Field Notes
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North Shore Nocturnes
Field Notes: I visited this stretch of shoreline earlier that afternoon. I walked the basalt ledges looking for possible compositions, where the rocks gently dipped into clear Lake Superior water. Before heading back to our cabin, I checked the moon’s path on the app. If the forecast held, I knew…
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Morning in Mindo
Morning in Mindo Some of the best travel memories happen before the day’s wanderings begin. A quiet morning in Mindo, Ecuador reminds me that simply being present is often enough.
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Suddenly Birds Filled the Sky
I first noticed a single tern gliding above an island of reeds. As I drifted closer, more birds appeared. What seemed from a distance like a handful of Common Terns were actually a thriving colony tucked into the grasses.
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Evening Lights
The first lights of evening were not the fireflies. They were Venus and Jupiter hanging above the western horizon. The fireflies came later, rising from the sedges as fog drifted across the bog and darkness settled over the marsh.
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The Little Lake Across the Road and the Trumpeter Swan
Field Notes: As evening faded, frogs and birds began their evening chorus. Perched nearby, a Common Yellowthroat emerged as the lead singer. And one of the Trumpeter Swans left the nest on the old beaver lodge. It spent nearly an hour feeding just twenty feet from my blind before answering…
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The Little Lake Across the Road
Field Notes: A 5-mile Radius Post Just across the road from home lies a small, glacial remnant, pothole lake. It is shallow with lily pads and bordered with reeds and cattails. From a simple ground blind I recently spent a spring evening watching female Hooded Mergansers tend to the tasks…
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Barred Owl
An encounter with a Barred Owl at Governor Dodge State Park. While I struggled with camera gear, she watched patiently from an oak limb just beyond my camp.
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Duluth Harbor Entrance and the American Spirit
Experience the magical moment at Duluth Harbor when the Great Lakes freighter, American Spirit, approaches the breakwater as the sunset transforms the harbor into a picturesque scene.
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Gooseberry Falls, Minnesota
The Gooseberry River tumbles over these ancient basalt rocks in stair-stepped cascades shaped by volcanic activity and ice. Every spring, rainwater and snowmelt surge down the gorge, and for a period of time the river returns to a wilder and more powerful version of itself.
Gary Donaldson
“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown.”
— Anthony Bourdain
