This morning, I took some people on an animal search, and there was a lot to see. We started out at Gunflint Lake, where we saw some Snowshoe Hares, and Blue Jays. Then we proceeded to the Round Lake Road, and got to see some Ring-necked Ducks, a Painted Turtle, and a Common Merganser.
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| Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) |
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| Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) |
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| Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) |
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| Moose (Alces alces) |
My next stop was on the Moose Pond Landing Road. It was pretty quiet back there, so we continued toward the end of the Gunflint Trail. We were just passing the Sag Lake Trail, when I decided to go down there. I backed up a short distance, and drove down the road. Much to our delight, there was a young bull Moose in the middle of the road.
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| Moose (Alces alces) |
When Moose are on the road, they have the right of way, so we waited for it to move. One of the reasons they have the right of way is that they will charge after cars if they get annoyed. When they start running, they can reach speeds of up to 38 miles per hour.
Luckily, the bulls generally to not charge vehicles outside of the rut (mating) season in October. However, the cows with the calves will protect their young any time of the year.
A little while after leaving the moose, we arrived at the Trail's End Campground. Near sites 18 and 19, there is a nice waterfall, which is shown below.
We also saw three Bald Eagles fishing around the rapids (where the Walleye are spawning). The Bald Eagles do not get their white head until they are 3 - 5 years old. Two of the birds we saw were immature, and one was mature. One of each is shown below.
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| Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Mature |
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| Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) - Immature |
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