A Great Winter Hike!

Our temps in the Twin Cities area have been quite cold for a couple of weeks now -in the twenties or below in the daytime and sometimes near the single digits at night. But this Saturday we had a blast of warm air come in, pushing up the temps into the mid thirties. In comparison it nearly felt like Spring! I was excited to get to the park but didn't arrive until just after 2 in the afternoon. As I parked in the south lot I decided to make a quick phone call and while I was talking, here comes a Coyote walking right out onto the frozen lake in plain sight! I abruptly ended my phone call, grabbed my camera and jumped out, leaving my vehicle door open and running down the hill to get closer. I got a couple of far away shots and watched the Coyote walk right up the frozen creek, then cut into the cattails and disappear. I walked back to my vehicle and got more prepared and decided to walk out onto the ice again just in case I was able to spot him again. There were at least 3 other people out hiking on the lake and I figured the odds were good that someone might scare him out again. Sure enough as I hiked up the frozen creek I caught him running quite quickly through the cattails to the west. Interestingly, as he ran, he would leap high up into the air and simultaneously turn his head toward me to keep an eye on me. This was quite interesting to see and I couldn't believe how smart they are. I followed him with my binoculars all the way to the west end of the park where it looked like he ducked into the woods. Without getting a better photo I decided to head back down the creek when only just minutes later another Coyote appeared coming towards me from the west side. Could it have been the same one I wondered? Immediately upon spotting this one, I dropped down to my knees among the bent-over cattails. I assumed he probably saw this movement but as I knelt there, camera pointing right at him, it was clear he didn't see me and started trotting straight towards me! I couldn't believe my luck as he continued coming closer and closer. As he neared maybe 35 feet, a thought popped into my head "what was my plan when he gets right up to me?" Then I thought I'll never ever get this close to one again, who cares! I would stand my ground and let him come right up if he was brave enough. Well that wasn't necessary as only a few feet further he stopped to look inquisitively at me. He turned his head to the side and as my shutter clicked, he abruptly did a 360 and headed the opposite way. At the closest distance he was to me, I was so nervous that my last photo turned out totally crummy, but at least I managed to get these and I was more than happy! This was by far he closest I've ever came to one but I'm now even more convinced than ever that they are completely harmless and not to be feared in any way. Once he realized what I was he, wanted no part of me. Oh I almost forgot to mention that I got a little sidetracked before walking up the creek the first time as I spotted a Northern Shrike with a mouse in his beak! I tried to get a photo but of course he turned the opposite way so that I couldn't see the mouse. Later on the north side of the park I heard an Owl "whoo" and I decided to walk into the woods for a closer look. It took me a while to spot him and when I did he immediately flew out to another tree. It was then that I realized there were a pair of Great Horned Owls! I then decided to stalk the one still closer to me but every time I got near, it would swoop down and up to another tree further away. The frozen snow was quite loud and with all the twigs and grasses underneath I was making quite a bit of noise, making it hard not to spook them. I was getting a bit frustrated being so close and then having them move on me every time. The trees here were also fairly thick and it was even harder to get an unobstructed view of them. Finally I neared one of them again and realized they were both perched in the same tree! Then another few steps closer, I thought I saw a third one! But this was another Raptor all together - a Red-tailed Hawk who seemed to be telling the pair of Owls "I was here first!" I've never seen an Owl and a Hawk this close to one another before and I just had to take a photo, though they'll look like just dots I'm sure. Click on the photo for a larger view and you can see that both Owls are staring up at the Hawk. Quite funny I thought.