All but Owls in Sax-Zim BogThe weekend of March 25 - 27, five of us avid nature photographers from the Minnesota Valley Photo Club drove up to Sax-Zim Bog hoping to capture (with a camera) Great Gray Owls. Although we did not see any owls, we had a great time photographing the landscapes of the frozen bog a day after a snow storm along with wildlife that makes the bog their home. We all shared the West Lodge at Alesches' Accommodations, which is a surprising nice place to stay. The first morning we stopped at the visitor center, which closed a week earlier for the season. The bird feeders were teaming with bird activity along with many Red Squirrels.
I think the only time of the year a bog could be so beautiful is during the time we were there. So we had to stop to capture it's beauty. I brought out my heavy duty tripod and put on my landscape lens...
While scouring the trees looking for an owl on Admiral Road, I happened to spot a bump on a branch. Finally an owl? Nope, just a porcupine...
When we approached Highway 7, I spotted this white raptor flying low along the side of the road, hunting for an unexpected rodent. Could it be a Snowy Owl? We stopped along side the road so I could attempt to capture this allusive flying object. When we got back to the lodge we enhanced on of the image in Lightroom and determined it was a Northern Harrier.
One of my favorite areas of the bog is where the Red Willow stands out from the snow.
On Saturday while I was waiting for the gang to get ready for our evening shoot, I went out side the lodge to capture the Redpolls and Chickadees by the feeders.
On our way to find a sunset scene we stopped to photograph a lone deer in the field. But just a little further was this old shed with nice pines in the background.
While back on the road we noticed around 6 deer on the move. This bald eagle must have been perplexed because it looked like the deer were trying to imitate him.
I did not capture any special sunset images but the next morning we got up before sunrise to get in position to capture these beauties about a half mile from the lodge.
Sunday morning on our way out of the bog, we spotted a few Ruffed Grouse eating buds from a tree.
On the way home we stopped to capture the raging river below the recently opened Thomson Dam in Carlton, MN. I experimented with and without my Neutral Density filter.
To see full size images go to Sax-Zim Bog. I hope you enjoyed my blog. Comments are welcome! 
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