The early bird gets the worm, or in this case … the Common Terns. Folks often wonder why they do not see the number of birds I find. In many cases, it is my willingness to get up very early in the morning. Here in northern Minnesota the sun now rises at 5:30 am. Knowing that birds are active before sunrise, I left the house at 5:15 am and arrived at the end of Park Point about 5:35 am.

After a short walk over the dunes, and then a brief hike I found hundreds of Common Terns and Bonaparte Gulls “on shore”! The birds were taking their morning bath and preening. Eventually these birds allowed me to approach within fifty yards. For almost 25 minutes I watched their morning preparations and the sun slowly rose just above the horizon. At 6:10 am it was as if someone had thrown a switch and every bird left the beach and moved our over Lake Superior to fish. Thus, anyone who had arrived at 6:15 am, which would have been considered by most people quite early, would only have seen distant birds out over the lake … not the spectacle to which I was treated.

Common Terms, Bonaparte Gulls … and some Ring-Billed Gulls

Mass Exit to Go Fish!

Morning Preening and Bathing

Morning on the Lake Superior Shore