The males compete for the females by dancing, fighting and making various sounds. It is more like a fighting frenzy. The females watch from the outskirts and select a mate from the group. I am not sure what the females are looking for but the males put on quite a show. They puff up their colorful necks and eye brows, spread their wings and start to coo, cluck and stomp their feet making a rattling sound. I have no idea what makes the rattling sound but the whole process is something to experience. Another amazing part of this show is that the dancing is synchronized. I would compare it to some kind of magnetic board game. It is like someone turns on a switch and they all start to dance at once. The switch gets turned off and they all stop and hold their positions until it starts all over again.

When a male faces off with another male they leap, flap and peck at each other. Sometimes three or more will face off or they will go from one male to another. This can go on for up to three hours. Both mornings we watched them fight and dance from 5:45 AM until 9:00 AM. When they get tired they just kind of lay there facing each other for several minutes before one will make a move and the fighting resumes.

If any of you are interested in experiencing this I would highly recommend it but you have to be a morning person. The sharp-tails fly into their leks at exactly 5:15 AM which means you have to be into your blind and out of sight at least a half hour before the birds arrive. Steve and I were on the road by 3:30 AM to get set up before the birds arrived. As long as the blind is up before the birds arrive they get so used to the blind that they will come right up to it. We had birds run between our blinds. Last year I had four of them fly into the side of the blind while they were chasing each other. You can see from one of Steve's attached photos how close the birds come to the blind. I am inside the blind taking pictures of this bird.

Paul & Karla

One of my favorite birds to photograph is the pileated woodpeckers. They are Minnesota's largest woodpeckers. This year the pair that hangs around close to Gooseberry's visitor center is making a new nest just across the river. The male has been working on the nesting cavity for about a week and it is about half done. They make a new nesting cavity every year. On Thursday I was watching him work for about a half hour before the female called from a distance. She came closer and the male moved aside so she could inspect his work. She looked into the hole a couple of times and seemed to give her approval as the male returned and got back to work again. The male and female look the same except for the red mustache that you can see on the male in the attached photo.

Paul & Karla

I watched and photographed the waves for about an hour. Just as I released the shutter for one photo I saw something drop from the top of the cliff and fly through my field of vision. I was very surprised to see that it was a pair of bald eagles challenging the waves. I have watched herring gulls do this before but never eagles. They would drop in front of the incoming waves and lift over the wave just before it hit the solid rock cliff. They did this about three times before landing on top of the cliff. What would cause them to challenge waves that could flatten them against the cliff if they misjudged their lift? I guess they even have extreme sports in the bird world. Look closely at the photo and you will see one eagle on top of the wave and the second about half way down the cliff dropping in front of the wave.

After photographing the waves I just sat there for awhile to listen to the sounds from the moving beach rock. At this particular beach the waves will lift the smooth worn rocks and drop them with incredible sounds. I talked about this in my Explore Minnesota camping video. If any of you are interested in viewing the video, it is on Minnesota Tourism's web site exploreminnesota.com Click on Minnesota's favorites. You will see several photos of people along the top of the screen. About 14 different individuals were recorded talking about some of their favorite spots in Minnesota. I was chosen to represent some of Minnesota's favorite campgrounds - Ranger Paul's 10 favorite campgrounds in Minnesota. You can see photos that I have taken of my favorite camping areas or watch the video. The video is only about 5 minutes in length but they did a good job putting it together. The story about the Split Rock beach is on the video.

Paul & Karla

Paul & Karla

Paul & Karla