All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

15 Miles Off the Migration Path. No Birds … Just Yooperlite!

Year 6

How much can 15 miles really mean to migrating birds? Apparently, a lot!

I just spent the last week serving as a volunteer lighthouse keeper at Crisp Point. This lighthouse is 15 miles shy of Whitefish Point and is only accessed via a 19 mile dirt road. The lighthouse is very remote, and serving as keeper is a fantastic experience. Our keeper’s residence is our tent, but back to birding …

Whitefish Point is a major bird migration route both in the Spring and Fall. Thousands and thousands of birds from the northern reaches of Canada fly past Whitefish during their twice annual migrations. However, Crisp Point is almost due west of Whitefish. During our latest mid September stay I saw almost zero birds … a few flocks of Canada Geese, a couple of crows, three common mergansers, and an actually quite rare Mew Gull (see below … data courtesy of All About Birds from Cornell University). Winds must have pushed this fellow off its planned migration. However, the birds know the way south (or north in the Spring) is to follow Lake Michigan down towards warmer weather. Thus, 15 miles is HUGE in terms of distance from a flyway.

While Molly and I did not see many birds at Crisp Point, the grand old lady came through for us! Here are a few photographs taken two days ago starting with the Blue Hour (40 minutes before sunrise) till about 30 minutes after sunrise.

Our final new experience was learning about Yooperlite! Last summer, a local rock hound discovered that some Lake Superior stones have sodalite fluorescent crystals embedded within the rock. Under a black, UV light, the crystals reflect light in a brilliant manner. As the campfire was burning down three nights back, we decided to walk the beach with a UV flashlight in search of the fabled stone. Yooperlite! (Yooperlite image taken the next morning).

At the End of the Rainbow

Year 6,

Molly and I leave early tomorrow morning for our spot at the end of the Rainbow! For the sixth year we will serve as lighthouse keepers at Crisp Point. This light is at the far end of Lake Superior and is very remote (19 mile dirt road to access). Unlike some lighthouse keeper gigs which offer nice accommodations, our keeper’s residence is our small pup tent pitched 30 yards from the big lake. When the last guests leave late in the afternoon, we have Lake Superior all to ourselves with noone within miles! We love it. The lighthouse is off the grid  and we will return next weekend. Thus, no more blog posts for the next seven days. Once again, thanks to Heather-Marie who will be house-sitting in our home.

Crisp Point Lighthouse (12 miles shy of Whitefish Point)

Here next to Amity Creek the bird migration is in full force. I was actually surprised to still have Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds fighting over our garden. This twosome definitely had a disagreement.

Finally, when I left this morning for a quick birding excursion I became distracted. Just like a few days ago when I was bridged, today I was steamed! What boy can resist hanging with a steam engine. Enjoy.

NorthShore Scenic Railroad Steam Engine Video

Hawks on High! The Magic of Migration

Background, Year 6

During this past Spring’s migration while out looking for early arriving warblers, I met Phil Fitzpatrick. After I pointed out some Ruby-Crowned Kinglets which were ambushing the few bugs which had hatched after the late spring, Phil mentioned  he was writing a book about Hawk Ridge. I was intrigued no end!

Fast forward four months and Hawk Ridge’s magic of migration is starting, and Phil’s book is ready to hit the streets (and the thermals). What I did not know at our first meeting was in just a few short years of birding the Ridge, Phil had become enraptured with that special place. Unlike me with my camera, Phil uses words to capture the essence of birds. He is a poet.

Next week, his book Hawks on High will be released by Savage Press.  If you live in Duluth, the book launch will be celebrated at Zeitgeist on Monday, September 9th between 5 and 9 pm. I would be in attendance except for the fact I will be camped out and working at a remote lighthouse on Lake Superior that entire week (Crisp Point).

Don’t live near Duluth? Hawks on High will have an event on September 13th at the Lake Country Booksellers in White Bear Lake (north suburbs, Twin Cities). Learn more about the book and when the author might be in your area via his Facebook page. (contact author, learn how to purchase book)

So why should you be interested in Phil’s book? If you find yourself nodding your head in agreement with these statements, it will be obvious.

  • You enjoy / understand the magic of Duluth’s Hawk Ridge migration
  • Poetry helps define that magic
  • You enjoy the drawings of Penny Perry (Duluth artist)

Here is just one of Penny’s drawings from the book. The drawing is copyrighted and is used with permission.

Combine Penny’s art with Phil’s poetry and Uff Dah!

Phil’s poems capture the migration in five sections:

  • The Place and Its People
  • Of Time, Space and History
  • Dramatis Personae
  • For the Nestlings
  • A Quartet of Quartets
    • Falco Peregrinus
    • Full Disclosure
    • I Shall Be Released
    • All Things Must Pass

Here is just one example: (copyrighted … used with permission)

Ghost Birds by Phil Fitzpatrick

it happens this way sometimes on a field
over a meadow or above the breathy lake
away from the daily hubbub at Hawk Ridge:
while the dog lopes leash-free, a quiet sit
knowing hawks are elsewhere but not here,
no need to bother with hope or expectation

yet long I stare skyward for empty minutes
at gray clouds scudding under the white puffs,
a classic midday sky with intermittent blue;
then, an apparition: a dozen distant specks,
a spiraling gyre of broad-wings, ghost birds;
don’t look away, they will not remain long

the wonder is how on earth, how in heaven
the winged transients could have come here,
could have taken shape, stayed long enough
for threads, for traces of older ghosts to visit;
how they found this moment stays shrouded,
but memories renew as they fade from view

Enjoy the Magic of Migration!