Today was a perfect morning. When I left the house right at sunrise the sun was just popping over Lake Superior’s horizon … the temperature was in the high 30’s with a light wind out of the Northwest. In my book, the birds should be migrating south under what appeared to be fantastic conditions. My eventual goal was Castle Danger on the North Shore, but first I wanted to check some of the points that jut out into Lake Superior. My two stops were Stony Point and Two Harbors. The birds were present in numbers. In fact I even saw a Scarlet Tanager in a Mountain Ash tree. Unfortunately this bird was camera shy, but I immensely enjoyed the sighting.

Upon arriving in Two Harbors I quickly started whistling a different tune. Who cares about birds when there are boats?! Even at age 63, I am still a young boy at heart who likes tugboats. The MadisonR (formerly the NelsJ) was leaving port for another day at work out on Lake Superior. Whereas in other parts of the world, harbor areas tend to be ugly, not in northern Minnesota! (see the comments … Tugboat Hunter has helped out this slightly confused birder! … this is in fact the NelsJ owned by HeritageMarine)

Tugboat MadisonR / NelsJ Steaming Out of Two Harbors, Minnesota

Tugboat … the Movie (YouTube link)

Oh yes … I did see a lot of birds. At one point in a Two Harbors park over 50+ Yellow-Rumped Warblers were feeding all around me. I was a non-entity. The birds were hungry.