" as is if the fire jumps out of the wilderness and into the private areas? Um, one word: "drought". Not even taking the '99 blowdown area into account (which still might go up like a 370,000 acre book of matches this time), the arrowhead (northeast) area of Minnesota has been in a pretty significant drought. Lots of fuel on both sides of the BWCAW line up there. Bottom line is the fire fanned by winds gusting to 40 with a line of weak thunderstorms and associated cold front let the fire make a 16 mile run and got well out of the wilderness area. Huh, now the USFS decided to bring in Type II and Type I teams to help get this nearly 100,000 acre OOPS back under control.

Here is the fire as of 9-17-11. The red line outlines the fire area. The blue line indicates the route we take in each September or October to access the BWCAW. The bright green dots date the following three photos taken last year from left to right.

All three of these areas are nothing more more blackened earth with the charred remains of the trees pointing skyward. The middle shot is of the Pow Wow Trail. The fire was so hot and intense it burned off what little "topsoil" they have and left nothing but bare rock. It will take decades for enough material to once again accumulate (maybe never) to allow conifers to take root again.

I am a HUGE proponent of letting the fires burn under a controlled environment or the use of controlled burns. I worked for the USFWS in high school and totally understand the need for fire to clean the landscape. One thing which I find extremely irritating is the ignorance of the tree huggers who think the BWCAW needs to be preserved in it's current state FOREVER. Um, how do you think it got to be the way it is? I personally am fascinated by the way the landscape reshapes after a fire.

So my point is fire is good as long as it can be controlled and managed. The USFS should have acted quicker and had a "what if" plan in place. Since lightning started the fire back in August, they had plenty of time to think this through. Or are the people in charge incompetent? Relying solely on a computer model to tell you how the fire is going to act is sheer stupidity. What if chasers only went by model data and not real time data? Oh yeah, some do....

I will be up there in less than two weeks. Looks like there may be a prolonged period of south winds which is good for our annual trip, but bad for the firefighter as those warm southerly breezes will drive the fire north/northeast towards the worst of the blowdown area.

Onto other news. Our first real hard frost of the year has already occurred with a temp of 29.9° coming this past Thursday morning. On Monday is was 90°. The season of transition is upon us. Good news is historically we have a wonderful Indian Summer after an early freeze so hopefully there will be many beautiful fall days ahead.

With the cooler mornings comes fog in the low areas. Here is a handful of shots from the weekend of September 10th.

Can you find the three ghosts in the image above? Melinda and the kids joined me for a moonlight hike while out looking for fog and auroras.

Birthday Bash 2011. Prior to enjoying dinner at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate Melinda and Cullen traveling around the sun again and Cailyn and myself reaping the chaser reward of a success tornado chase season, we stopped by Stockholm Motorsports Park in Cokato to let Melinda and Cullen get in a few laps on their super fast go karts. These are not the carts you see at the mini golf amusement centers! Cullen came out as the victor but both of them has a good time with Melinda getting to experience something new.

Here is a little video I made shot in a "reality show" format...lol

..and rounding out this entry are a few shots from the 2011 Buffalo Demo Derby put on by the Buffalo Saddle Club. MUCH better this year and back on par with what we have come to expect after a dismal and very disappointing 2010 show.

"CARnage"

"TWISTED METAL"

"Final Showdown"

The weather is not going to cooperate today to get out and shoot at all but we really need any rain we can get. Hopefully next weekend I can get out locally before heading into the wilderness for a few days the week after. That time can't get here soon enough.

Shots from the weekend and thoughts of fall / the 2011 chase season

2011-09-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

Yup, it was going to happen sooner or later. The first frost advisory of the year on Saturday night with clear skies, calm winds and dry air.

Looking at the long range models, I feel pretty confident our chase season is over (less IA amd NE). 2011 seems like it left a lot of unfinished business. Yes, there were some good days, most notably April 9, June 20 and July 17. It just never seemed like there was that one big day which made the season. Maybe it was the way 2010 ended with the Wilkin county EF4? April 9th was surreal. It was at night. I remember sending Dick McGowan a text something of the effect of the rest of 2011 can suck for all I care. It almost did. Had all those torns occurred during daylight, the reality of it would have set in. Every imaginable shape of torn from rope to multi vortex to wedge....all within the span of a few hours. The Pocahontas wedge was the largest tornado I have even seen. It's too bad DSM never definitively settled in on a max width as I am sure it would have rivaled Greensburg, Hallam, and Macksville. June 20th had it's moments. Having three torns on the ground at the same time was incredible. Looking back I should have set the DSLR down and just shot video this day. For such a good tornado day, I only have mediocre results to show for it. July 17....the Berlin, ND EF3. This should have been the day to make the season. For as beastly of a supercell that produced the violent tornado and to be just a few minutes in front of the torn but never getting to see it left a really bad taste in my mouth. Could I have done anything differently? Yes and no. I was conservative due to the poor road conditions out there but I could have easily held my ground in Berlin a few more minutes as the tornado was less than 3 miles away coming right at me behind a rain curtain. Frustrating...

An oddity to the 2011 season was the lack of a severe weather event in eastern MN during the state fair. We usually have one but this year drew a blank. Thursday the 1st of September was the only real chance....until this happened:

After the horrific events at the Indiana state fair, I guess having nothing happen is a good thing. As storm chasers, we need to keep in mind our obsession is most peoples worst fear.

Onto the shots from this weekend!

I'm still working on getting the hang of star trails down. I think I have the mechanical end of it. Just need to work on getting some interesting foregrounds in place.

So September is here. This means it is the beginning of my hiking / outdoor season which will soon turn to snowshoes on frozen ice.

A favorite trail is like seeing on old friend. I'm anxious to catch up on news and see what has changed since the last time we met.

A pair of helldivers skim over the calm waters of early morning.

One fisherman standing the in the water.

Another in a tree.

A trio of sandhill cranes pass high overhead.

One of the last blooms of the year.

The monarch butterfly migration is underway. Probably saw 200-300 today. By far the most I have seen in a single day in many, many years.

In about 3 weeks Melinda and I will make our annual trek into the wilderness of northern Minnesota.

With views like this, it will be easy to think back and further reflect on 2011.

Shots From The Weekend and HERE COME THE IRENE PHOTOS!

2011-08-28T11:24:00.001-05:00

Sooooo....already starting to see pics from the upper mid west and plains being labeled as hurricane Irene shots. I just cannot get over how gullible and flat out stupid some people are.

A good way to vent is via Photoshop so a few layers later I put this image together and posted on my FB page as: "WHOA....check out this picture my sister's friend's cousin's ex baby daddy's momma's parole officer took of Irene making landfall in North Carolina yesterday morning." I hope it opens some people's eyes to be a little more critical than being so blind and on auto-pilot.

We had a sudden death in the family this past week which required the family to gather up in Grand Rapids on short notice. While the mood was very somber, I did monkey around with the stars on Friday night. Slowly but surely I'll have the art of star trails figured out.

Instead of pointing north, I tried looking south to see what the Milky Way would do. The end result? Meh...

Notice there is one frame missing in the star trails? The image above is 26 30s shots. This is the missing frame:

The kids were heading in to the house and did not see me in the dark. So as they passed the front of the garage, I yipped like a coyote and within a second Jessica was on a dead run for the house! Note the blue streaks from her LED flashlight in the bottom right corner. You can see where she actually jumped! Anyhow, she flew into the house and immediately turned on the outside light which screwed up that frame but oh well, it was funny.

The moonless night sky of northern MN.

One shot showing how brilliant the Milky Way can be once you get away from light pollution.

Honey the Labrador and my mom sitting on the front deck at Bruce and Sandy's.

One more of the dogs taking a break.

Weather horizon looks pretty quiet again (still). Some moisture and instability works its way in toward the end of the week but doesn't look too impressive but it is something to watch at least.

Storm damage from August 23rd

2011-08-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

A morning bow echo coming out of the Dakotas intensified as it came over our town about 5 am producing a 63 mph wind gust and doing some minor tree and roof damage.

Although the T/Td report is wrong, the airport AWOS had the same max wind gust as what the home weather station recorded at 09:58Z. I should have grabbed a vid cam and sat on the front steps out of the wind. It was actually pretty impressive for being only 63 mph.

My daughter jumped in with me just as it was getting light enough to shoot. Lots of new tree damage from the Sundance Ridge development to the east shore of Buffalo Lake and as far north as the south end of Lake Pulaski.

One of the neighbors trampoline ended up in our back yard from about 300 feet away. Somehow this giant frisbee missed several houses and a swimming pool before creating a good sized divot in the yard. I did clip the next door neighbors fence bending a post and breaking a couple of brackets.

Lucky....just missed the back window. The inflatable pool wrapped around it came from 4 or 5 houses away and had to go over the tops of the houses to get there. What is weird is it needed to go northeast also.

Finally a little shingle damage about 6 houses down to the east.

Still nothing impressive on the storm horizon. I have family obligations through the weekend and that will pretty much get us into September. The last two late seasons have been quiet up here so I'm betting on a couple of good days before the frost comes.

Summer doldrums and shots from the weekend

2011-08-21T19:27:00.006-05:00

Pretty lame weather pattern we are stuck in as the northern severe weather season winds down. Have had a few days with good instability but those days were lacking a good trigger. If we get 2 or 3 decent chase days yet this year, I'll be shocked.

It's been so quiet, I've decided to produce a 2011 highlights vid. This is pretty much going to be trade bait as out of the dozen or so tornadoes I scored this year, only a couple were of the high end quality I strive for. Of course if you like night time torns, the April 9th segment will make it worth your time to hit me up for a trade. At some point I'll put together a 30-45 second trailer and post it here.

Had a really full schedule this weekend as Melinda and I combine the two houses into one. The plan is to live in the house in town until we can get a place with enough acreage for the horses. We'll keep the house in town and use it as a rental property until we move back out into the country. The lake place was fun, but not realistic for the long term. I very much believe in a higher power looking over us and this temporary consolidation is part of something bigger in the future for us...hopefully in 12-18 months.

Here are some recent shots from late last week through Saturday morning. Hopefully I will get out to shoot more on the weekends once our house merger is complete. Kind of sad as I sat on the dock the other evening knowing these images will soon be filed into a closed chapter of our lives.

Morning commute with sunrise fog.

One of the last views down the dock.

Early morning fisherman.

I have also messed around with the html code on here so I can post some higher res shots. These are 900x600. I use images 1200 pixels wide on my website but I think that would be overkill for a blog. Comments?

Selling 2 of my vid cams! Sony PD170 and Sony VX2100!!

2011-08-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

FOR SALE! $2200 for the pair or $1200 each. Sony PD170 and Sony VX2100. Both shoot broadcast quality SD video in 4:3 or 16:9. Hands down the best low light cams still available with a true 0 lux rating. Both work flawlessly. Well cared for and low hours on the heads. Big batteries, charger, extra small battery included!

The hot topic other than lightbars.....NOOBS VS THE VETERAN CHASERS!!!

2011-08-11T20:52:00.005-05:00

So I had this huge 1000+ word post on this subject saved as a draft for a couple of days but decided to junk it. Why? It was too negative. Even for me.

There seems to be a lot of confusion and discussion about what qualifies a chaser as a veteran at some point. How about instead we look at what triggers this alleged right of passage?

The root in no longer being a noob lies not with the quantity but more so with the quality. There are noob spotters and chasers who claim to have decades of field experience but for some reason have nothing to show to back up their claims. Not surprising really. Success is measured as a comparison to your peers. It applies in sports, business and yes, chasing. Tornado counts drive me nuts and I don't think is a true measure of a chasers ability. OK, listening closely now? I determine a chaser to be successful by the number of times they can CONSISTENTLY get on the best storm of the day. If it produces a tornado, great. If it doesn't but is was still the best storm to be on, they get a gold star for the day in my book. I'm not talking about the fleas and leeches who need Spotter Network to get to the storm by following chasers who are consistently successful. Whoops, I just let the secret out of when a noob transitions to being no long being a noob. Not necessarily a vet, but no longer a noob. BE CONSISTENT!! How does one get to be consistent? BY MAKING GOOD DECISIONS ON A (wait for it...) CONSISTENT BASIS. Everything from forecast, to driving responsibly, to documenting what you observed. Good decisions on every facet.

This leads into the next part of the transition. Respect. As much as the entitlement generation hates to hear this, respect is earned and not given. The chaser subculture is very close knit and is quick to smell a fraud. Some of you reading this have been chastised and ostracized for doing just this. What you do one time can tarnish your reputation and creditability for years. Right? My advice is to keep you mouth shut, read more, chase as much as possible, and let your consistent successes speak for you. The respect will follow.

So to keep on the path where this is all going in relation to crossing over to being a veteran chaser, I think the transition lies in this: respect from your peers. At some point, the chaser subculture will no longer see you as an annoyance. They will come to expect success from your efforts on a CONSISTENT (there is was again) basis. It may take years (especially depending on what that first impression was), but keep plugging away at it. In the mean time, stop the "I'm not a noob!" whining. It costs you about a year of additional noob time for every occurrence in my book.

Change...for the better? Is the northern plains season over?

2011-08-08T18:23:00.001-05:00

Well, after being locked in a pattern up here which saw dew point records being broken like Judas Priest albums at a subliminal messaging trial, relief is only a few hours away.

This is the first real "cold front" we have seen since June. As the southern and central plains cooked under a dome of brutally hot air, that heat combined with our usual evapotranspiration to fuel some really nice storms during that stretch on the edge of the ridge. Not much for tornadoes, but cool storms at least (which I am fine with).

The NAM will bring in a string of days which will finally be conducive to working outdoors with getting dehydrated and being able to sleep at night with the windows open. My air conditioner is also looking forward to the time off.

Is this the end of the northern plains chase season? I don't think so. I simply see it as a return to a more normal pattern where low pressure centers, warm fronts, cold fronts and triple point plays will once again come back into reality.

In the mean time for you non-believers:

August 6th 2011 Central MN Severe Storms / another day with a moron driver

2011-08-07T20:40:00.000-05:00

Full chase recap can be seen HERE

Started out up in Stearns county on a severe warned cell. It produced the oddest shear funnel I think I have ever seen. Almost horizontal and pointing in the direction the storm was traveling. Weird.

Headed south to Dassel, MN in Meeker county and cell hopped for a bit before settling on one which eventually went severe in northwest McLeod county. It really didn't do anything interesting but had some cool structure from time to time. Decided to let the core overtake me in Norwood / Young America in Carver county and as soon as it got there, it almost totally died. Somehow I think fellow TVN chaser Jacob Thumberger had something to do with it! Anyhow dumped the storm and decided to head home but it cycled again off to the southeast. Looked amazing with the mammatus and clear skies.

It put on a fantastic lightning show. The mosquitoes were vicious so after 30 minutes, a lot of swatting, and some blood loss, called it quits and headed home.

OK, now on to the issue in McLeod county. As I was heading south on the west side of the storm towards Hutchinson to get hack east into the inflow area (or at least up against the back side of the action area), I had some guy in a black Acura come flying up behind me (hard to mistake the headlights on an Acura BTW) on CR9. I was getting annoyed by how close he was following me but he signaled to turn east on CR 18. Once I pulled out from the stop sign to head south, he started to turn east then suddenly corrected to head south and was right back on my butt. At this point I pulled over to the shoulder so he could pass but instead he put down his passenger window. So I did what I usually do in a situation like this. I waited for him to stop then backed about about 20 feet. He took the hint and zoomed off to the south. So, I made my way down to Hutch with the idea of hopping on 7 to go east. Decided avoiding town would be a better idea so thought I would head east on CR79. As I was waiting my turn to go through the roundabout on highway 15 on the north side of town, here came the Acura again from the north and also headed east on 79. In front of him was a white passenger van pulling a Scamp camper trailer. While we were still in town (traveling the posted 30 mph) the Acura floors in and passes the van pulling the camper in a no passing zone. Wish I would have had my dash cam in as I GUARANTY you the video would be posted here.

So my point again is WHY??? Light bars, pointless traffic risks, disregard for everyone's safety but your own...when is going to stop? I'm all for a new breed of aggressive chaser in a post-Doswell era, but come on. Be smart about it.

August 5th 2011 Minnesota Aurora / Northern Lights

2011-08-06T18:50:00.000-05:00

Ran up to Nisswa, MN last night to see what the CME impact would trigger. Ended up being the best northern lights show I've seen since December 14th, 2006!

COMPLETE SET OF IMAGES CAN BE SEE HERE!

The only down side to this night was I was going to stream it live. Had the mega fire-wire, the VX2100 down to 4 fps and shooting the aperture wide open but the aurora was not quite bright enough. Maybe the next one.

Noobs and Lightbars Rant! & July 30 2011 Tornado Warned Supercell: Ottertail/Todd/Stearns Counties MN

2011-07-31T18:53:00.000-05:00

Fun chase....at least in terms of getting some quality shots to make up for the 26th. No definite tornado, but some cool structure. Tough call sitting in Osakis, MN trying to decide to take the struggling cell to the west along the best instability or take the cell to the north in the better winds. Took the northern cell and sure enough, while the north cell sustained, the west cell tornadoed (then died). For the most part it was pretty messy but it had it's moments. The lack of good surface flow severely limited the tornado chances.

FULL CHASE ACCOUNT HERE

RANT TIME PEOPLE!!!

...and a word to the noobs: Get rid of the lightbars. You look like a tool. Listen to the advice of someone who has been chasing likely longer than you have been alive. Law enforcement isn't very high on chasers in the first place and as a much as you would like to think you are "official", you're not. SKYWARN sure as heck doesn't make you official either so quit pretending before you piss off someone up high enough and the rest of us suffer.

July 26 2011 Hoven, SD tornado

2011-07-29T23:08:00.000-05:00

Not even sure why I am posting this one. I only shot about 3 minutes of video and took 8 stills the entire day...only one of which was the Hoven, SD tornado forming over head and about a minute of video of a funnel cloud near Groton, SD. Most of it is crap but here it is anyhow.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL CHASE ACCOUNT

This is the Hoven, SD tornado forming overhead. It touched down initially about 100 feet away to my north. That was a little unnerving.

Adam Lucio and Danny Neal were south of Hoven and got a much better view. Adam sent me this frame of his video as I passed him going south. I really thought this storm was going to put down a nice tube so I wanted to get south and east for a better view. In hindsight, I should have just backed off to the west a few hundred yards and would have had a good view. Outside of the initial ground contact, I missed the best part. Be sure to check out Adam's photos and video HERE and Danny's video HERE.

Once I got east of Aberdeen, SD near Groton on highway 12, it again tried to plant a tornado but it only produced this funnel cloud which was witnessed by many chasers on both sides. Always funny how much shorter they appear when looking up as compared to out at them.

July 23 2011...what could have been

2011-07-24T14:49:00.001-05:00

So much for hoping of a miraculous atmospheric recovery after the morning bow pushed an outflow boundary all the way south into northern IA. With all of the days of model excitement and hype showing a strong warm front draped across central Minnesota, it was dashed in a few minutes as I sat on the deck Saturday morning and felt a 50 mph wind gust slap me in the face out of the north. In a matter of seconds, the best tornado potential day up here this year was gone. Game over.

Once everything cleared out, elevated storms re-fired over central MN in the early afternoon.

If you look closely right at the horizon in this shot, you can see the cold front approaching from the northwest.

The hail core cometh... Hung around northwest of Paynesville, MN for a little while watching the super high bases pass by to the east. The hail was not large enough to meet the severe threshold as far as we were aware.

Headed south to where the outflow boundary was lifting back north as a pseudo warm front but there was ZERO surface winds. Near dead calm. Stopped in New Ulm, MN for a bit and watched as the cold front crept closer and closer. Hermann the German is one of the attraction in town.

Headed home about the time the cold front caught back up to us. Despite obvious surface convergence on visible satellite imagery, I had seen enough. Just as we crossed back over the Minnesota River, the convergence finally overcame the cap near Windom, MN. I had very low confidence in anything severe would become of it so just kept heading north and home. I wished I would have stopped near Norwood / Young America, MN as we crossed another outflow boundary which was also experiencing convergence from the cold front butting up against it. Looked reaaly cool with a long line of striations from east to west looking south. Oh well, at the time I was not a big fan out outflow boundaries.

July 17 2011 - 3 tornado warned supercells

2011-07-18T20:31:00.000-05:00

Not too often you can leave an hour after a tornadic sup goes up early enough in the day where you can drive 3 hours to intercept, chase it for a couple of hours until it dies, then go after 2 more warned sups, dodge an EF3, and still be on the road home before the sun hits the horizon.

FULL CHASE ACCOUNT HERE

July 10 2011 Severe storms in South Dakota and Minnesota - 125 mph winds!

2011-07-13T20:36:00.000-05:00

Chase recap from my semi-botched chase from north of Bowdle, SD back to Renville, MN can be seen on the website be clicking here! Initiation earlier and further west than anticipated and an insane forward speed with the ensuing line of linear storms.

The counties just north of me got HAMMERED. Check out the public information statement from the National Weather Service in Bismarck, ND HERE!! Getting out of the path of a tornado is easy as compared to dealing with a wide swath of 125 mph straight line winds!!

My friend, Eric Whitehill, shot some damage video from Ashley, ND over to Ellendale, ND. Click here for Eric's video.

The only interesting thing after the bow was the notch in the line near Milbank, SD which prompted a tornado warning. Much more detailed info regarding this part of the chase on the website.

When storms and eagles collide....painful to see and hear

2011-07-06T23:04:00.004-05:00

As most of you know, things I love are Melinda, the kids, my family, eagles, and storms that could potentially kill me. Sometimes the last two don't mix.

I know some of you who read this blog like to see the pictures and stories of the pairs of bald eagles who nest each year near my home in central Minnesota.

This late winter and spring, we got to watch one of the year round resident pairs build a brand new nest very near the road on the west side of Lake Constance just outside of Buffalo, MN. This pair has nested for at least the past 5 years in the same general vicinity, picking a spot with a good view of lake. The fun with this pair started out in the late winter as they stole fish off the ice from inattentive fisherman. It made for some interesting photos and also confused the heck out of the non-locals who were not aware of these specialized fish connoisseurs (but I have seen them carrying rabbits, squirrels, and even a snake back for dinner).

This pair worked together long and hard to build this new nest for raising their young.

It was funny to watch the male carry in nesting material and carefully lay it in just the right place...only to have the female move it to where she wanted as soon as he would leave to fetch more.

Eventually the nest was done and the female was sitting on an egg(s).

Fast forward to about 6 weeks ago. Cullen and I drove by just to see how things were going and were happy to see the heads of two little fuzzballs poking up from inside the bowl of the nest. Both looked to be healthy and strong. I felt confident they would both survive as their parents were not new to the whole raising eaglets concept.

About a week ago, Cullen and I again drove by and both eaglets were standing on the bowl of the nest about 2/3 of the size of their father (the smaller adult), with one just a little smaller than their sibling. I made the comment that one morning with a good southeast breeze we should come over and take some shots of the eaglets catching the wind in their wings as they would fledge very soon. My plan was to do this the weekend just before the 4th of July.

Then came July 1st.

The worst wind event in many years came rolling out of southwestern Minnesota knocking down tens of thousands of trees in a path of destruction from southwest to the northeast. The eagle nest was directly in the path of the bowing line of storms.

On the morning of July 2nd, Cullen and I decided to see how the eagles had fared with winds gusting over 70 miles per hour. As strong as their nests are built, this one was not real protected and was in a dead tree. I was worried.

As we rounded the corner near Mike Paripovich's horse ranch, my heart sank. The nest was no longer there.

In fact the entire tree was missing! My first thought was the tree, nest, and it's two young occupants had gone into the water. I felt just sick. Upon closer inspection, it was evident it had gone down into the grass. In one of the other dead trees to the north sat the female. Alone. No sign of the male or either of the eaglets. My heart sank at the sight of this mother eagle, hanging close to what she knows, sat wondering what to do now. I was convinced the male and the eaglets had perished in the collapse and ensuing impact of the nest hitting the earth.

Yesterday, Cullen and I decided to drive by once again to see what was going on and if by a small miracle, the male was back in the area. "What is that???", I said to Cullen as we came around the corner. There perched on the branch of the "feeding tree" we saw a clump of brown feather hunched over leaning into the breeze about 40 feet off the ground! It was one of the eaglets! HOLY MOLY! I reached for the phone to call Melinda and let her know of the good news and to also call the biggest eagle fan I know....my mom! Both were relived to hear one of the babies was still alive. Despite the joy of seeing the eaglet, I was still saddened by the fact the sibling was no where to be seen. Soon the female soared overhead carrying a fish in her talons and landed on the same branch as the eaglet! She carefully ripped off pieces and handed them to the eaglet with great care as not to drop anything. Yup, life is good again. One eaglet is better than none.

Tonight I decided I would grab the big lens and a tripod and see if I could get lucky enough to see the female carrying food back to her baby. I parked at the public access and gave Melinda a call to let her know what I was up to. I remarked maybe my presence would get one of the neighbors curious enough to come talk to me and open a conversion opportunity to find out what they had seen. As I was walking along the road, I saw the man who lives just north of the nest walking out to his shed. I walked up and introduced myself and asked it he had been watching the eagles this year. He said his name was Mike Lee and yes, he and his wife had been paying close attention to the eagles and what had happened on Friday. He also said both eaglets were alive. Huh??? Really??? Evidently one of the other neighbors had donned a pair of waders and gone into the grass on a search and rescue mission of sorts. He had located both eaglets and knew for a fact both parents were still alive. He actually called the University of Minnesota Raptor Center for advice on what to do. They advised to do nothing. Even on the ground, the parents would still care for their young! According to Mike, the one eaglet up in the tree was able to fly very short distances and had basically worked his way up from the ground, limb by limb, to where it was now. The other eaglet, which was a little smaller, was still on the ground but would hop from dead limb to dead limb in the tall grass. I thanked Mike and his wife for the info and continued down the road to the nest. This is what I saw:

Both parents and the one eaglet. It was hard to sit there a few hundred feet away and listen to the lonely cries of the one eaglet still on the ground beneath them. Hidden from view by the tall grass, but very vocal, and obviously very much wanting to be up in the tree with it's family.

As I stood there taking pics this evening, I had three different people stop in their vehicles and tell me how much they missed seeing the nest. These weren't people who lived on the road. These were people who went out of their way to take a few minutes to enjoy the beauty of the national bird...right at their doorstep so to speak on a regular basis. One gentleman even wanted to know how badly the nest bowl was damaged and if it could be raised into another tree close by via helicopter. If only nature was that simple.

So in the era of webcams broadcasting the life cycle all over the world (as in the Decorah, Iowa eagles), I was reminded of how nature really works. In my world, I would like every eagle egg to hatch and in three years afford me the opportunity to snap photos of a beautiful, white headed eagle soaring over me against a bright blue winter sky. It doesn't work that way. Stuff happens. As tough and smart as eagles are, sometimes things don't work out and some don't survive. With all the internet attention and in some cases human intervention in the name of preserving wildlife (referring to two instances where eaglets were either rescued or relocated live on the internet this nesting season), we need to remember nature takes care of it's own. As much as Walt Disney has tried to make us believe humans and animals are on the same level, the realistic fact is we are not.

However, as I sit at my laptop typing out this rambling blog entry, I know of one eaglet who is sitting in the tall, dark grass tonight I am rooting for. Hopefully a steady diet of fish will give it the strength (and flight feathers) to rejoin it's family in the branches above very, very soon.

July 1 2011 Massive central Minnesota high wind event!

2011-07-02T09:51:00.000-05:00

A weak cold front with a subtle short wave riding up sets off a nice little supercell which dropped 4"+ hail, then a bow which crippled the central Minnesota power grid, and finally a wide swath of 50-70+ mph outflow winds on the back side which really stirred up the local lakes!

Complete chase summary can be found HERE!

Video frame of the waves pounding downtown Buffalo, MN

June 20th 2011 Nebraska tornadoes!

2011-06-23T18:04:00.002-05:00

Here is a very short compilation of the tornadoes we saw out in York, Hamilton, and Polk counties.

The complete set of images and the watered down chase log can be found HERE.

This was a great lesson in always leave early and be prepared to adjust the initial target en-route as conditions changed. The only surprising thing about this day was how little the the surface features moved. Everything moves slower during the daytime in June and accelerates at night but this was ridiculous.

My long-time chase partner and photography mentor, David Drufke, and his wife, Kristen, were with on this trip as we initially targeted Norfolk, NE. Upon arriving in Norfolk we never slowed down as the Hastings, NE NWS radar showed a ridiculous BR return clearly showing the arcing warm front with the arcing dry line just south of it wrapping into the surface low just to the west. Got to Columbus and dropped southwest on the south side of the Platte as storms began to fire in earnest. As we dropped straight south towards Aurora, I made the comment to David the strategy of going straight at the developing cells was going to work as the east-west adjustment to pick the dominant supercell (usually on the east side of the arc in my experience) was going to be a cinch. A little hail-ridden, but still easy. As we neared Aurora, one cell had the VIL spike and it was go time so east on 34 to 4 miles east of Hampton and 4 miles south just north of I-80 it was show time:

Looking south/southwest from out position 4E/4S of Hampton. I have no idea if this really touched down or not. Some chasers on I 80 said it did but I know for sure this is NOT the start of the Hamilton county EF2 as it totally dissipated, formed another ropey funnel (image on the website) then produced the 1/4 wide torn.

Partially wrapped in rain and hail, this IS the Hamilton county EF2 as we flanked it to our west about a mile north of Hampton going north on the east side of town.

As we pulled over to let the big torn cross the road in front of us, I kept telling Kristen to watch to the south of us. As we took a pretty decent RFD blast from the EF2, I looked back over my shoulder to see the Bradshaw torn touch down (image above). This was an EF2 also. As we watched the torn to make sure it wasn't going to curl back to the northwest towards the surface low, I looked back north at the 1/4 mile wide Hampton tornado which was moving north away from us and dissipating when I saw this:

A white rope coming out the back side of the cell to the west/south west of the larger torn. So, at this time, there are 3 tornadoes on the ground at the same time we can see from our position here:

The rope dissipated quickly so we went after the Bradshaw torn which now roping out. The cell cycled and this torn eventually go on to be a very nice EF3 stovepipe which unfortunately went on to produce damage just east of the town of Polk, NE. We passed by a farmstead where the top half of the residence was sheared off. There was no EM on scene yet but it looked like there were a lot of neighbors on scene already so we continued on, snaking our way up towards Osceola and Silver Creek where we broke off the storm as it went outflow dominant. Back through Columbus and up to Sioux City for something to eat then a 5 hour drive in a power wash as the arc of convection made it's way into Minnesota and home. About 1000 miles and up for 24 straight hours, but totally worth it!

June 9th major bust...but a weak aurora helped ease the pain

2011-06-09T22:35:00.000-05:00

I was bullish on the set up for June 9th as a surface low lift out of South Dakota, across south east North Dakota and eventually into northwest Minnesota. I liked the fact the surface low was progged to deepen throughout the day but was very skeptical about the cap. It was one of those days if you rolled the dice and the cap did break on the triple point, you looked like a genius. If not, you came home with a sunburn and nothing else to show for your efforts.

I ran into the office for a bit the morning of the 9th with a target of somewhere in the triangle from East Grand Forks, over to Crookston, up to Thief River Falls and back to East Grand as my hot zone to start out. As I headed up I94 to Fargo, ND and up I29 to Grand Forks, I was shocked to see how fast the temps were soaring in the warm sector and how strong the surface winds were. As I was about 30 miles out of Fargo, I saw the writing on the wall and should have called the chase off. The surface dew points in the warm sector started to drop in the area east of the cold front and south of the warm front. Yup, the hot air and strong surface wind was mixing out the low level moisture. Across eastern Minnesota the dews were a little better and a narrow ribbon of better moisture was trying to wrap back in to the 996mb surface low to my west so I continued on. As I headed north up I29, the warm front settled just south of Grand Forks. The air temp had risen to 93° in Fargo with south/southeast winds and Grand Forks sat at 72° with northeast winds. Shooting fish in a barrel...if the cap broke. Stopped in Grand Forks at my favorite sandwich/taco place, The Red Pepper, and mulled over data and decided to head over to Crookston to wait out the cap. The low had now deepened to 992mb so there was still hope but the huge temp/dewpoint spread was trouble. The surface dew had now fallen to 58°. Game over for tornadoes but I was at least hoping for an elevated hailer. A slight wind shift put me directly in the path of the stench of the ethanol plant so I decided to move a little east and get into some cleaner air. As I rounded a corner, I was a little surprised to see the TVN crew sitting and waiting also. Small world. Reed was busy in front of the camera so I slipped over to exchange greeting with my pal Dick McGowan. Not often we get time to chat for a few minutes so this worked out well. I get a kick out of people who still look at these guys as being on a pedestal just because of the show and the Domninator (D2 now). Anyhow, shot the bull with Dick and watched a camera toting tour group snap pics from a distance of Reed, C Dub, and D2 while curious locals drove past. About the time Dick and I both agreed the day was done, Reed gave the command to head out. One last handshake and the day was done.

A shot of the TVN crew as we headed back down 75 on the Minnesota side of the Red River towards Moorhead, MN and Fargo, ND.

Another thing about today which really annoyed me was the upper low which was dragging well behind the surface low but at 500mb had set off some storms in a weak instability environment in south central ND. Well out of striking range and as they moved east into the warmer and mixed out air, they would surely die. So as the TVN guys headed to Fargo, I headed east towards home with the intention of stopping at mom's in Fergus Falls for dinner. About this time, Doug Kiesling called to let me know about a solar flare that had occurred earlier and the possibility of an aurora that night. While eating dinner and watching the space weather conditions, the cells in North Dakota were heading east with one having a tornado warning on it. Mom and I headed out to a high spot west of Rothsay, MN to take a look at the cell from a distance of about 90 miles.

The cells was not impressive at all but looked kind of cool with the red tinted sky due to the smoke from the Arizona wildfire which had worked it's way all the way up here.

At sundown I dropped mom back off at her place and headed down I94 stopping at Osakis, MN to take some test shots. Yup, the aurora was there. Ir was weak and there was quite a bit of moonlight but what the heck. The following shots were all from near Osakis and over to Round Prairie, MN. About the time with moon set at 12:30am the show was over. Not impressive but still eased the sting a little from the chase bust.

Shots from the weekend, osprey success stories, notilucent clouds, aurora bust

2011-06-06T22:52:00.004-05:00

Nothing chase worthy going on this past weekend. A gust of solar wind did set off an aurora. Was out taking some test shots off the deck after sunset and ended up with some noctilucent clouds by accident.

Headed out about 11 pm to the northeast of Santiago, MN with hopes to cirrus shield would break as the aurora was there but low on the horizon and of course the clouds didn't cooperate. Should have just kept driving north to Aitkin or Grand Rapids. Instead I sat in the car waiting to see what would happen. About midnight I decided to close my eyes for a few minutes....yup, 2 hours later I woke up and drove home. This whole need for sleep is really getting to me.

On Sunday Melinda and I went out on nest patrol.

The Lake Constance nest has a pair of eaglets. Was good to see as this was a new nest this year. I wonder if these guys will grow up to be fish stealers like their mom and dad?

Speaking of fish stealers...here is mom keeping an eagle eye on us from a distance.

The real purpose to the day was to check on 4 osprey nesting platforms near our home.

Nest 1 is HUGE now. This nest also has a webcam on it from Wright-Hennepin Electric and can be viewed HERE. Must use Internet Explorer to view and follow the directions for access.

Nest 2 is doing well. Notice the amount of red baling twine in this nest also. Funny how they really like the stuff. Eagles not so much but the ospreys really go for it. Notice it is also in nest one.

Nest 3 appeared to have some serious damage to the platform. I'll take some shots of that one on another day as it is a LONG ways out in a section and there is no chance I can hand-hold a shot for that.

Nest 4 is my favorite. This platform has sat empty since it was put up 2 years ago. Not anymore since this pair of young birds have made it their nesting spot starting this year. Hopefully they successfully raise their young and will come back for many, many years.

A couple of fun shots of the osprey being what they are. Check out those talons!

Also saw this weird red tail morph. Very light colored.

Last but not least was this doe hanging out in the shade on our way home.

When we first saw her, she was standing right on the edge of the slough eating new cattail shoots. We turned around and by the time we got to where we saw her, she was already bedded back down.

Tuesday holds some potential for a chase up in the Grand Forks to Bemidji area. The cap will definitely be a problem as well as the rapid change from the flat land of the Red River valley to the forests of northern Minnesota. Hopefully everything sets up a little south and a lot west. Will check things in the morning again.

May 30th 2011 SD/MD Severe Storms

2011-06-01T19:55:00.000-05:00

The full chase log and images are now available on the website by clicking HERE

The cap on the warm front never broke so had to settle for sloppy seconds as a bow/LEWP came by on it's way to hammer Fargo, ND. Video was shot in Marshall county South Dakota. 4x speed

Also heard and read some reports of tornadoes with this line. I believe all were gustnadoes. My reasoning why are explained on the website.

May 21st 2011 Central MN Mini Supercells & My No Chase Zone

2011-05-26T22:45:00.004-05:00

I wasn't even going to post this given the magnitude of what happened this past week across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Unbelievable. Am I the only one who is starting to feel a little overwhelmed by what mother nature is throwing down? It's getting hard to keep it all straight. Relief resources are nearing exhaustion. Or has it already happened? The financial impact of the tornadoes is staggering. I am sure we will see some the cost passed down to homeowners via higher insurance rates next year. Lastly, the human toll. The lives lost are of course the biggest loss. Over the years I evidently have become rather numb to that aspect of severe weather...until this week. For some reason, the death of 3 year old Ryan Hamil of Piedmont, OK really hit me. Maybe it is the parent in me showing through. Regardless, the impact was made.

On a related note, here is some advice to the noobs running the plains this year. When you stop in a town in tornado alley, keep in mind most everyone living there has had a bad experience with mother nature at some point. Not everyone you run into is going to share your enthusiasm for maybe seeing a tornado close to (or in) that town in a few hours. Be respectful and remember these people may not be excited about the prospect of "explosive development" and "long tracked violent tornadoes". They may be scared as hell. Maybe they had a friend or relative killed or injured in the past. Fair warning...keep things in perspective and always, ALWAYS, keep things on a professional level.

Next rant. I'm not the broadcast media. I'm not the weather service. I'm not the storm prediction center. Seems like a lot of people on FB and a weather forum or two are trying to pass themselves off as such. I'm a chaser. You have access to the same information I do. USE IT. I had an instance this week where a co-worker seemed irritated I didn't take the time to text or call them about the tornado in Minneapolis this past Sunday. IT'S NOT MY JOB!! Pull your head out of your butt and pay attention to the world around you. Most of the NWS WFO's have FB pages now. Maybe a little less time on Angry Birds and little more time on reality is needed. Just sayin'. And while you are at it, pick up a weather radio.

OK, back to the real topics for this entry.

1) My personal NO CHASE ZONE. Chasing in suburbs and urban areas is plain stupid. I don't care if you think you have brass balls and have seen 1,137 tornadoes in your chase career. In 2003 I did it and thanks to John and Jane Public, I could have gotten killed. You can take the best chaser on earth and put him (or her) into a road network where then cannot move at will and cannot see and they are at the mercy of those around them. You think animals get squirrely in bad weather? Take a bunch of urbanites, throw in a scary (or deadly) sky and you have the recipe for chaos and disaster. Overpasses are the least of the worries. Oh, and I firmly believe no responsible chaser would make a choice to attempt this but to each their own. I am far from being the chaser police as I have my own vices and do not claim to live in a glass house. Pretty sure if the worst case scenario plays out and a chaser gets killed, they won't be remembered for being a hero. They will be remembered for making a fatal MISTAKE.

The hatched out area on this map is the areas I stay out of. The small exception is the I94 corridor proper in Wisconsin from Hudson over to Eau Claire. It has to be well worth the effort and the storm vector has to be such they will cleanly cross I94 for a one and done show.

2) On to the storms.

The full chase account and pics can be seen HERE. It includes a bigger map and explanation of the no chase zone.

After dinging around with some severe storms coming out of McLeod county near Howard Lake, MN, the best show was actually when we got home. This weird corkscrewed leading edge liner something something updraft ended up be a prolific hailer in a very small place. Namely over Melinda's house.

This little sucker pumped out COPIOUS amounts of nickle sized hail for over 10 minutes! Note in the center of image the guy in the boat trying to get back to shore. Stupidity should be painful!

The hail roar with the cell was pretty intense. At one point it had me second guessing what was going on as the sound was pretty similar to June 16th last year when I got winged by a rain wrapped vortex near Dupree, SD. Well, the trees look like crap now and there will not be a raspberry crop either. Pummeled. No other word to describe it.

On the horizon it looks like a pretty significant weather pattern change is in store for us starting next week. As usual the Memorial weekend weather will suck up here. But starting Monday real heat and humidity will show up and hang around for a while. With it there is a lot of energy and wind shear. Now we just need a trigger and the wait may pay off. It has been really hard to sit out the events down south this year. I just hope my wager on the northern plains pays with some fantastic storms on less than crowded roads.

The festering sore known as Stormtrack

2011-05-16T22:12:00.003-05:00

Will someone (Tim V) please put that sorry excuse for a weather enthusiast social club out of it's misery already? It's done. Dead and bloating in the summer sun by the day. The majority of the core (pun intended) chaser have either slipped off into their own sub-cliques or are giving the new Chasers Forum a try. I have to give some HUGE kudos to Steve Miller (OK), Scott Bennett, and the mod staff over there for having the balls to do what few (if any) forum admins are willing to do. *MAKE IT A CLOSED MEMBERSHIP WHERE YOU HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF TO HAVE FULL ACCESS*. Does this make the approved members and the staff of CF a bunch of elitist pricks? From the outside looking in it sure does...AND GOOD!! If you have read my blog over the years, you know one of my biggest pet peeves is the noob who comes in thinking the veteran chasers are obligated to share their knowledge and techniques upon demand. Guess what? WE aren't! Chasing is a skill which is learned and not taught. Screw something up enough times and eventually you'll find out what doesn't work and most importantly what does. I highly doubt any vet with 10 or more seasons had someone to hold their hand, tell them how to shove an aircard into the PCMCIA slot on a laptop, have mommy and daddy foot the bill, then go bag tornadoes at will all in the name of serving the public.

Stormtack has been overrun by the aforementioned crowd. Or worse yet, people who talk about chasing but never get their ass out the door so much as to look at their lawn sprinkler let alone a real supercell. Putting a cool little screen name of "Storm Chaser" on your FB account doesn't mean shit. I can tell you this: people who truly are part of the chaser subculture know who is legit and who is just blowing smoke. There is a lot of EARNED RESPECT within that group and the noobs who think just because they saw Timmer and crew in the Dominator one day at a gas station and followed them for 15 miles qualifies as "being one of them" are sorely mistaken. You only make yourself look like a fool so quit pretending. No one will ever take you seriously until you prove yourself. AND...if you made an ass of yourself in the past, good luck fighting that uphill battle. Got news for you sporto: not everyone forgives and forgets over the winter. Once an ass clown, always an ass clown until proven otherwise (and it may take years to overcome a major league f-up).

True chasers live a lifestyle and don't have a hobby. Our life decisions are made with chasing in the center. Our families know it (and accept it). Our friends know it (and accept it). Our employers know it (and accept it). We have been making choices and sacrifices in our lives since the first time we stood in awe of the power of mother nature with goal being to experience that feeling again, and AGAIN, AND AGAIN....

So to those who whine about the elitists, finances or careers, do the rest us a favor and either shut up and go away or do what we did: FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN ON YOUR OWN. Oh, and while you are at it, stomp out the smoldering carcass which WAS once the real Stormtrack.

/RANT OFF

May 10th 2011 Central Minnesota Supercell!

2011-05-13T15:34:00.000-05:00

The chase account is done and can be seen HERE! A quasi-dryline in Minnesota? In May?

Here is a short video clip of timelapse / structure / lightning:

Heading into May chaseless...may as well go with what you know: EAGLES and OSPREY

2011-05-01T20:28:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe April 9th and 10th really even happened. Since then we have been dealing with temps running a good 15 to 20 degrees BELOW NORMAL pretty much on a daily basis. Needless to say convection has been non-existent and snow has fallen on several occasions instead. Up at my mom's place in Fergus Falls, MN, they have had a snowfall to cover the ground to some extent in each of the past 8 MONTHS. Unbelievable. At least the GFS is showing a glimmer of hope and with a little luck the jet won't suddenly leap into Canada leaving us with a very sucky storm season. It took until June in 2010 before all hell broke loose up here but with the devastating April across the south tornado-wise, I am confident MN will not defend it's title for the most torns in the nation in 2011.

So, the camera was needing some attention and I have been sitting around the house way more than usual for this time of year so put the 50-500 back on and went out in search of raptors. My goal was try to determine if any of the eaglets have hatched yet on the 3 eagle nests closest to home.

The Lake Constance nest definitely has at least one eaglet hatched. The female would keep adjusting how she was sitting and looking down. Tell tale sign of at least one fuzzball in there.

The Lake Mary nest does not have much hope. This female was very antsy and nor did I see her sitting on the nest when she should have been back in March. I have not seen the male at all this spring so I am afraid something may have happened to him.

Otter Lake has eggs yet. She wasn't moving for anything. Just sitting still and doing the incubation thing.

Wood ducks and a mallard cruising through the pond weed.

A turkey vulture silhouetted against the 35 degree sky on May 1st.

Need some hawk help on this one. VERY big. Was cruising over a pheasant farm. Morph redtail?

OK...onto the best part of the day. Decided to also see if any of the osprey nesting platforms are active yet near Clearwater Lake. The first two were quiet. As I was driving to a third, I thought I saw a red fox along a fence line but it turned out to be just some brush which was the right color a couple of hundred yards away. However, this guy was devouring a fish out in the stubble field right in front of me!

A bad feather day in the winds gusting to near 40 mph.

Oh boy, saw this coming as he leaned forward into the wind.

Ever wonder why an osprey is so good at hanging onto a fish? Man, check out those talons!

He flew up to a power pole almost right over head then gives me the "what the hell are you looking at??" glare! Kind of a cool way to wrap up the day.

In the meantime will keep an eye on this system for next weekend. I would very much like to go back to being a stormchaser again very soon.

April 10th Augusta, WI EF1 tornado and mini analysis

2011-04-17T09:15:00.003-05:00

Our chase account and mini analysis regarding the cell merger which contributed to the Augusta, WI tornado is done. The image above is not of the actual torn which damaged the town. The was on the supercell passing to the north prior to the cell merger.

IT CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING HERE!

April 9th 2011 Iowa Night Time Tornado Fest

2011-04-11T21:27:00.001-05:00

The usual disclaimer. I do not recommend mobile spotting and sure as heck do not advise chasing at night.

My usual hemming and hawing around home and got started about an hour late than I planned. I knew once the storm(s) fired, they would ride the kink in the warm from which had a really nice SW/NE orientation in northwest Iowa. So, if I missed initiation, it would still be easy to get on a storm as it was coming up at me. Dining around cost me the Mapleton, IA tornado but the night made up for it.

Here is a link to the damage surveys from

NWS - Omaha

NWS - Des Moines

The complete set of pics of video frame captures from the night can be seen HERE.

Here is a short teaser video from my blog readers only. The best stuff is NOT on this. Want to see it? Trade chase videos with us next fall or winter and find out!

It's amazing with all of these tornadoes no one was killed. Great job NWS / Chasers / Spotters.

Shots from the weekend...will spring really ever get here?

2011-04-03T19:47:00.001-05:00

Man....storm season can't get started up here soon enough for me. It's only early April but it feel like I have been waiting forever. Good news is the GFS is showing hints of an established warm up to near seasonal temps finally getting rooted. Bring it Mother Nature...please?

So, since I am still waiting to put on my storm chaser hat for the year, the eagles and now the waterfowl migrating are keeping me occupied. I found another new eagle nest which is very accessible and also checked on the condition of several osprey nests which are waiting for their families to return for the season. The osprey nests looked to be in OK shape although will be getting a remodel once the inhabitants show up.

Saturday the 2nd I was meeting up with Eric Whitehill to attend a Wild hockey game. I always appreciate it when he has an open seat and since I'm right on the way to the 'Cities, why not. Time spent with friends is always time well spent. I dropped Jessica off after meeting her dad in St. Michael then swung around Pelican Lake since there was some time to kill before meeting up with Eric in about an hour.

On the east side of the lake I found this guy not blending in very well with he surroundings. I guess when you are the top flying predator there is, why not?

I continued to head on over to Monticello where I found these eagles hanging out after they had killed something and left the remains on the ice. The crows were really going after the eagles as usual.

This is my favorite shot. The WTF look as the mature flies over the top.

The coloration of the juvies is always interesting.

Wish I could have gotten a better reflection shot.

The waterfowl migration is in full swing now. Lots of ring necked ducks and bluebills heading north.

Lots of pretty plumage in the spring on the males.

Goldeneyes. These are the first ducks north in the spring and the last to head south in the fall. They like it cold!!

Last but not least are the little buffleheads. They may be small, but they are beautifully marked ducks.

In the mean time, nothing looks too promising for chasing in the next 10 days or so in the 5 state region. Some stuff going on further south but here in the north, it's still the waiting game. I'm going to take a break from posting for a few weeks until the storm season gets rolling up hear. Will be making a trip up to Ely (hopefully before then) and getting the cameras cleaned and ready to go. The idea is the next blog post will include something other than eagles, deer, or ducks.

2011 Delano & Watertown MN Flooding, a new lens, and shots from the weekend

2011-03-27T18:51:00.002-05:00

Looks like the return of arctic air is going to work to the advantage of Delano and Watertown in terms of the severity of the flooding. Despite the massive snowpack this year, the melt down was slowed to a trickle thanks the cold temps and lack of precip over the past week. Yes, there is some snow left to melt again after the last storm, but is is nothing compared to what is already in the river system here.

Om Sunday the 27th, Melinda and I took a drive through Delano down to Watertown, then back up to Delano.

Funny how the flooded river looks more like an ice covered lake. With nighttime lows getting down in the +10° to +15° range and daytime highs near +32°, it has allow the water to SLOWLY make it's way into the main flow. This is taken northwest of Delano off CR14.

Despite the worries early on this winter, this record will still stand.

After skirting the west side of Delano, we headed down to Watertown....

...and as expected, we found water!

Melinda getting back into the car on the north side of Watertown. It was COLD out!

One minor ice dam about halfway between Watertown and Delano.

We headed back north to Delano and crossed over the river on highway 12 then headed down to Bridge Avenue.

Despite the water lapping at the bottom of the bridge, they left a walkway open just in case you needed to walk over to the VFW.

Some debris they removed with the heavy equipment on the bridge.

Looking upstream.

Stay off the field...errr dike.

The following three images are 180° stitched panos.

Northwest of Delano on CR14.

South side of Delano on CR16.

North side of Delano across from the ball fields on CR17/North River Street.

Hopefully a big sloppy system doesn't show up creating a double crest this year. GFS looks like it will cooperate...for now.

The other news of the weekend is the Tokina 11-16 f2.8 showed up on Friday. I have been looking forward to trying this lens. I like the field of view but the autofocus motor is NOISY! Oh well...I can live with it as my primary uses will be shooting storms at close range and also night skies so who cares about the noise I guess.

On Friday night the dog and I walked out on the bay in front of the house and took a couple of test shots.

Green meteor? UFO? Nope. Just some funky lens flare off the house lights.

On the wildlife / waterfowl migration front, things are pretty slow.

A few mergansers and goldeneyes are just starting to show up.

Nicknamed "fish duck" for a reason.

A swan with a research collar in a flooded field near my house.

Hey...flying would be less slippery guys.

And of course the weekly deer...who are still foraging madly for food since a lot of it got covered up by snow again.

The GFS has been advertising a very strong spring storm system for next weekend. The track has been all over the place so far but it definitely bears worth keeping an eye on as it could bring both severe weather and possibly even (do I dare say it?) some SNOW on the northern side.

Congrats to everyone who scored 3-22-11 in Iowa and auroras/deer/eagles

2011-03-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

Pretty impressed with the quality of storms down in Iowa on Tuesday March 22. I didn't like the poor moisture depth and the veering winds. I'm more of a warm front chaser and this early system just didn't get me to pull the trigger. For the guys who believed the strong forcing and narrow shear corridor would pay off, kudos. A great day of throwing the dice with a great payoff!

One problem coming from the north to chase these early setups is the possibility of really crappy roads on the way home. Please refer to this video from the morning of the 23rd.

Otherwise, things have been busy and not busy up here.

The deer fared pretty well with our harsh winter. They were feeding out in the fields again but we picked up about 8" of snow on Tuesday night and Wednesday. Hopefully the strong March sun will do it's trick soon for them.

The red tail hawks have migrated back into the area. Boy, I'll bet they are wishing they had waited a week or so now!

With the spring melt comes lots of foggy mornings. It does make for some pretty scenes though.

The eagles are doing well. This guy has become the laziest fisherman ever. He has resorted to stealing fish from people fishing on the late ice. I reached an agreement with him where I throw out lead free venison scraps and frozen whitefish for he and his mate in exchange for leaving my catch alone.

Cullen snapped this nice shot of an eagle eating a squirrel on our way home from fishing the other night.

And not but not least March 10th brought us some good northern lights.

However, it was a school night so Jessica, Cullen, and myself had to head in about 9:30. Too bad as about an hour later they went NUTS and put on the best show in years.

Doug Kiesling and Neva Anderson where pretty close to where we were and this is what they saw later that night. Simply amazing!

Well, we are definitely back to winter for the next 10 days or so. Hopefully the posts on the blog will have some storm shots and video coming up in the not too distant future as the season of snow and ice is even dragging on for this winter lover!

Eagles still working on the nest, TVN in MN, pheasant or KFC, and NUKED!!

2011-03-08T20:08:00.002-06:00

LC2 eagles are still not on eggs yet (nor are any of the other nests I monitor). Maybe the eagles know something the GFS doesn't? I dunno.

Anyhow, the nest is looking good as the eagles continue to add nesting matter.

On Saturday, I caught the male continuing to pull grass out for nest lining.

On Sunday, we went to the Wadena tornado benefit in Big Lake, MN. It was good to have a chance to visit with Reed again. Time is sure hard to find to catch up with my chaser pals from down south. Thank goodness for FB and text messaging.

The MN TVN crew with Reed. Dean Baron, Reed Timmer, me, Michael Stanga and Lisa Ann Schimmel. Sure wish Jacob Thumberger, Eric Whitehil and Andrew Butler could have made it out to dinner but as I said, time keeps getting harder to find.

Earlier that morning I went up to the Silver Creek pheasant farm to see what was going on as more migrating eagles are passing through the area.

Yup, one juvie. This place is like a KFC for eagles. There are always a few stray birds on the outside of the mesh. Original, crispy or grilled?

Making passes over the mesh. Mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw or wedges for a side?

This is A LONG ways away. 500mm and heavily cropped. The juvie went to the ground and started fighting with this crow on the back side of the pen.

After a bunch of charges at each other, they finally decided just to sit and stare at one another. This went on until my 30 minute boredom clock went off as it was time to head home and get ready to head up to Big Lake.

Earlier in the week (on a night with s -25° wind chill) I managed to miss the northern lights. So, I wasted my time turning my fingers numb and taking a few shots of the steam coming from the Monti nuke plant.

The GFS looks like the real spring thaw may be coming in about 10 days. We lucked out with the first system this week sliding by just to the south of us and the system for the weekend looks like it will be warm with mixed precip. As much as I love winter , it is time to bring on the battle of the seasons!

Weekend shots...MNSCC, getting out on the ice, and LC2 eagle update

2011-02-27T23:07:00.003-06:00

**UPDATE...Congrats to all of the chasers who scored in Oklahoma February 27th! What a way to kick off the 2011 chase season!**

Spent Saturday at the Minnesota Storm Chasing Convention in Maple Grove. It was good to see some familiar faces and also get to finally meet Adam Lucio, Skip Talbot, and Jesse Risley face to face. I can't give Michael Stanga enough kudos for putting this together. Top shelf speakers without a doubt. I do need to throw in something about Adam...if one chaser out there deserves "most improved" in the past three years, he gets my vote. In addition to being able to hold his own with the best of the supercell junkies, he is a quality stand up guy. Keep going Adam. The sky is the limit. Literally.

Anyhow, on to the fun stuff. Eagle nest LC2 is still the most active in the area.

Sunday morning caught the female taking a snooze.

By the afternoon they were busy putting the final touches on the nest. Note the female is no longer complaining about the male bringing grass in. I'll bet she is on an egg or three with the next 10 days.

Catching a little sun.

The morning started off with a nice little coating of hoar frost. I am a huge fan of trying to find natural contrast in my photography and this was a good one.

This one not so much.

Deer hiding in the pine stands where the snow pack is a little thinner and it is also a little warmer. Late February sun really gets soaked up by the dark pines creating "mini heat islands".

Look healthy and should have no problem making it to the thaw coming soon (hopefully).

The afternoon was a good time to get the kids out in the fish house as the days of winter recreation are drawing to a close.

Last light and time to head in as the weekend draws to a close.

...and one of Jessica giving the dog a workout. Or maybe it was the other time around?

Quick update on LC2 eagles

2011-02-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

Had a little time this morning to go check on the new eagles. Looks like their nest is holding together in all of the rough weather we have had of late.

A couple shots of the pair as they sat in the morning sun still all puffed up with wind chills just above zero.

Some people like to hear the birds sing in the morning. I'll take a chittering eagle every time.

I also need to give a shout out to my daughter for winning another Star Student Award. Way to go Mouse! We are all very proud of you!

We have some new neighbors! Ever seen an eagle out for a walk to gather wood?

2011-02-20T20:04:00.000-06:00

Well, we have some new neighbors it looks like. On my Saturday morning nest checks, I found a new pair of eagle have started building a new nest about a mile cross country from home. This new nest is only a couple of hundred yards from an established nest (LC1) so this one will get the designation LC2.

The following shots are from various times on Saturday February 19th beginning at sunrise.

A little crowded while under construction.

3 shot series of the male carrying in a branch.

Here is something you may not be aware of. In addition to the eagles breaking off dead limbs of trees to use for their nests, they will go down onto the ground to look for suitable nest building material.

Here is the male walking around looking for something which will work.

He finds a limb which he thinks will work.

He sizes up the tree...

and goes to work pulling on the end.

I'll give him credit for the effort as he really worked hard at trying to get the branch to snap off. He finally gave up and just grabbed some slough grass that was sticking up through the snow.

I don't think the female was too happy with this choice.

She picked out a lot the grass after he left!

Sunday brought a powerful winter storm into the area with heavy snow and winds gusting upwards of 40 mph.

Very heavy snowbands moving through with snowfall rates near 2" per hour.

The view out the front window the afternoon of the 20th as the storm starts to really crank up.

Despite the brutal weather, the eagles continued to work on their nest.

More sticks. Looks like she is going to do most of the work this day.

Some more of the local deer herd trying to hang on for just a few more weeks until spring arrives for real.

Mid Minnesota 150 and shots from the weekend

2011-02-16T19:22:00.000-06:00

Man, somehow I keep getting further and further behind on getting the things on here I want to so going to make this pretty brief to make up some time.

Saturday the 12th Melinda, Cullen and I headed up to Outing, MN to meet up with Bob Johnson and Janet Bahe for the Mid MN 150. Logging activity caused a last minute change in the pro class so both the 8 dog pro and the 6 dog rec ended up running the 30 mile sprint up to Remer, MN. HERE is a link to the full set of pics Cullen, Melinda, and myself took.

Janet going through sled check prior to the start.

Bob put Cullen to work as his handler for the race. Here is Cullen getting Holly's harness on.

Melinda putting booties on Buckwheat while Holly and Silver wait their turns.

It's been a long time since I have put dog booties on. Hopefully one day I'll get to do it with my own dogs again. I really miss working with the furry four leggers.

Bob at the start of the race going over Lawrence Lake. 4th place in the 8 dog pro class.

Janet coming into the finish in Remer, MN in 9th place in 8 dog pro class. Pretty warm for her team this day. Colder weather would have helped her.

Melvin Mickelson's team giving me a quick glance out on Lawrence Lake.

8 dog pro class winner Jason Jones from Walker, MN with a time of 2:33:46.

Veteran musher and 6 dog rec class winner Tom Benson from Ely, MN with a time of 2:35:58. This team FLIES. Tom had the 3rd fastest time overall. Only Jones and Mickelson in the 8 dog pro class were faster. Very impressive Tom!

After hanging out and shooting the bull with Bob for a while after the race, we made the sad turn south and back home. This eagle was parked over highway 6 south of Remer.

Sunday was a quieter day at home and the start of our big February thaw. We have had 61" of snow this year but with temps in the mid 40's to near 50, it is sinking fast. Sunday afternoon did give Cailyn and I chance to get out on the ice for a bit but it was WET.

Arctic air again for a just a few more weeks yet please.

Shots from the weekend...weak northern lights and some of the eagles are home

2011-02-07T22:23:00.007-06:00

I wish it would stay -30° out until the first chase day up here. What a zoo. Disrespectful snowmobilers are my new target. Bottom line....if I catch you crossing either federal or state protected land on camera, I am going straight to the local conservation officer with the images or footage. I will show up on court day to testify. GUARANTEED.

Friday started out with a solar wind gust that triggered a weak northern lights show. Ended up above the west / northwest side of Mille Lacs Lake. Long story why, but I do have a new 8 GB CF card for one of the cameras after getting detoured through Brainerd.

This is about as dark as dark gets in that area. Some ambient light may have actually helped in this case as ISO 1600 with an EV of +5.0 did not produce much for pretty pictures at 30s. I should have just bulbed it at ISO 400 for 4 or 5 minutes.

Eventually boredom got the better of me and I tried making some 3D images with the light from my cell phone. At least the coyotes took mercy on me and sang a couple of Bon Jovi songs. At least it sounded like Bon Jovi.

After getting home quite late, I decided to opt for a little extra sleep. When I got up finally, a little hoar frost was on the trees out the front window across the bay.

I finally made it out to poke around and decided to check on three local eagle nests. All three had eagles on them starting to do some spring cleaning and repair work before nesting hits full throttle next month.

This nest is a LONG ways off. Major crop. The point is this female is probably the largest eagle I have seen. I'm willing to bet she rivals the large females in Alaska. I'd estimate this bird is about 18 lbs with a wing span over 100". She is ENORMOUS!!

I didn't get any pics of the third nest as it is rather close to a road and the birds are very spooky. I'm guessing it was the male pushing sticks around as I passed. He immediately stopped working as I drove past and kept a close eye to make sure I never came to a stop.

Sunday was not a photo day per se. It should have been.

Total quiet is something I need a healthy dose of on a regular basis and a 4-5 mile hike on the snowshoes is the best way I know how to achieve it....almost. My favorite winter weather involves an air temp of -15° or colder with no wind. Most snowmobilers won't venture out on day like that but with an air temp of nearly +30°, I could hear the near constant drone of the sleds off to my northwest.

What was supposed to be an afternoon of adding some fur to the collection ended up being a simply fun (albeit sweaty) pleasure hike of a little over 4.5 miles spanning a couple of hours. The reason why I say "pleasure" is the tally included 3 eagles, 3 healthy and fat whitetails, 2 very playful river otters, and a curious raccoon who was having a tough time figuring out what I was dressed in white camo. The otters where the highlight as I observed them for about a half hour running up the bank of an open creek, sliding down their self made bobsled run in the snow into the water only to quickly climb the bank and repeat the process. Truly was one of those times I wish I had brought even a small point and shoot camera to snap a few images to share with my readers. Hopefully once my semi-hectic schedule allows it, I'll trade the .22-250 for the 500mm lens and go back.

In the mean time, settling into a cold week here with temps heading for the -20° mark during the overnights and a little above the donut during the day. Spring is getting closer and with it will come the towering cumulus clouds I so desire right now. Until then, I'll just enjoy some arctic air quiet.

2011 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon

2011-02-03T22:02:00.003-06:00

Who needs NASCAR when you have a few hundred dogs running the North Shore Trail? This is a big event with lots of coverage and is in one of the coolest areas of MN. Every Minnesotan needs to add the start of the Beargrease to their list of things to experience at least once in their life.

We didn't have any of our favorites in the marathon this year but Jen Freking, Blake Freking, and Billie Diver all ran the 106 mile mid-distance from Duluth up to Tofte. They finished 10th, 25th and 19th respectively. I decided to skip the starting line festivities and had Melinda and the kids drop me off about 7.5 miles up the trail where I hiked back in to the Lester River crossing. This would be a really cool place to shoot from on a cloudy day as the back light looking almost due south was pretty brutal.

Jen crossing the bridge at the Lester River.

Blake coming over the bridge.

Billie and her team.

The marathon mushers were the first out though on their way to make on the 373.7 mile loop up to Gunflint Lake and back.

The view Melinda and the kids had from "the chute" coming down off the starting line. I was glad to see them put up more fencing this year. Some people and their kids were being complete morons last year in this area.

Curt Perano was the first musher out on the trail. Later on this leg of the race between where this picture was taken and the highway 2 checkpoint, his team was hit by a snowmobile. You can read more about the accident HERE. IMO the snowmobile crowd up there made up of cidiots needs to wake up. Pull over and STOP when you see a team. My lack of sensitivity for snowmobilers aside, I have to give Curt a lot of credit for finishing the race after loosing 4 dogs to injury because of a moron.

The eventual marathon winner, Ryan Anderson, of Ray, MN coming down the hill towards me. Quite the finish this year as only 20 seconds separated Ryan from the runner up and 2010 marathon champion Nathan Schroeder of Chisholm, MN.

Mid-distance champion Dave Taylor of Sandy, OR. He beat out Maggie Heilmann of Somerset, WI by about 16 minutes.

These dogs are incredible athletes and they love what they do.

A postcard setting in the Minnesota north woods.

I have to give a shout out to Tom Roos from Alexandria, MN. He didn't have the showing he was hoping for at the Beargrease but his team did provide a little humor. His lead dog, Yogi, decide to stop and visit a couple of locals who had stopped to watch the race with me. Well, it doesn't take much to tangle a gang line when your lead dogs decide to stop and wander. The audio is pretty funny as Tom tells Yogi to stay on the trail. A minute or so later with me untangling dogs and getting Yogi pointed in the right direction again, Tom and his team were off. Thanks Tom and you team for leaving me with another Beargrease memory.

Marathoner Shawn McCarty of Ely, MN

Paul Amano of Kaministiquia, ON. Red lantern in the mid distance race.

3rd place marathoner and Minnesota mushing legend Jamie Nelson of Togo, MN. I wish I could post larger resolution images on here as the full size of this one is really nice.

As we become more and more involved in following the mushing scene in the winters as a way to pass the time until the spring storm season fires up, we are also looking at ways to help out.

Here Jessica and Cullen help out with the crossing at county road 37 northwest of Duluth.

And as always, if you are a musher or handler who competed in this race and would like a free 8x10 print of your team, please email me at media.inquiries@mnxchaser.com and we'll get one mailed out to you. Our way of saying thanks for the fun you provide for our family.

A little family history from 1938 / Minnesota small game regs pamphlet

2011-01-24T22:31:00.000-06:00

Going to be posting a few of these as the kids and I have been digging through boxes of stuff. Tonight we came across some of my dad's old hunting licenses from when he was a kid growing up in Pipestone county MN. In the envelope we found a pristine copy of the small game hunting regs from 1938.

In order to preserve the detail and be able to actually read them,

(Warning 1920 pixels wide)

Click HERE for side A

and

Click HERE for side B

Shots from the weekend, winter survival 101, and froze out of the Beargrease

2011-01-23T21:23:00.002-06:00

Not a whole lot to show for the past weekend. Spent more time peering through a 32x 50mm rifle scope. It's hard to take pics and get an accurate shot off. I could have just as well stuck to taking pics though.

Meet "Hat". This coyote and I are getting pretty familiar with each other. I gave him his name based on what will become of him if I can figure out how to trick him into getting within 400 yards of the .22-250.

Odds are unless I catch Hat making a mistake, he will continue to thrive about 401 yards away from me. One smart predator...for sure.

Saturday afternoon's hunt near Santiago, MN proved to be one of those outings which could have ended badly.

The red line shows the route I took through the federal land. Note the top right bend in the route. I jumped a pair of brush wolves (more commonly known as eastern woodland coyotes which weigh 40-55 lbs). The hunt was on. The area is a swampy creek / bog I have crossed before. There is a beaver dam over the creek and that is where I usually cross. One thing while out on snowshoes you have to be cautious of is crossing water where the snow looks to have a yellow tinge. It isn't from pee but is a telltale sign of slush from the stained water coming out of the bogs. Another thing to watch for is a sharp depression in the snow over a creek or river as it is a signal of either weak ice or slush on top of the ice. The spot I decided to cross about 100 yards below the beaver dam showed neither. In fact, the snow was "crowned" over the top of the creek leading me to believe it was just very deep snow that had drifted in. WRONG!!! I took about three steps when suddenly I felt the snow give way in about a 10 foot circle around me and I dropped about 2 feet. The snow around me began to rapidly turn yellow as the stained water began to spread out around the collapse area. It turned out tall grass had bent over creating a canopy for the heavy snow to sit on top of effectively creating a blanket over the small creek. Mind you the air temp was about 10 degrees below zero at this time and anything wet will freeze solid within a minute. Time to get out of the hole I was in! Snowshoes are very good at disbursing weight. Not very good for climbing. When I fell, I managed to get my rifle off to the side and out of the way, but I had one leg stuck out in front of me while the other was twisted behind my back in a rather unnatural angle. Stuck. My initial thought was to cut the binding to free one foot and be able to turn around so both feet were pointing in the same direction. Knife was in the truck. Dammit. Option two was to somehow fight the right shoe off. After a couple of minutes of struggling, I did manage to get the shoe off but now both of my hands, my right arm up to my elbow, and both legs up to my knees were totally ice covered. One thing to remember when buying good outdoor gear is to have items which will still retain heat when wet. This is one of the times when having good gear paid off. I was cold, but not hypothermic. I jumped up on the opposite bank of the creek and took a break as I looked down at the slush pit which I had just created. Whew....was I glad to get out of that mess. I put the shoe back on my right boot and decided I better head west toward a road and get out of the swamp. Lucky for me the brush wolves were also heading west so I decided to continue to track them...ice covered and all. Well the predators did an old trick and immediately headed into a herd of deer to confuse me. As I worked to sort of the tracks, my right snowshoe suddenly didn't feel right. Uggggh...I looked down and saw a partially broken binding. There was no way I was getting out of there without snowshoes so I had to figure out a way to fix it with what I had. Thanks to a sharp willow stick and some lacing from my boot, I was able to fashion a temporary solution. Onward to the west. By now I had given up on trying to track down the coyotes as the sun was nearly on the western horizon and I wasn't all too fond at navigating my way out of the swamp and forest without moonlight so I quickened my pace to make it out to the western road which would eventually get me back to the highway and back to the truck. After zig zagging around some massive blowdown areas, I did finally reach the road as the last of the sun was dropping below the western horizon. Man, was I glad to take off the shoes and sling them over one shoulder and the rifle on the other as I began the 2 mile walk back to my starting point. I must have been quite the sight to the cars passing by on the main highway heading back to the east. All dressed in white from head to toe, ice hanging off my beard and clothes, toting a rifle and snowshoes. No one stopped to offer me a ride...without surprise! It was good to get back to the truck and thaw out. Everything from the ice on my face to the frozen clothes and gloves have to soften up before they could be removed. After about 10 minutes, I was able to remove the once frozen but now soggy clothes. This is where you have to be careful as wet items cool you more rapidly than frozen clothes due to evaporation. This is also the reason why I carry extra dry shirts and a hoodie!

While all of this sounds dramatic, years of experience (and having crap like this happen many times before) gives you the ability to think clearly and look for solutions to problems using only what you have at the immediate moment. A lot of people have forgotten how to do this or have never been in a situation where they have had to. I get asked the question quite often of what I think is the most important survival item. The easy (and obvious) answer is your own brain. Once you have mastered the ability to think logically and clearly under pressure, the rest of the solution is easy.

Sunday was not nearly as exciting. Saturday's adventure left me a lot more tired than I was expecting so an early departure was not going to happen. After helping Melinda and Jess with a household project (Melinda found this really cool antique bed for Jess but it needed some "engineering" to make it work), I decided to just drive what I call "The Loop" near home. After seeing about 40 or so deer, I came across this sign near Clearwater Lake.

Safe to assume whoever defiled this sign is not under the age of 21. I hope they don't wear the weird-ass baggy pants.

The end of the weekend was signaled by a lovely pink sunset courtesy of an approaching clipper system from the northwest.

Next Sunday is supposed to be our annual trek up to Duluth, MN and the start of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. I'm having second thoughts due to the cold as Melinda, Cullen, and Cailyn would be with. With high temps well below zero, that is asking too much of them so unless this next chunk of arctic air decides to hold off for 24 hours, we will not be going. Maybe a mid week trip up on Wednesday for the finish will be in store.

Shots from the weekend...Goin' Down in Flames!

2011-01-16T20:07:00.002-06:00

One weekend closer to spring. We have had some type of snow or ice crystals fall 27 out of the past 31 day now. Unbelievable. All we need now is for the Arctic Express to visit a few time between now and mid-March. If is does happen (my definition is at least 5 consecutive days where we stay below 0°F), I would call this an "old fashioned winter". However, 2010 was the year of extreme weather in Minnesota so I'm hoping 2011 starts off with a bang...a BIG bang.

Not my greatest eagle shot, but is isn't supposed to be. This is the same pheasant snatcher from last weekend. On Saturday Melinda and I went to see if he was around again. Sure enough, we come up over the hill and there he is about 100 feet off the road with another bird pinned to the ground. I screwed up and should have had Melinda take the wheel as we rolled past and I could have gotten some shots. 99 out of 100 times eagles couldn't care less about a moving vehicle but the second you stop or get out, they take off. We watched this guy head off to a distant tree line while a pile of feathers blew away from the first spot we had seen him. This is MAJORLY cropped at 500mm and hand held. I'm guessing the bird was 200-250 yards away in this shot.

Once we left the eagle to his pheasant dinner, we cut over to near Silver Creek where I wanted to head west to check out some deer yards in hopes of seeing a coyote waiting for one to tip over. As we neared the town, a very noticeable plume of rancid black smoke was rising from near a house just west of the village. I made the comment to Melinda "I bet that is a sled on fire". Yup, as we crested the hill, this is what we saw:

Bummer dude. I hope you had insurance.

Sunday's attempt was much more tame. With a new Alberta Clipper system coming in, the light was flat with the overcast skies and intermittent snow showers. There were a few deer out but nothing really noteworthy. Just a couple of does playing hide and seek in a corn field after sunset north of Maple Lake.

And one more winter activity has started up from now until the first weekend in March:

Cailyn is back at it again! Good luck kiddo....have a great season.

Finally getting out a little bit again..ever heard 5,000 pissed off pheasants?

2011-01-09T15:47:00.001-06:00

Wow, I don't know about the rest of you but the holiday season flew by here. Not sure where the time went but I know I'm tired so it must have been good. This is the season when I usually take a break from photography / weather and recharge the batteries for the spring chase season. Well, this year is going to be a little different. I'm not planning on leaving the 5 state area to chase this year (unless F5tours says otherwise). The southern and central plains have become a circus and in my never ending quest to keep my life as stress and drama free as possible at all times, the south option just doesn't fit into my model anymore. One of the things about chasing I have always enjoyed is the solitude of a back country road with a view to the horizon. Throw in a beautiful storm and I'm as happy as a clam. It's hard to find that now. I get it. Times are changing. But that doesn't mean I have to accept it for what it is either. So as times change, so am I.

So, since this is supposed to the the quiet time of the year, I don't get out very often to poke around in the sticks, but a quick jaunt along my regular evening route on the 8th provided some spectacular shots (at least in my opinion).

Just some of the local deer. Looking healthy and getting through the winter so far.

Nothing against the photogs who hit the state parks for wildlife (I do it too, but not exclusively) but if you can find bucks like this in the wild, the shot sure means a lot more than standing 15 feet away from a 12 point buck who is used to people throwing out ear corn for him. I'd seen the sign and the tracks of this big boy but had never seen him out in the daytime until Saturday evening. Yup, he is a good one. Great genetics in this deer and I hope he had many chances to pass on those genes this past breeding season.

The good old Excel Energy power plant. Good for TV mets to reports false tornadoes, make the public cry wolf, and produce tCu in arctic air.

Now on to the good part. After completing the first half of my usually loop, I figured I would go back and see if that buck was still poking around. I decided to cut through a township road where there is a every large pheasant ranch. As I was passing by, a very large bald eagle swooped in front of me and nailed something right along the edge of the confinement netting housing the pheasants. It isn't uncommon to see a few escapees on the outside or even a curious wild bird checking out it's incarcerated brothers and sisters. Evidently this eagle also knows sooner or later the dinner bell is going to ring. What was really strange was the noise all the pheasants in the pen made as the eagle landed on top of one of the support beams holding up the netting. Imagine THIS SOUND times 5,000 and a lot more alarmed. About this time I was really wishing I have brought a video cam with. Not for the images of the eagle with his dinner, but to capture the panicked roar of the flock of pheasants. Simply an amazing moment.

OK, now it gets even a little more bizarre. The eagle finally had enough of hopping around on the end of a 2x8 and took off across the road for a tree in a pasture with the kill still in tow. The farmer who has the pheasants also has a few head of beef cattle. Well, the cattle were not too happy about the eagle being there either and watched it fly past them and up into a tree on the edge of the pasture.

Once re-seated with it's dinner, the cows all looked up at the eagle and started to bellar. I have never seen anything like it and probably never will again. Heck, even if I don't see anything worth shooting again until ice out, the minute or two all of this transpired makes the wait worth it.

One weather pic from the morning of January 9th while I was out coyote hunting. It was -22°F at this location. Weird how ice fog can form. Visibility went from really good to zero in about 2-3 minutes then right back to sunny skies. I love rapid weather changes. Oh, and I didn't get the coyote. Never got a safe shooting lane at him at about 250 yards. I'll be back!

First real visit by the Arctic Express on the horizon?

2011-01-04T22:33:00.000-06:00

Lots of time for airmass modification but it sure looks like a blast right off the polar ice cap is heading south in a week or so. Bring it. The lakes are covered with this crap mixture of slush and double crusted snow and a good dose of -20°F to -30°F air would really help firm things up again. Stay tuned!

December 19th Alma, WI Eagles and HO-LEE Crap is There A Lot of Snow Already!

2010-12-20T21:21:00.002-06:00

I was still living up in Fergus Falls the winter of 96-97. Yup, got 117" of snow that year. Breckenridge/Whapeton, Fargo/Moorhead, and Grand Forks/East Grand Forks were decimated that spring when it melted. If this trend of Mother Nature pounding Minnesota in 2010 continues into 2011 with the snowfall, it is quite possible we could see devastating flooding in communities such as Mankato, Shakopee, and even St Paul. Time will tell. The only thing which could possibly add insult to injury is if we can have another February 2, 1996. Did it snow that day? Heck no. Can't have cloud cover and watch the morning temp bottom out at a nasty -60°F (Tower, MN). At our place, it was -52°. Not a record, but cold even by my standards!

On to better things for now. David Drufke, his wife Kristen, and myself made a day trip down to Alma, WI on December 19th to check out the wintering eagles below lock and dam #4. I usually try to make there a couple of times each winter before the harsh cold of mid winter drives the birds further south into Iowa/Illinois and sometimes even further south. Alma is a fun place to watch the eagles but is a very fickle place for photography as the light is never quite right. It comes up from behind a bluff mid morning and with the super short days, it stays low in the sky and before you know it, the light is almost in your face again be early afternoon. Although far from being a great day, I did a few blog-worthy shots to share.

If I were a duck, I would find someplace a long way from where the gizzard shad were. Knowing the eagle behind me "might" be going after a fish would not be enough comfort.

This guy is special. Notice he is double banded for research.

A few youngsters were also in the crowd taking advantage of the plentiful food source. The ducks better hope the menu doesn't change any time soon.

Another example of the screwy light at Alma.

And a couple of normal shots to wrap up this entry. I would like to touch base on the snow topic once more though in parting. Anyone in Minnesota who needs to go to Red Wing anytime soon should take highway 50 east from Hampton. The snow drifts are VERY impressive as there a many spots where rotary plows needed to cut through drifts as tall as 8 feet to reopen the road. Good stuff!!!

A time to ponder

2010-12-14T22:23:00.000-06:00

The older I get, the more I realize the need for time to simply think. No meetings, no deadlines, no phones. For the better part of my adult life (and a lot of time as a kid) I have very much enjoyed solo time in the outdoors. Yes, the solitude has a lot to do with it. I firmly believe simple silence is good for the soul. However, with silence comes time. With time there is opportunity to do nothing but think. In today's go go go, rush rush rush world, there isn't really a lot of down time. Bosses who demand more with less, traffic, people everywhere, kid's schedules, parent's schedules...it never seems to stop. So, periodically when I get close to my breaking point after seeing how the world is revolving, the simple solution is to return to my roots. With snowshoes on my boots, a couple of feet of snow, and a few hours in what most people consider brutal cold, it's time to leave the world behind and ponder as to what my next move should be to right my world.

I was fortunate to have one of those days recently. Here are my favorite sites from that day for you to enjoy.

December 11th-12th Blizzard

2010-12-12T21:47:00.000-06:00

Well, that was a decent blizzard. Haven't had everything come together for a long time where the heavy snow and the wind would combine to make a real mess out of everything. Obviously the big story was the roof of the Metro Dome (AKA Mall of America Field) collapsing from the weight of the snow but when you look at the overall scope of this system, it is pretty amazing.

Headed out around noon with a target of Hutchinson, MN. Not as much snow but winds gusting to over 40 kts with loose snow on the ground and moderate snowfall is always fun. The area around Silver Lake did not disappoint.

Didn't see too many other people out and about...which was good. People took the warnings seriously and stayed put. We didn't have much difficulty getting around in the ZR2 and if the visibility dropped to zero with a gust, you just had to wait it out.

One thing which is a lot of fun with this windy systems is seeing winter's version of gustnadoes. When a big gust hits the windward side of a hill or ridge, the snow explodes upwards with a pretty good twisting and turning motion. Most are short lived but some go for a few hundred yards before dying out.

A hilltop view looking east along the Crow River as we head back into the trees and less wind.

Here is a short clip of one of the snow gustnadoes. YT's compressor really pixelated the heck of this so it doesn't do justice. Maybe I'll try Vimeo again. The uncompressed video is much more impressive. We had to search for a spot that had a dark background to make them show up a little better also.

...and with all good blizzards comes the clean up. One of the neighbors getting an early starting moving the snow.

Another system coming in on Wednesday and Thursday this week with a few more inches possible. Unbelievable we are just getting to the middle of December and already starting to run out of places to put it. When I was still living up north, the winter of '96-'97 we had 120" of snow for the year. Fargo and Grand Forks were decimated by flooding. This could be the year we hear of the Minnesota River communities really getting it again. I hope not, but Mother Nature seems to be stacking the deck pretty early in the game this snow season.

An eagle story worth sharing

2010-12-08T20:45:00.001-06:00

My chase partner, David Drufke, and his wife, Kristen, were out looking for owls today when when stumbled into a much bigger story:

Written by Kristen:

Today David and I headed out for a quick hike to see if we could find a pair of owls we've heard live out by Lake Harriet. With temperatures hanging right around 10* we piled on the layers and headed out for a walk through the Lake Harriet Bird Sanctuary. About a quarter of a mile in we saw an eagle high up on a tree. After a closer look, we realized that the eagle didn't seem normal. We walked right up to the tree it was on, which a healthy eagle would never let you do. We noticed that it was sitting funny with it's head down and eyes shut.

We stood and watched it for a while and listen as it made sad quite noises. We decided to continue a little more in search of the owls and would call and report the sick eagle as soon as we got back to the car. However, about a half an hour later we head a bunch of crows all screaming and making loud noises. I said to David, "do you know how horrible it would be if we went back to the eagle and found that the crows had attacked the eagle?!" We continue on back towards the eagle and as we got closer we noticed that all the crows were in deed screaming at the sick eagle. All of a sudden the eagle fell from the tree and landed, nose first, in the snow! We ran over to see if it was still moving and breathing. David lifted it's head up out of the snow and we adjusted his wings so they were in more of a normal position. We decided the only thing to do was to pick it up and bring back to the car and call the Raptor Center.

We hiked the quarter mile back to the car while David was holding a live bald eagle in his arms like a baby! It was so unbelievable! When we get to the car, I immediately realize that the passenger side window had been smashed in! I looked at David and say, "where's the tripod??" I know that sounds like a funny thing to say but we have a camera tripod in our car that costs about $1400 and so that was the first thing I thought of. (photographers think in terms of camera gear. lol) Once I realized the tripod was still in the the back of the car I then noticed then my purse was gone. The stupid person smashed in our window and left a $1400 tripod, another tripod, a brand new Droid phone, cash in the center console, and other things but took my purse. The best thing in my purse was a $20 Arbys gift card, a Starbucks gift card, and a Caribou gift card, all equaling about $50. Haha. Sorry buddy, but I don't carry cash in my purse.

Anyway, back to the eagle. We called the Raptor Center at the U of M St. Paul and said that we had a sick eagle in our car. They said to bring it over and they would take care of it. We drove from Minneapolis to St. Paul with an eagle in our back seat and a missing window!

David brought the eagle in and right away they started working at trying to being up it's temperature. The eagle's temperature was 10* colder then it should be. They said that they were going to try and help him and gave us a phone number to call to get updates on his condition. I just hope he lives and they are able to help him get healthy. I named him Harry since I think it's a boy and we found him at Lake Harriet.

It was a very cold drive back to Lakeville with no window:(

I never thought I would get to hold an eagle in my arms! Can you believe that those huge birds only weigh about 8-10lbs? While we were walking back to the car I asked David if it was heavy, he said, "no, it weighs about as much as kitty." The eagle even left something behind for us, a bunch of little eagle fathers in the back seat where he was laying. What an unreal experience that I will never forget

A Blast From The Past (or at least a smell)

2010-11-30T22:22:00.002-06:00

So Cullen has taken up an interest in ice fishing. It's Minnesota. It's winter. It's one of the things we do. Since he is 13 now, it's time to let him start experiencing things in life and I have always told all of the kids I will support them in any activity that gets them out of the house or widens their view of the world. It can be music, sports, outdoor activities...I don't care.

Part of getting Cullen to the point where he can go on his own is to amass the equipment he will need. Been working on that for a couple of years building up to this year. He now is shopping for a used portable fish house to use on the lake by the house. Portables are great (I had one as a kid) but a little heat is nice. My dad had given me a portable Coleman heater that burns the standard Coleman fuel. Good little heater and pretty safe too in a portable. Well, I dug the heater out of the garage last night (hasn't been used in probably 20 years), filled it with a little fuel and lit it up. As Cullen and I watched it heat up and burn off a couple of decades of dirt and dust, it soon started to emit that familiar smell. I have heard of a smell being able to trigger a memory and this time it was certainly true. As we stood there doing nothing (which is the best time spent together sometimes), the vivid memories of fishing outing from my mid teen years were suddenly alive. I hadn't told these stories to Cullen before since there was never a reason to....until now. Walleyes and northerns, crappies and trout. Sudden snow squalls. The first "warm" days on the ice with the approaching spring. It was so real. It probably freaked out Cullen a little as I was obviously very into the stories as I stood there still getting a whiff of that old heater which was there to bear witness to the real life circumstances of the time.

Hopefully as this old heater is passed on to my son, maybe someday he will touch a match to wick and the air will be thick with the smell of burning Coleman fuel and remember the time he stood in the driveway with his dad on a foggy November evening hearing the stories of ice seasons past.

Driveway eagles taking a bath in 33° water!

2010-11-28T21:15:00.001-06:00

The lake of of the houses is on used to be it's own little lake but as the water table has come over the years, the small lake has now become a bay of the big lake. The area that used to be dry land is now a shallow bar extending between two points that is littered with old tree stumps and lots of rocks. While the small lake (bay) is frozen over with about 3.5" of ice, the main lake which is spring fed is nearly 100 feet deep and takes a while to ice over. A pair of our resident eagles take advantage of the stumps to sit and watch the lake for prey but today they did something I had never seem before. They hopped into the 33° water and took baths! Pretty crazy to watch and I was shivering just thinking about how cold that water is. Anyhow, these shots are MAJORLY cropped from a 500mm lens and have had sharpening added as the birds were quite a ways out. Kept 10 out of 92 which could be salvaged for blog use but would be worthless as prints. Enjoy!

Shots from November 26th

2010-11-26T21:03:00.002-06:00

Melinda and I made a short loop near home and met with Eric Whitehill to drop off a chase video with him.

On our way to meet Eric near Hasty, MN, we passed the east side of Lake Maria State Park where this poofed up red tail hawk was trying to keep warm in the arctic air which had settled over the area.

After a brief chat with Eric at the I94 ramp, Melinda and I headed south along the west side of the State Park. LOTS of eagles were in the area this day and all heading south as the ice is really starting to tighten it's grip in our area and points north. This juvenile bald eagle is one of the largest I have ever seen. I wish there was something to reference as a size comparison. It finally took flight as a mature eagle passed overhead. Once in flight, it dwarfed the mature eagle in wing span.

After seeing a few more eagles who were not willing to be photo subjects, we crossed our original path and headed for home. There is one area about 2 miles north of our place which usually has some type of critters passing through. We hadn't seen anything on the first pass earlier in the morning but Melinda was sure she had seen a deer pass just over a slight hill. Once we got to the spot, 4 does busted out of a thicket along with a pretty nice buck. As we watched them cross the snow covered fields, a second (and much larger buck) suddenly came out of the thicket and wasted little time in catching up with the original 5.

Sure was a great way for us to wrap up our morning run to meet up with Eric.

While Melinda was working on some stuff around the house. I made a short run to hike some of the Crow River near sunset in search of a coyote or owl. Both avoided me but I tell you what, I can't recall ever seeing the river this high at this time of the year. I think we are screwed if we get a snowy winter or heavy rains next spring. One shot of the post-sunset twilight over the recently formed ice.

Before and after...tricking the public

2010-11-23T22:23:00.003-06:00

I get home from work today and sit down to read my personal email and a little Facebook. My Yahoo homepage is showing a link to Nat Geo's Photo of the Year contest and the marquee shot is that of an obviously well processed image of a supercell. Nice storm. I wonder what it really looked like? So I did some digging around and found the shot was taken by Sean Heavey from Montana. You can see more of his storm work HERE.

He has some pretty stuff but between calling an eroded mesocyclone a "shelf cloud" (by far the best vault I have ever seen on a linear storm) and a "suppercell thunderstorm" (I'm hoping he is referring to the time of day the shot was taken), it got me thinking about how easy it is to "fool" the public into thinking what they see is how it really is.

Software enhancement plus 15 minutes of my time.

A fair shot of some ospreys near my home.

Plus a rainbow down the street where I live.

Equals a "photo" Melinda was wondering why I never told her about it. Why? BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENED!

My point is this. Reality and perception of anything visual is so warped now. I wonder where it will stop? Use a little judgment when looking at photos that seem too good to be true, they probably are.

Ready or not northern plains...here comes winter for real!

2010-11-18T21:52:00.004-06:00

Yup, winter is here to stay folks. Obviously this air mass should moderate some as there isn't much of a snow pack yet but it will be the coldest of the season so far. This *should* get the ice going on some of the smaller lakes in the northern 2/3 of Minnesota. Please take the time to review ice safety with the kids!!

Fur and feathers this week and the other shoe has dropped. HELLOOO winter, we meet again.

2010-11-14T22:03:00.001-06:00

Well, I think Minnesota's tornado season is officially over for 2010 with the arrival of our first significant snow of the fall. A pretty good swath of 6" to 12" fell on Saturday. Yup, time to make the total switch over to chasing fur and feathers for a few months.

Thursday, Melinda and myself met up with my long time chasing partner (and photo mentor) David Drufke for a little pre-storm hiking in the river bottoms. Not disappointed with the outcome one bit!

Look closely at the photo above. Do you see him? David does.

Sunday after the snow had a little time to go out and look for eagles. MANY in the area right now as they start moving towards the larger rivers.

The weather looks pretty quiet again this week with most of the action south of here. OK by me as the clock has started ticking towards April 2011 and the new chase season. Until then, woods and rivers here I come.

2010 Deer Hunting Story

2010-11-08T23:14:00.021-06:00

Well, the crew I hunt with has an uncanny knack for having something interesting happen which creates a memory for each season. Well, after laying in the grass for a few years, this was my year. One of the areas we go into hunt is a USFWS WPA which consists of several hundred acres. This spot used to be off limits during deer hunting as the feds designated the area as a critical waterfowl migration refuge. The odd thing is a large portion of this WPA is big woods. Several years ago the feds removed the refuge designation opening it up to hunting. Well, this year after sitting in our stands in a different area, we decided to walk the woods (as we do every year) in the early afternoon. Myself, Seth, Cullen, Isaac, Melinda, Matt, Ryan and Pete devised a game plan using the prevailing southerly wind on how we would cover this huge area and still give our 4 posters the best chances at seeing a deer. Pete and Isaac stayed on the north side while Melinda and Cullen took the east. Seth, Matt, Ryan and myself headed into the woods. This place is more than big and thick enough to have bucks run circles around you with barely giving you a glimpse much less a shot. While Seth, Ryan and Matt worked the middle and eastern sections, I headed to a cut-off point in the northwest corner where I had seen a lot of deer sign earlier and several bucks over the years. Same thing this year as I made my way through the buckthorn brush. Deer moving out in front of me with nothing but legs and tails for a view. After looping around, I walked my usual route of heading back south to the big lake and working the thickets and cane grass with the idea of meeting up with Cullen and Melinda to the east. About 2/3 of the way back a nice sized buck came tearing out of the brush and was crossing from right to left in front of me about one hundred yards away just below the crest of a ridge hell bent on getting back into the big woods. Game time. I thought this would be an easy shot as I squeezed off the first round. BOOM! The deer ducked as if I had shot over the top of him! BOOM! The second shot was obviously behind so I quickly re-calculated the distance and speed of the deer. BOOM! The third shot hit paydirt at about 120 yards. The deer quickly did a 180° spin and went flying through the grass down the ridge and crashed into a small cattail slough. I figured I would wait 10 minutes then go get him. I wasn't thrilled by the splash sound I heard when he went down but oh well. He wasn't going anywhere and getting a little wet to recover the buck was no big deal. Getting him back to the truck would be an issue though as it was a good 3/4 mile to the nearest road in any direction.

No one in our party showed up to check on what I was shooting at so I headed over, found the heavy blood trail going into the cattails and started tracking. I was surprised at how high up some of the blood was and that had me a little worried about where the shot had hit. About 25 feet in the slough the buck suddenly jumped up and started heading west up the ridge. I had to go all the way back around the slough since the water was too deep for me to stay right on the track. The buck wasn't going anywhere too fast up the steep hill so I knew I had time to pick up the trail again. The shot had hit high up on his rear quarter. Once I got to the spot where I saw him crest the ridge, I heard shooting just to my north. It was Ryan and Matt. I asked them if they shot the buck I was tracking but they said it was a doe they missed. After picking the track of the buck up again with the guys, we jumped the deer along the shore of the big lake. The deer was slowly making his way due west and thankfully towards an easier access point. I instructed Ryan not to shoot until the deer cleared the worst of the terrain and let Matt, who was the point man, take the shot. Suddenly Ryan yelled "HE'S SWIMMING!!!". I couldn't believe it! In hunting this area for some 20 odd years, I had never seen an injured deer do this! The guys took a few shots to see if they could dispatch the animal but no luck. I stood on the shore leaning over a deadfall watching the deer swim for a point about 1/3 of a mile across the water. It made me sick to know there was a chance I would not be able to recover this animal. One of my pet peeves is hunter who only make a minimal attempt at recovering a wounded animal. The wheels where turning in my head weighing the options of how to get to the other side knowing full well the road into that area was washed out due to high water.

About this time Melinda and Cullen along with the rest of our party showed up. Their decision was the deer was a lost cause and started to head back. Melinda stayed behind to see what I was going to do. I stood there on top of the ridge and picked the spot where the deer had likely made it to the shore. That spot has 12'-15' cliffs and there was no way that buck was in any condition to make that climb. About this time, an old acquaintance of mine, Paul Viger showed up with his daughter Sophie. They had also watched the deer swim the lake. Paul confirmed what I already knew about the road being washed out. However, he said he would call his brother Donnie and see if he would bring a duck boat for Melinda and I to use to go across to the point and see if we could find the animal. Well, I was all for giving it a shot so Paul called Donnie and we walked back to get our truck and drive back around to the west where the boat would be waiting.

About 30 minutes later we pulled into the trail where we had talked to Paul and right on queue, there was the boat. A 12' jon boat never looked so good. Mel and I got our gear loaded as I grabbed the oars to head over to where I has last seen the buck. It was quite breezy and it didn't take long before Melinda was soaked in the front of the boat. I had worked as a hunting guide and trapped on this lake as a kid and was quite aware of the winds and to be careful as not to swamp the boat. Another 30 minutes later we neared the cliffs along the point. I figured the buck would try to hide in some of the tall grass clumps along the shore so we were extra careful and took our time. Sure enough. There he was laying in the water, still very much alive but unable to get up. I felt awful about what this deer had gone through the past hour. I am a huge believer in making a one shot humane kill whenever possible. Sometimes stuff goes wrong though and I will do whatever it takes to fix it. I loaded a single slug into Mel's 20 gauge Mossberg as I swung the boat around upwind of the deer. A single shot ended his suffering.

As Melinda and I sat there, a new problem arose. How in the world was I going to get a 170 lb deer who was now soaking wet and closer to 200+ lbs into a 12 foot jon boat? My initial idea was to drag the deer along the shore over to the tip of the point, gut it, then load it in the boat. Off came the boots and socks and into the 35° water I went. From having extensive experience on this lake, I knew the bottom was relatively soft but it looked firm enough to walk on close to shore. My feet were quickly going numb and what started out as a good idea went right down the tubes as I broke through the top 3" crust into a foot of muck below. Crap! OK, time for plan B. Mel rowed the boat into a flat, shallow area and we wrestled 200 lbs of soaking wet deer into the boat...which now has about 2"-3" of ice cold water in the bottom. We get everything balanced and start to head back across the lake to the truck, dry land, and warmth. I am all too familiar with the extreme dangers of cold water and took every precaution to ensure a wave didn't broadside us sending us all into the drink. It had been a long time since I had oared a fully loaded duck boat but once again, there is no substitute for experience. As we neared the shore, Melinda spotted a mink hunting along the rocks who gave us an escort of sorts back to the truck. Upon reaching the steep shore, it was obvious there was no easy way of getting the buck up the bank to the trail where the truck was. Out came the rope. Yup, tied it off to the deer and the hitch on the truck as Melinda slowly pulled it up the bank. Whew, what an effort to recover the deer but it was all good now. About this time, Paul and Sophie came by again to offer up their congratulations of finding the deer and it also gave me the opportunity to once again thank an old neighbor for going above and beyond to help out. Heck, he even offered to take this picture!

This was the second worst recovery of a deer I have ever been through. Only the record book non typical buck from 1994 tops this. Once again, what started out as a typical hunting day for Melinda and I ended in extraordinary fashion as a memory we will hold for the rest of our lives...or until next year when maybe we can come up with something to top this!

Weekend shots from October 30th and 31st

2010-11-03T20:38:00.002-05:00

Another crazy busy week of family, voting, and the upcoming deer season so not a lot of play time this past weekend. Did manage to drag myself out of bed the morning of the 31st though and it was worth it.

Once the sun came up, I made my way to one of my usual perches to see what would come by. I was really disappointed in the lack of migrating waterfowl.

While sitting around waiting for nothing to happen, the strange sound of big wings coming over the water startled me. Goose? No. Swan? NO. Eagle?? NO!!! WILD TURKEY!!! This was without a doubt the WTF??? moment of the fall. A wild turkey flying over the wild rice beds meant for mallards! I was so surprised to see this enormous bird so out of place, I kind of didn't think about getting a shot until it was well past me. Swing and a miss!!!

Rough legged hawk stopping by to see what I was up to.

A couple of eagles a long ways off. No one wanted to come by for a closer look.

Last weeks record wind storm did some damage. This is what is left of one of my favorite eagle nests. About 1/3 of it is missing. At least the whole tree didn't come down like some of the others close by.

Sandhill cranes on the way home. There were a couple of thousand in the area!

The day before (the 30th) up in Fergus Falls. October snow!!!

Cullen warming up for deer hunting.

One of the deer near our woods.

One more curious doe. She will be safe this weekend!

Land-i-cane 2010 is coming!

2010-10-25T18:20:00.001-05:00

Quite the pressure gradient at H85. With a projected surface pressure of 959mb on the ETA, this is going to be a heck of a wind maker for sure.

Not sure if I'm going to do much with it other than check out the waves tomorrow afternoon when I get home. One thing for sure, I won't be flying a kite.

Back from Itasca county and points well north (Hey metro a-holes! Keep out unless you have cash..!)

2010-10-24T22:04:00.009-05:00

Melinda and I headed north this weekend so she could help her sister with some work related stuff which opened the door for me on Saturday to make a run up into St. Louis county for a little R and R coupled with some grouse hunting. I made it out of Grand Rapids by 8:30am and headed up 65 with the intentions of jogging my way over to 53 and Orr, MN where I could grab 23 over to the head of the Echo Trail. I figured once I was on the Echo, I would pick and choose fire roads and trails in the Superior National Forest side of the line (as opposed to the BWCA which is off limits to hunting).

Well, the Echo turned out to be a joke. Thanks to the State of MN and St. Louis county, that "trail" has been improved to the point every Lexus driving moron from Eden Prairie or Minnetonka can now make it from Ely over to Buyck with only a little dust on the paint. I was appalled at the number of SUV's being driven by orange vest clad urbanites pulling at least one ATV behind. Every hear of using your feet? Or better yet, SLOW DOWN and enjoy the beauty of what was once beautiful wilderness woods before a dozer and slasher took the bumps out for your cute little leased ride. I observed THREE different groups pulled off to the side eating or drinking something and blatantly threw some type of garbage on the road. Two of the SUV's were sporting "Lexus of Wayzata" license plate frames and the third had a Sears Imports frame. Really? You guys are not hunters or sportsmen. Not even close. Any idea why the locals smile, take your money, then laugh at you the minute you turn your back? Who is the idiot here? Do you wonder why landowners won't let you step foot on their property unless you shell out a Benjamin or two but they will let a guy and his kid who roll up in a rusted out scratched up 15 year old pickup in for the sheer courtesy of asking for permission? One group is a stereotype (self-created), the other is not. That landowner knows the local will treat the land with respect. The other thinks throwing enough money around cures all. Do all the native northerners a favor. Keep driving 5 hours one way up and bring lots of cash. We are going to take it and laugh your ass all the way to our bank.

Anyhow, back to the good part of the trip...kind of.

A shot of Meander Lake about half way over to Ely from Orr, MN on the Echo Trail.

I avoided Ely as I was pretty mad with what I had seen on the Echo in terms bad behavior, driving, littering, and just general disrespect so I looped around back to MN 1 (which every Minnesotan should drive once in their life from Lake Superior over to the North Dakota border at Oslo, MN). A few miles west of Ely I had these two bald eagles flying an escort for me between the thick forest on the side of the road.

Just before getting back to highway 53, I came across a road kill deer the ravens and eagles were feeding on. I parked the truck about a half mile away and began making my way through the woods to where I would have a clean view of the birds. It was quite a site as the mature eagles would try to chase off the ravens and the juvenile eagles. Well, I finally got all set and was ready to start shooting when here comes a nice new white Chevy Suburban and slams on the brakes right next to the carcass. Thank you Village Chevrolet. Yup, there went my photo op. So the nice young couple all decked out in their Eddie Bauer and The North Face gear, get out, stand in the middle of the road, and chat about how cool that was to see 6 eagles in one spot. Yeah, freaking great. About that time I walked out of the pine thicket I was concealed in and start walking back to my truck. It scared the crap out of them and I'm glad I did. While toting the D200 and 50-500 mounted on the tripod, I was fighting the urge to give them the one finger salute the whole time I was walking away from them. **DO THE ANIMALS A FAVOR AND OBSERVE FROM A DISTANCE!!!**

I was frustrated beyond belief at this point and wanted to just go back to Rapids and call the day a loss. Once I got to 53 I figured I would take CR22 over to 73 and head back through Chisholm and Hibbing. Sometimes God takes pity on me and throws me a bone for effort I guess. Just as shootable light was running out, I came across another roadkill which had one lonely eagle keeping an eye on it. This guy was nice enough to allow me to get a few shots after backing well off as not to disturb him. These birds are stressed anyhow and certainly don't need to be hassled by some goof wanting to get a closer look. From the blood on his beak, I'm guessing he had already been working on the carcass at some point. So, for a few minutes, free of SUV driving idiots, all was right in the world. Just the sound of the wind rustling the pines, the smell of leaves under my feet, and the most majestic of all Minnesota raptors in my viewfinder. It all was OK again.

Severe Studios?? Who??

2010-10-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

Having a little fun at John Wetter's expense at the NWS-MPX office for their annual Scout Day.

John awaits the mass of kids.

Any chance we can get to talk to the public about chasers and what we really do to offset the sensationalistic image portrayed by the recent hype created by the TV shows is time well spent. Before anyone starts sending me hate mail, keep in mind I string for TVN (see shirt in the first photo LOL) and have been part of a reality show based on chasers. I get it...both sides. Bottom line is Reed, Sean, et al have become the stereotype and not necessarily the norm. Just sayin'.

Crowd shot. The kids (and adults) had lots of good questions...everything from our opinions on climate change, to why there were so many tornadoes in Minnesota this year, to why their iPhone won't work in the parking lot (they noticed John uses Sprint and I use Verizon). Most everyone we chatted with had a severe weather story from this year. It's always fun to hear the excitement in the kids' voices as they recall their showdown with Mother Nature.

Overall it was a great day and I want to publicly thank John, Todd Krause, and Michelle Margraf for allowing us to be part of this day and am looking forward to next year. Also thanks to Melinda for being the photographer!

They're baaaaaack!

2010-10-17T21:44:00.002-05:00

Eagles are starting to pile into their usual haunts as winter in closing in fast. Cullen and I loaded up the mountain bikes and took a short trip a couple of miles into the Sherburne NWR today in advance of a fast moving trough. LOTS of waterfowl moving today and the first appreciable numbers of diving ducks also. Most we saw were ringnecks and lesser scaup but also a few redheads and cans. The magic day of October 21 is quickly going to be here signaling the statistical spike in the duck migration. The point here is the increasing number of waterfowl also brings a noticeable increase in bald eagles to this area. As with years past, today brought what we expected: eagles scattered about with many new juvenile birds moving in.

When Cullen and I turned the corner onto the service road where I wanted to go, we spotted this very young eagle sitting on the road (a long LONG ways out) with 2 mature (locals) and 2 more juveniles sitting in the trees overhead.

It turns out the eagles had killed a medium sized raccoon and were in the process of cleaning what meat was left from the carcass. Pretty interesting to watch as when we approached, none of the eagles were in a big hurry to leave the kill. We took a moment to observe what was left of the raccoon. They had cleaned 99% of the meat off the bones and the hide looked as if it had been removed with the precision of a trapper.

We left the raccoon for the eagles to go back to work on as one of the local birds (I recognized the "notch" in the feathers on the right wing) kept tabs on us as we peddled our way back to the truck as the cold front swept by dropping temps into the upper 40's. Still better than last year as we had snow cover already!

October 9 2010 Buffalo Game Show

2010-10-11T22:39:00.000-05:00

Kids had a great time and our freaky Indian Summer continues with highs up into the mid 70's to lower 80's. Gotta love Minnesota as by this time last year, we already had our first snow out of the way.

Thanks to the Buffalo Stars and Stirrups club for putting on the event and to the So Others May Shine kids for a great performance.

Bridget and Atti.

Maddie with Brandi and Bridget with Atti.

Cullen and Cedar.

Marilyn and Rocket.

Jessica and Trigger.

Maddie and Brandi.

I was considering un-retiring my boots but this is their gig. I have enough pokers in the fire between chasing and wildlife!

Shots from the weekend...last of the fall colors?

2010-10-03T15:21:00.001-05:00

Colors are quickly going down hill around home. There are still pockets of bright vibrant color but the transition over to brown and down is well under way. A few eagles are starting to show up but none really wanted to cooperate and I made a bad positioning decision on one area I know the eagles hunt for muskrats. Yup, right on cue a pair started working the marshy end of the lake...too bad I opted for better lighting and put myself out of the game by a couple of hundred yards. Next time...

Sunrise eagle a gazillion yards away.

A couple of maturing eagles chasing a juvenile out of "their tree".

A distant eagle hunting for muskrats over the slough.

Waterfowl numbers look like they are doing well early in the migration.

But I am concerned what they will find once they reach the polluted gulf coast marshes.

Distant eagle with a little splash of color in the back.

Fighting swans.

This squabble went on for quite a few minutes.

Finally one gave up and high tailed it to the other end of the pond.

Looks like it is going to be a beautiful week coming up weather-wise. Makes me nervous as to when the other shoe will drop!

Shots from our fall camping trip into the Minnesota wilderness

2010-10-01T18:14:00.001-05:00

Well, another year has come and gone as Melinda and I made our annual trip north deep into northern Lake County Minnesota. One thing I like about where we live is the further north you go, the fewer people there are...kind of. 15 years ago, leaving the world behind was easy. Not so much any more as people think you need to go to the end of the road to escape. So do several hundred other people.

One a related note, Sawbill Landing has become a commercialized "wilderness" joke. Avoid it. It may be a BWCA access point and that is about it.

The trick now is to hit the areas everyone else bypasses to get to where they (and everyone else) thinks is a "remote area". The human soul needs peace and quiet where tranquility is defined by star filled skies, brilliant fall colors, and the celebratory howl of pack of wolves. We welcome every chance to escape we can get. Enjoy.

Heading in through the Sawtooth

The road to nowhere

Base camp

View from the top

Trout cruising the shore

Fire road 3-5-something

Fall colors ablaze in a bog

Fall colors at night accented by stars and the howls of wolves

A perfect morning

2010 Chase Video Trailer and a couple of shots from the weekend

2010-09-19T21:21:00.001-05:00

Well, the 2010 video project is wrapped up. Just need to print the jackets and burn the disks. Please email us at media.inquries@mnwxchaser.com if you are interested in a trade! Keep in mind we never sell our videos so find something out there weather related to trade with us!

Getting back into the swing of things. The kids are well into the school routine now and Melinda and I will be leaving this week for our annual wilderness camping trip up by the BWCA. The older I get, the more disgusted I become with where our American culture is headed. I love my country, but there are some real idiots roaming (and running) some area of it. The escape to the wilderness of northern Minnesota is always good for the soul. So, as we quickly head into the fall season, the "Shots from the Weekend" blog posts will be resuming. My daughter joined me for a morning tour near out home. Cailyn's new thing is to keep a tally of what we see and today's list included 46 wild turkeys, 6 squirrels (including the albino by the lake house), 2 deer (the fawns are now spotless), and 1 kestrel holding a mouse in it's talon for breakfast. We also saw a lot of waterfowl and oddly enough 5 kingfishers. I normally don't see one but today was a welcome treat.

HEY NOOBS!!!!!! Wanna chase like Roger Hill or Andy Gabrielson?

2010-09-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

I have an ATT Option GT Max 3.6 Express aircard for sale. $20 includes shipping and dongle wire for connecting to an external antenna. Works great in ATT coverage areas but I live and chase in areas which are not all that ATT friendly. Needs SIM card and data plan from ATT. If your ATT cell phone has a SIM card and you have a data plan, put the SIM in the aircard and it works like a charm. The card will get noobs chasing like the pros in no time!!

2010 video BIOMN VII will be done in a few weeks

2010-09-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

Haven't been out shooting much as have been putting a lot of time in on "BIOMN 7, Northern Plains Defrosted". Run time will be about 1:15 and as in years past has a little bit of everything. If you are looking to trade vids, be sure to hit up either myself or Cullen and we'll get you on the list. As with all previous years, we don't sell our videos....trade only. Current year or previous years are cool. Videos you have purchased from other chasers are cool as well as long as we don't already own it!

August 15 2010 Jim Thome's 580th career home run

2010-08-15T20:17:00.000-05:00

Hated the guy when he played for Cleveland and CWS as he seemed to own us. I've felt pretty lucky to witness quite a sports milestones over the years and I am glad to say I was there to see Thome's 580th. What was really cool is the guy out in right field who caught the ball was wearing a Thome jersey! He was really happy and even though he had to give up the ball, he left Target Field with a bat signed by Thome....how cool!

Anyhow, here it is shot by shot!

What a perfect day at the ballpark!

August 13 sunrise shelf

2010-08-15T20:12:00.000-05:00

The "golden hour" concept for photography also applies to the morning. One in a great while a decent shelf makes an appearance with clear skies to the east with the rising sun lighting up the front. August 13th was one of those mornings.

The rest of the day didn't go a hoped. I dinged around too long at home to make it down to the Owatonna / Rochester area for the real show and pooched myself on the big bow later in the afternoon near home by going south 25 miles instead of going 11 north. Then, after shooting 119 frames trying to get a Perseid meteor and seeing more than a half dozen over the course of about 40 minutes, not one in a picture. Such is life sometimes...

Spectacular tornado August 7 2010 Wilkin county / Campbell MN

2010-08-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

HOLY MOLY, what a day. What started out as not looking great, ended with one heck of a photogenic tornado!

FULL SET OF PICS AND CHASE ACCOUNT CAN BE SEEN HERE