Boundary Waters vacation, Day 4

 

Wednesday, August 12

I made an omelet with the leftover pico de gallo for breakfast. The morning was calm, perfect for fishing. We took the boat out for a couple of hours. Jane caught an almost-respectable-sized bass. When the number of fly bites on our ankles (numerous) exceeded the number of fish bites on our hooks (zero), we went in and had lunch.

Jane's bass--she has now paid $22/fish

We had a lazy afternoon. The photo themes for the day were bird nests and butterflies. Jane found this lovely little nest in a birch tree by the deck. It hung beneath the branch, carefully woven from birch bark and other materials. Imagine doing that with just your mouth! Nancy told us that it was the nest of a red-eyed vireo.

Nest of a red-eyed vireo

While the vireo nest was empty, the robin nest that was by our parking spot still had chicks in it. We discovered that on Tuesday when the side of the car had a streak of bird poo all the way down it. Today I saw that the chicks were about to fledge. One was standing on the side of the nest.

Robin fledgling on the nest

A second chick was on the end of the branch. This was good news. From my observations on robin nests under our deck at home, I knew that once the chicks fledged, they don’t return to the nest. The car would be safe.

A second fledgling at the end of the branch

In the late afternoon during happy hour, the butterflies were more inclined to pose for photos. This is a white admiral.

White admiral

This is a mourning cloak on the deck.

Mourning cloak

We had grilled brats and zucchini with a loaded baked potato (French onion dip, cheddar, and bacon). After supper, we put the pileated woodpecker puzzle together.

Pileated woodpecker

We seem to be doing less on vacation in this quarantine year, but the days still go by quickly. Maybe its our age. I’ve heard it said that life is like a roll of toilet paper—when you get near the end, it goes around faster.