Breakfast Berry Birding is done for another summer.  For the past month whenever I have gone out bird hiking, I have always been able to finish off my breakfast with fresh berries. Back in July I enjoyed wild raspberries, while over the past two weeks I have been consuming lots of thimbleberries. Thus, if I am lucky in addition to red stained fingers when I get home, I have both a full stomach and some nice images! However, summer is ending and this morning while looking for Hoot I came up empty both in terms of finding my owl family AND any berries!

However, seasonal transitions bring other opportunities. Yesterday morning I decided to visit the Park Point beaches and Recreation Area for the first time this summer. While I found a few shorebirds on the sand, I struck paydirt upon checking the trees against St. Louis River Bay. A huge south wind was beginning to blow, and birds will declare a stop to migration in the face of stiff headwinds. Such was the case and I experienced a mini fallout as suddenly I was surrounded by large flocks of Eastern Kingbirds, Baltimore Orioles, Cedar Waxwings, and various Warblers. Yup … the bug eating birds are definitely exiting the northern forest. As most of you live south of me, get ready for migration. It’s coming soon!

Female Baltimore Oriole (could not determine if they were finding bugs in amonst the pine, or sipping some sap)

Eastern Kingbirds (these birds would fight over the best bug ambushing perches)

Cedar Waxwing

Earlier today I post about a Kamikaze Crow which repeatedly attacked a Bald Eagle down on Park Point (Minnesota Point). The reason I had driven down to the fields is I had had heard there were some Whimbrels stopping over during their long migration up to the Arctic Ocean. Apparently the birds I saw had been blown slightly off course due to strong winds. Normally Whimbrels would migrate through Lake Huron and up to the northern reaches of Hudson Bay. However, it makes sense that they would like the fields at the end of the point … reminds them of the tundra habitat to which they are headed.

Here is a range / migration map from the Cornell School of Ornithology. Learn more about the Whimbrel via their web site. This is why I love migration; one gets to see unusual birds.

I found three Whimbrels in the midst of some Ring Billed Gulls eating bugs. When the next big south wind comes, they will continue their migration.

I watched a Crow attack a Bald Eagle out on Park Point this morning. I zoomed in, and pressed the shutter using burst mode a crazy number of times … hoping one angle would capture the intensity of the altercation. This is my favorite!

I suspect the crow has a nest near by because it kept up the attack for over ten minutes, and then when the eagle finally flew away but came back … it started up the attack once more.

Attack #1

Enjoying the morning sun

How audacious … it landed in MY tree

Be gone and don’t come back!

Attack #2