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As temperatures hover around 13 below zero farenheit; winds sent waves of steam across the St. Paul skyline at 9:45 Sunday morning February 4, 2007.

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A MaleNashville Warbler in fall plumage perched on branch in Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfiled Mn during it's fall migration. This little guy was hanging out with a small flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets at the edge of a meadow and a forrest.

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(12/28/2006) Forest Lake, MN Alex Penn,9, of Blaine, Minnesota gets comfortable in the slush as watches his ice fishing hole (about 8 inches of ice) during his first ice fishing trip with his father Scott, brother Zach and Uncle Craig Penn on Thursday afternoon on the 2nd Lake of Forest Lake near downtown Forest Lake, Minnesota. Alex's Uncle Craig Penn made sure the ice was deep enough before bringing the family onto the ice. Due to the warm weather the the annual Golden Rainbow ice fishing contest will be cancelled this year and moved to Grand Rapids, Minnesota in 2008. sel

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A female belted kingfisher sits on a perch near the Minnesota River next to Black Dog road in Burnsville.

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An ostrich looked around her encloser at the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley, Minn., on Friday, May 19, 2006. The zoo is preparing to open its first exhibit of African animals on Saturday, May 27, 2006. sd 05/19/06 Thomas Whisenand

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Wednesday, February 8, 2006, a x-country skier takes advantage of the snow on St. Paul's Lake Phalen for a sunset ski.

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Saturday, March , 2006, a lone, wild wolf trots along Garden Lake near Ely, Mn in pursuit of two deer which had fled with its approach.

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Herbert Pilhofer was photographed Wednesday, December 7, 2005 while walking on his 175 acres site in Inver Grove Heights near South Robert and Highway 55 which willl be developed starting next year.

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Friday, February 10, 2006, with the trees along the riverbank reflected in the water, a dog owner and his dog take a afternoon walk along the west bank of the Mississippi River , across from St. Paul's Hidden Falls Park.

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Meg Devine and Ian Grunberg of Mendota Heights, Mn. have a winter garden on the hillside behind their home, which was photographed on Wednesday, November 30, 2005. Devine and Grunberg take the photographer on a tour of their garden which features many evergreens, deciduous small trees and shrubs, boulders and paths.

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A Great Gray Owl swoops over the snow covered prairie between Roseau and Warroad in far northern Minnesota. SD 1/27/2005

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A great gray owl hunts for food east of Hinkley MN

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This white trout lily is a common flower in early spring along the forest floor. Look for its distinct mottle leaves, like the skin of a brown trout. This one was photographed along Seven Mile Creek south of St. Peter Minnesota.

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Two Painted Lady Butterflies share a flower bud in NE Mpls.

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A Common Loon spreads it's wings in one of the many pools in Carlos Avery State Wildlife Management Area.

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A group of Tundra Swans circle in for a landing on Rieck"s Lake near Alma Wisconsin. The birds stop there to rest on their way from the Arctic Circle to Chesapeake Bay

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A tiger swallowtail takes flight from a coneflower in a garden in NE Mpls.

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A red fox poses in the snow on Theodore Wirth Golf course in Golden Valley MN .

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A varied thrush in St. Paul.

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A robin, possibly deceived by the mild November weather, found that conditions had changed substantially. The bird was photographed near the Como Park Conservatory in St. Paul.

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A red fox poses in the snow on Theodore Wirth Golf course in Golden Valley MN .

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A pair of mute swans have nested on a small lake near Stillwater.

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A black and yellow garden spider wraps up a grasshopper that landed in it's web in a St. Paul garden.

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A great grey owl fliea over the snow looking for food near Wild River State park.

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A bald eagle tears apart a fish it took from the Mississippi River in Colvill Park near Red Wing MN

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A praying mantis stands up and spreads it's wings in a backyard in NE Mpls. About this photo- This photo was taken with a 105 macro lens in early evening light. The dark background is due to the insect being in sunlight and the background in shadow. I got this photo because a friend of mine purchased an egg sack in the spring to put in his garden to control pests. He has found about seven of the stealthy creatures around his house and garden this fall.

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A Great Blue Heron flys over the waters near Lock and Dam #1 on the Mississippi River.

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A barn spider with a paper wasp that was caught in it's web on a deck in NE MPls. This photo was taken at night with a macro lens and a strobe. The orb in the background is a street lamp. Every day for four days this diligent little arachnid's web would be knocked down by wind or rain and every night he would rebuild it in the same spot on my deck. I guess after the fourth day he decided to find a more sheltered spot.

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A tiger swallowtail takes flight from a coneflower in a garden in NE Mpls. This photo was shot on a cloudy day at 1/100 of a second with a 500 mm lens and a tiny bit of fill flash. The butterfly is just lifting off the coneflower to fly to another. I have made many attempted combinations of shutter speeds and lighting conditions over the past two summers to freeze the body of the butterfly and retain the motion in the wings. Thankfully tiger swallowtails are frequent guests in our garden.

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A male Ruby-throated humming bird buzzes around a feeder at Sugarloaf Cove on the north shore of Lake Superior.

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