Sea Smoke 001

The continued arctic blast created wind chills of -20 so consequently sea smoke has been forming over Lake Superior all week. The Gott is anchored outside of Two Harbors waiting its turn to load iron ore. A lone bald eagle is flying over the lighthouse.

SeaSmoke001

Sea Smoke 002

The sea smoke later cleared enough to give a better view of the Gott.

SeaSmoke003

Sea Smoke 003

This father and son ran out to the end of the break wall to get a closer view of the ore boat. With the cold wind and an icy break wall it wasn’t something I wanted to do.

At times the sea smoke mixes with the high wind and twists skyward like a waterspout. You can see one has formed over the Gott.

SeaSmoke002

Sea Smoke 004

As the sun set both the ice covered shoreline and the sea smoke had a warmer glow. You can see the Gott in the right side of this photo.

SeaSmoke004

Sea Smoke 005

These two photographers were capturing the sun behind the lighthouse. Even with the cold temps it was a beautiful evening.

SeaSmoke005

Mountain Ash Berries

This year the mountain ash trees had an overabundance of berries.

MountainAshBerries

Bohemian Waxwings 001

Several photographers were waiting for the waxwings to migrate from Canada and start feeding.

It happened this week. Thousands of bohemian and cedar waxwings invaded Grand Marais eating every berry in sight. They can completely strip a tree of its berries in just a few hours.

BohemianWaxwings001

Bohemian Waxwings 002

This flock was eating grit along the road. I sat on the ground and waited for a car to pass by. When the car came the flock flew right over my head. I have never seen so many waxwings as what was in town this week.

BohemianWaxwings002

Bohemian Waxwings 003

This is the bohemian waxwing with rust colored feathers under the tail.

BohemianWaxwings003

Cedar Waxwings 001

The cedar waxwings were almost as plentiful.

CedarWaxwings001

Cedar Waxwings 002

Here is the cedar waxwing.

CedarWaxwings004

Bohemian Waxwings 004

You can see why they are called waxwings with their smooth feathers that look like they have been dipped in red wax.

Waxwings

American Robin 001

Along with the waxwings were several hundred robins.

Robin003

Pine Grosbeak 001

Another species that were dining on the mountain ash was the pine grosbeak.

I don’t know how many mountain ash trees are in Grand Marais but they were all striped of their berries in about five days and now it seems that most of the waxwings have moved on.

PineGrosbeak