Chased and spotted at touch down in Chequamegon Bay area. The Dominator.

I'm claiming this as a photo scoop. These are the first published photos of  The Dominator  taken after it's touch down in the Chequamegon Bay area.  See the Storm Chasers website.

Here is my question for the experts ... has there ever been a verified touchdown of a tornado in Ashland Wisconsin? Within a 5 mile radius?  Within a 10 mile radius?

Interesting vehicle to see up close, stationary and without an approaching vortex.

 For tornado video footage vist the TornadoVideos.net website

Checkout the emblem "Mythbusters Tested" 250 MPH. Visit the Mythbusters website.

Behold the Beast at work.

Proof of sighting.

Four fawns. One Mom?

The question is.. are these four fawns siblings, cousins, adopted or unrelated.

Although this is clearly not one of the better photos I've taken and posted it does have four fawns with one adult.

They were all grazing together at the back end of a field.

There was one other adult in the field but it was a least half a field away and didn't seem to have any association with the four fawns.

What do you think? Anyone know how common it would be for four fawns in one litter?

Coyotes.

These Coyotes were photographed at the back edge of an 80 acre field with a 400 mm lens. This field has been one of the best place I know for seeing and photographing wildlife. I've seen and photographed eagles, coyotes, bear, hawks, turkeys, sandhill cranes, harriers and deer to name a few. In fact I've decide to add a new label to use with these photos...hwy118

T-34 Trainer makes a visit to Ashland JFK airport.

USAF/USN Flight Trainer.



Kids from local school get a tour and a chance to sit in the pilot's seat.

Pileated Woodpecker visiting the backyard.

Ross's Goose or a hybrid with "Snow Goose influence".

These two photos were taken on the west end lake shore just east of Bodin's on the Lake. This must be the bird located and ID by Ryan Brady and Tim Oksiuta. Ryan raised some question about it's bill shape and markings suggesting some Snow Goose influence.

I hope these photos will help sort out the final ID.

Base on it's relative size and viewed from a distance I must admit that my initial impression was what is that seagull doing in the middle of all those geese.

Here is a Ross's Goose photographed by Ryan Brady.

The road home.

I told you it was getting cooler.


This coyote was headed to the brush on a dead out run as soon as he saw me stop.


Ryan B. Did you catch this sighting on the way home?


This struck me as one of the stranger perching locations I've seen. I believe this Killdeer is sitting on a pile of lime.

Loggerhead Shrike. "Very rare" in this area.

Loggerhead Shrike. Thanks again to Ryan Brady.








Loggerhead Shrike preening.


Loggerhead Shrike preening.





In this series of shots the two birds are "exchanging" either food or nesting (?) material. Look close and you can see it being past back and forth (?). These photos are enlarged to 200% and are blurry. Sorry! Look close at their beaks they are passing something. For more information on Loggerhead Shrikes look here.

Yearling Black Bear

This young Black Bear was spotted near the school today. It appeared to the many bystanders to be either recently out of hibernation or sick. My observation was that it had little energy and want to lay down and rest. The DNR was called and hopefully helped move it to a save environment.

Tundra Swans and Black Scoter

Tundra Swans




Black Scoter

Barrow's Goldeneye

Barrow's Goldeneye

This bird was photographed at short bridge on the west end of Ashland's water front.



Common Goldeneye

The Barrow's Goldeneye are rare in this region. Thanks to Ryan B. Tim O. and Eric B. for keeping the bird watchers in this area alerted to this and other rare sightings.

Cold sunny winter day gulls.

These gulls were foraging around an area on the ice that is used for ice racing on Sundays. Ice racing brings out tailgating (cookouts). My dog loves this area he always seems to finds something to munch on. Today he was competing with these gulls.


GLAUCOUS GULL (enlarged photo of top center bird in the photos above)

UPDATE: I passed the original photos on to Ryan Brady and asked him to ID the gulls. You will noticed that to the untrained eye (me) the three gulls look different which I thought was unusual for a single photo captured by PURE luck.

The response I got back from the trained eye (Ryan) was great and I quote:
"Well, I knew this would one day happen. You found a "good" bird and photographed it without knowing it.............the top middle bird ia a first winter GLAUCOUS GULL (your "good" bird)

I would slightly disagree...it might be my "good bird" photo but until Ryan IDed it it was "three different looking gulls" to me. So I'll settle for it's "our" good bird.

This is like the old question.. when a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear does it make a sound?

Thanks Ryan.

Ryan adds: "to find one of these along the Ashland lakefront in mid-winter is quite unusual........they are regular up at Corny when ice-free in winter."