My first stop on this mid June excursion was Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge in far northwest Minnesota. It was a gloomy, windy, rainy day in the aspen parklands but I had to make the most of a photographically-poor situation. Down a side road on the refuge I found a spot where Forster’s Terns were making pass after pass above a flooded creek/drainage ditch. At first I simply cranked up the ISO and took many shots to freeze these elegant birds in flight. But the gray skies got grayer, and the gloom got gloomier, so I altered my technique; now I switched to Shutter Priority mode and attempted to get some slow panning shots. My favorite Forster’s photos are below.

Forster’s Tern diving for fish in Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.
I used Manual exposure setting as I wanted the image exposed properly for the white bird. And since the background was changing as the bird flew (from light sky to dark green leaves) I couldn’t trust Aperture Priority to get the right exposure.
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1000 second at f5.6; ISO 320; panning hand-held]

Forster’s Tern in Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.
I desaturated the background in Aperture for a more dramatic look.
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/60 second at f8; ISO 100; panning hand-held]

EIGHT small fish in ONE DIVE! An amazing feat to accomplish in a head-first plunge that lasts one second max. There must have been very tight schools of fish to be so successful.

American White Pelican at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.

Camping at Thief Lake WMA (My late great Honda Odyssey that lost in a battle with a rogue White-tailed Deer just weeks later)

Dawn at Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area in northwest Minnesota.
I love this place in late spring/early summer. It is secluded, has tons of bird life, and a very cool “observation mound” from which you can scan the ginormous cattail marsh.

Red-winged Blackbird at Thief Lake WMA.

Observation Mound at Thief Lake WMA.
[iPhone panorama]

Black Tern and cattail reflections.
This photo was a real surprise success..and I didn’t realize it until I got home and viewed it on the iMac. I really like the odd “M.C Esher-esque” juxtaposition of the bird and the “upside down” cattails (reflection). It was also a very pleasant surprise that the Black Tern’s wings mimicked the angle of the cattails without overlapping with them.
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1600 second at f5.6; ISO 250; hand-held]

Ducks flying across Thief Lake WMA.
This image was just begging to be converted to black-and-white; the strong shape elements of the graceful reeds and silhouetted ducks don’t need color to enhance.
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1600 second at f5.6; ISO 250; hand-held]

Franklin’s Gull in flight over Thief Lake WMA.
My number one goal on this leg of the trip was to photograph what I consider to be one of the most beautiful gulls in North America…the Franklin’s Gull. I love the mat black head, white eye-ring and blood red bill. And the fact that they are not a gull I see that often makes them even more special.
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1600 second at f6.3; ISO 250; hand-held (for birds in flight, especially overhead, you almost HAVE to hand-hold your camera…a tripod restricts your movement too much]

Franklin’s Gull catching flying insect on the wing.
Flocks of Franklin’s Gulls forage in neighboring farm fields during the day. This flock was making repeated flights to catch aerial insects. I did not notice the bug until I got home and viewed this image large. I used Shutter Priority in order to make sure I froze the motion of the flying birds (though, this image is a bit soft due to movement so I should have used 1/2000 or 1/1600 second)
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/1250 second at f6.3; ISO 125; hand-held]

Marsh Wren at Thief Lake WMA.
The Marsh Wren is a rare bird in northeast Minnesota, so I’m always thrilled when I can get a good shot of this cattail dweller. They are feisty little guys!
[Canon 7D with Canon 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/500 second at f6.3; ISO 640; hand-held]

Sharp-tailed Grouse in soybean field near Minnesota’s Thief Lake WMA.

Burned tractor.
Wish I knew the story behind this “roasted” tractor!

After leaving the Big Bog, I headed west towards Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge…but first I had to get around Upper and Lower Red Lake…the largest inland lake in Minnesota. Agassiz is a huge refuge…61,000 acres, half of which is wetlands. (Click here to learn about the refuge) I was hoping to catch some big flights of ducks, geese or swans, especially since the ice just went out on the smaller ponds (late March). I arrived just before sunset…gorgeous light…now all I needed was a subject! Quiet…no visible birds or ducks…so I took this shot of my very long shadow…something we don’t get in the North Woods.


I did find a few ducks at sunset and took some silhouettes. I have been trying to think outside the box with my wildlife photography lately and so I thought why does the critter need to be in focus? That’s why I tried this shot. The idea came from a photo I took in Yellowstone a few years ago…a Bison in a snowstorm (click here to see image). but the autofocus on my camera locked on to the falling snow and not the bison…An accident, but the resulting image worked. I even entered it into the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest (THE most prestigious wildlife photography contest in the world). Amazingly it reached the “semi-finals” of the contest. This image doesn’t work very well but I wanted to share it to inspire all of us to think creatively.


I camped at the nearby Eckvoll WMA campground under a beautiful starry sky…but here’s where you end up sleeping when you forget your tent poles! The back of the Subaru is a little short so I woke up with a kink in my back. But I was not alone in the campground…a tiny Saw-whet Owl serenaded me from the nearby woods. “Toot…Toot…Toot…Toot” and on and on. I imitated his call by whistling and he came in to check me out. But never close enough so I could get the flashlight on him.

The next morning dawned cold and calm…but the ducks were shy and skittish..and there were not many of them. This Phragmites grass was the only image I liked.

Time to head to the prairies!