I arrived at the Park Point Recreation Area at 6:35 am this morning … the instant of sunrise. I immediately hiked out onto the beach and at first was disappointed … no birds. Was I ever wrong. Using my binoculars to scan the lake through the steaming water (air temp: 45F) I spotted a flock of a few hundred White Pelicans resting after an all night migration that brought them to our end of Lake Superior.

White Pelicans now come through our area both in the spring and fall due to the cleanup of the St. Louis River. The river was dead and polluted while I was growing up in the 60’s. This is a success story. It is also great to see all the fishermen on the river. Even sturgeon are spawning once again in the river! The White Pelicans understand that this migration route now has food.

Within 20 minutes of sunrise and the warmth provided by the sun, Lake Superior stopped steaming! 

Over the course of the next three hours I walked down to the Superior Entry and back (3+ miles round trip). There were lots of birds. The best spot by far was about 2/3 of a mile down the beach where the dunes give way to pine trees. Warblers were present in large numbers feeding amongst the pines. In addition a large flock of Yellow-Shafted Flickers were warming themselves in the early morning sun. I often find that the best birding spot for non shore birds is the location where the trees give way to the dunes. The birds stop at this point before making flights out into the open down the point where hungry Merlins often wait.

Zoom!

Did you see that?

Time to eat!

My prize of the day was finding an American Kestrel during my return hike. I was able to hide behind some trees and watch this bird hunt. Sparrow Hawks (Kestrels) spook so very easily; thus I was thrilled to watch and take photographs.

Yesterday the weather was bad, until it turned nasty! Through the morning string winds blew out of the Northeast with drizzle and fog rolling in off Lake Superior. Apparently some of the last warblers to migrate south took advantage of the North wind and rode it down to the Duluth area. When I thought the weather was abating a bit, I drove to the Park Point Recreation Area to look for shorebirds. The continuing drizzle quickly convinced me to end my beach hike and return to the car. The surfers in their wet suits did not seem to mind the weather.

For some reason I decided to drive over to the boat launch located on the harbor side. As I rolled down the window, the wind and rain picked up and suddenly a major squall started. I was about to head home when I suddenly I noticed hundreds of warblers taking refuge in two cedar trees and some shrubs next to the harbor. It was hard to get any photographs. Although I did get out of the car, I had to keep a towel over my camera. Here are the few images I was able to capture. It was a fun, but nasty experience. I also saw lots of hummingbirds, but photographing them in the rain was impossible.

A few other comments. The squall must have really been nasty. This afternoon, 24 hours post squall I found four dead Tennessee Warblers in a one mile stretch during my afternoon bike ride. In addition, although both the Tennessee and Nashville were first ID’d in the volunteer state, neither of these birds ever nests anywhere near that state.

Almost all of these images are of immature or female birds. Note the water on the leaves.

Tennessee Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Yellow-Rumped Warbler