One of our all-time favorite birds is the Pileated Woodpecker. We got lucky, and got some good looks at two of them.
A milestone
The medicated stent keeps my heart working. As part of the deal, I take Plavix for a year to keep the stent working. Plavix is not a blood thinner. It’s more like a blood lubricant. It prevents clotting by making the blood platelets more slippery. Whatever, it’s working. I’ll idly scratch a mosquito bite and next thing I know, blood is running down my leg toward my shoe. No clotting by Band-aid Boy! The side-effects aren’t fun. My neck aches and it feels like someone poked me in the solar plexus. No problem though. Advil helps the sore neck. I make a mess from time-to-time and ruin some clothes, but what the heck. It’s for a good cause. So what’s the milestone part? I started the Plavix a month ago. One bottle of pills per month. I finished the first bottle today. Only 11 bottles to go! Meanwhile, we’ve moved north. We’re at the Fortune Bay RV Park outside Tower, Minnesota. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=107013362562471418011.00047964b60d16d130156&ll=47.41322,-92.345581&spn=2.092764,7.113647&z=8
Tuesday
There is a blues festival in town starting tomorrow. The KOA here is all booked up. We’ll head north tomorrow.
While we were here we had good looks at Common Loons,
…a juvenile Peregrine Falcon,
…and pitcher plants.
Day-trip
Sunday was a driving day. Exploring the North Shore of Lake Superior.
135 miles up the coast to Grand Marais for a fish and chips lunch on the waterfront. Back by way of Temperence River State Park. They have a really nice campground there, you can hear the water lapping at the shore, but it’s booked solid for the rest of the summer so we can’t go stay there.
Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.
Gooseberry Falls State Park:
It was a four state park day.And we got the Purple Finch.
Bemidji area birds
We Saw White-Winged Scoter, Ruffed Grouse, Pileated Woodpecker, and several warblers while we were in the Bemidji area. The Scoter and Ruffed Grouse are life-birds. Here’s the list:
| Canada Goose |
| Trumpeter Swan |
| Wood Duck |
| Mallard |
| Ring-necked Duck |
| White-winged Scoter |
| Common Goldeneye |
| Common Merganser |
| Ruffed Grouse |
| Common Loon |
| American White Pelican |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| Osprey |
| Bald Eagle |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| American Kestrel |
| Peregrine Falcon |
| Franklin’s Gull |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Black Tern |
| Rock Pigeon |
| Mourning Dove |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker |
| Downy Woodpecker |
| Hairy Woodpecker |
| Northern Flicker |
| Pileated Woodpecker |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee |
| Eastern Phoebe |
| Eastern Kingbird |
| Warbling Vireo |
| Red-eyed Vireo |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Common Raven |
| Tree Swallow |
| Barn Swallow |
| Black-capped Chickadee |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch |
| White-breasted Nuthatch |
| Brown Creeper |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| Eastern Bluebird |
| American Robin |
| Cedar Waxwing |
| Golden-winged Warbler |
| Tennessee Warbler |
| Nashville Warbler |
| Yellow Warbler |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler |
| Magnolia Warbler |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| American Redstart |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Chipping Sparrow |
| Vesper Sparrow |
| Savannah Sparrow |
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Common Grackle |
| American Goldfinch |
| House Sparrow |