Lester River has finally turned on! Our huge snowfalls and rains meant the river flow has been extremely high this spring / summer, but with August approaching the current speed has finally fallen to late summer velocities. The end result is food may finally be more easily found within the river … for fishing and bug eating birds. This morning when the sun rose high enough in the sky to start kissing the ravine’s river bottom (about 7:30 am), feeding got real busy.

One wants to bird on the “non lake” side … not the mouth of the river on the Lake Superior side of the highway. If traffic is difficult, use the Lakewalk tunnel to safely pass under the road. Your birding should be two fold. First use the overlooks and viewpoints next to the ravine to scope things out. I quickly determined three young kingfisher chicks were demanding to be fed, and the local cedar waxwing population was ambusing bugs from tree tops and branches. Activity slowed down by 9 am.

Cedar Waxwing’s

Belted Kingfisher

Hooded Merganser (female w/o much of a hood … perhaps a juvenile)

A Merlin Surveys the Area and Scouts for Breakfast at Stoney Point