My home town (Duluth, Minnesota) is sometimes referred to as being located on the Arctic Riviera. Duluth is situated on the western end of Lake Superior and winter temps in northern Minnesota sometimes plunge to night time lows of -30F or colder (-34.5C). From a birding vantage point, local birders may see unusual birds from “way up north” which actually consider our winter climate “warm” (see recent Ivory Gull post).

Yesterday morning, rather than Canal Park, I spent time at the other entrance to our harbor over in Superior, Wisconsin. The conditions were bitterly cold, and birds were not present. However, continuing my prior post’s theme of “why I bird” even when unsuccessful … I offer in evidence, Sea Smoke! The beauty of the morning was cold and stark.

Folks from down south may read up on the topic of Sea Smoke via Wikipedia. People from up north should understand the term!