I was bridged this morning! In native “Duluth Lingo” this means gettng stopped by the Aerial Lift Bridge. However, we locals do not mind the wait. You just sit back and enjoy 10 to 15 minutes of quiet time. In fact, I left my car parked in the middle of the road and walked over to the pier and took these two images of the Philip Clarke down bound with a load of iron ore. The sun had only been up for five minutes.

I would have been birding / walking Minnesota Point by sunrise, but as I noted … I got bridged. Thankfully the shorebirds waited for me and I had a delightful 60 minute hike along the sandy beach … not another person in sight … seeing well over 300 shorebirds winging their way back from the Arctic. It is good to be bridged in life!

Semipalmated Plover

Baird’s Sandpiper

Ruddy Turnstone

ID’ing Shorebirds can be darned difficult. In a prior post, I reviewed some good resources …