Temperatures have been as volatile as the stock market lately; balmy 40's on Monday, dipping down to -10 last night with a windchill somewhere in the -20's. The mercury's hovering around 0F this morning, and the winds seem to have died down.

Droves of Purple and Gold finches at the thistle feeder this morning, with Chickadees, Nuthatches and Bluejays picking away at the suet and peanut feeders and Juncos and Gray Squirrels have been picking away at the ground feeders.

Green Heron on Lily Pads

Green Heron on Lily Pads
Originally uploaded by Beyond the Main

Found this photo I took a few years back of a Green Heron hunting bugs and small fish among Long Lake's lilypads. I followed this particular girl around for about a week and a half, as she always took up residence along the Eastern side of the lake near our house. As you can see, any but the largest of lilypads had a habit of sinking underneath her, and watching her fly/hop between the ones that sunk under her weight was really quite comic.

Birch Sunset February 2003

Birch Sunset February 2003
Originally uploaded by Beyond the Main

Found this photo I took back in 2003 of an amazing sunset over Long Lake in Stillwater, MN. Amazingly enough, the use of the flash was completely accidental.

A very blurry picture of a Chickadee at our ground feeder.

Tropical heatwave here in Minnesota; temps peaking around 40 F this afternoon. Added green grapes to the ground feeder as it doesn't seem to have been too terribly active lately. Saw a few Chickadees and Blue Jays around it this afternoon, and expect a few Possums and Raccoons to be popping around after dark.

Finally got a substantial chunk of my Stillwater Project done... have mapped out over 90 images to within 10 feet of where they were photographed.