Porcupine!

Today I went exploring in the Sam Zim bog hoping to find some cool birds. I have watched a local naturalist on a weekly virtual birding tour. He finds upland sandpipers, grouse, cranes, broad winged hawks, wood ducks, eagles, flickers, and sparrows. I didn't find any of those. I stopped by Lake Nickels to look around. I hiked a snowmobile trail across the street from the public access but the water on the trail was so deep I eventually had to give up and go back to my car. I started driving and I saw a black spot on the road. With my binoculars I saw a dark mammal surrounded by a spiny hazy glow. A porcupine! I approached carefully. I saw a porcupine in the wild only once before. That was probably thirty years ago. I was on my bike riding a dirt road near Rush Lake by New York Mills. That porcupine was high in a tree nibbling on something on the tree. That was cool but this was cooler because I drove right up to the porcupine who veered off the road into the brush. Here you see the north end of the porcupine walking south through the ditch water. The ditch water really slowed the porcupine's speed. The porcupine slowly crawled up out of the water and disappeared into the brush.