Tag Archives: MN North: Minnesota Point

Sunrise on Minnesota Point! Terns Galore

Year 5

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

Reading the Lake Superior Bird Migration Effect!

Year 5, ,

Lake Superior at this time of year is cold! The water temperature is only in the high 30’s and even on May 18th there is still a tiny bit of ice in a few spots around the lake. This extreme cold not only affects the region’s weather, but also has an effect of where one can find birds.

As my wife was out of town, I decided to have a heavy day of birding. Given my knowledge of Gitche Gumee I visited three different spots where I expected to find certain kinds of birds.

  1. My first location to visit was the Cloverland / Wisconsin Hwy #13 Grasslands. This area is on the south shore of Lake Superior, and is warmed by any southerly wind. In Northeastern Minnesota, southerly winds come across Lake Superior and the forests near my home are much colder … later into the Spring.  I know I am able to find grassland and wetland birds much earlier near Cloverland.
  2. My second location was a spot on the Western Waterfront Trail which is protected from Northeast winds. This means some protection for migrating warblers and the trees bud and bloom a bit earlier than elsewhere. It is a good early season location.
  3. My final location was Minnesota Point just before sunset. For the past three days strong winds have blown off Lake Superior and I guessed the NE winds would result in Arctic shorebirds taking a break from their northward migration.

I was correct on all accounts. Here are some my images from today …

Sunrise Birding near Cloverland Wisconsin … Wilson’s Snipe and an Upland Sandpiper

Mid Morning Birding the Western Waterfront Trail … Male and Female Yellow Warblers

Sunset Birding on Minnesota Point … Ruddy Turnstones and Dunlins

Birds With Long Legs!

Year 5, , ,

Over the past three days I seem to have acquired the urge to watch birds with long legs! There has been some method to my madness as during the first two days of the period I was down in the Minneapolis area, and I wanted to see some Great Egrets … a bird which is quite rare in NE Minnesota. Thus, I focused upon wetlands at sunrise, and I was rewarded with being able to watch six different Great Egrets. Arriving at these wetlands before 6 am insures that even though I was birding in a major metropolitan area, I had the trails to myself. This fact insures other folks do not scare the birds I seek, and just maximizes my enjoyment. However, I have found even on urban trails, if one finds “non popular” trails you are rewarded with more bird sightings. Given herons and egrets spook easily, this rule is important. My two wetland areas were the “Plymouth Wetlands” (series of ponds in off Zachary Lane north of Schmidt Lake Road) and Wood Lake Nature Center.

I actually did visit the Plymouth wetlands again in mid afternoon. While the time of day is not great for photography, I was rewarded with watching this Great Egret fish.

On the way home to Duluth I swung up to Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge … once again arriving around 6 am. It was interesting to visit earlier in the season as the marsh grass is not grown up yet. My major fun was watching some Sandhill Cranes from very close. Eventually I had to leave Wildlife Drive due to a prairie grass burn which was about to start that morning.

When I got home to Duluth I was amazed to find a temperature of 87F at my home. However, Lake Superior took over within a few hours and the winds shifted from the SW to blowing out of the NE off the big lake. In 45 minutes the temperature dropped from 87F to 45F! I figured no bird in their right mind would fight the strong wind and the migration northward would stop immediately. Thus I drove down to Park Point and found a lot of Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings dancing in the waves … trying to eat. These birds are on their way up to the Arctic, but stopped in Duluth right now. Here are a few of the Ruddy Turnstones. Thus my day ended with some short legged shore birds!