Northern walkingstick

I encountered a northern walkingstick. This insect is perfectly camouflaged as a small branch of living maple twigs.

It crawled across me on a beautiful Sunday afternoon as I sat at a park overlooking the Mississippi River. So far, September in Minnesota has had several sunny, warm days and the month has been very dry.

I am planning my next Hawk Ridge trip for later in the month. I will drive to Duluth to witness the peak of the hawk migration, when there is a possibility of seeing thousands of raptors pass overhead in this geographic/biological bottleneck on their way south.

It is a delight to talk with the nerds enthusiastically sharing their bird knowledge and honing their identification skills and exalting in the enjoyment of nature. It is great to see the banded birds up close and to see the less common ones such as northern goshawks and merlins.