The opening verse from the Song of Hiawatha:

On the shores of Gitche Gumee,
Of the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood Nokomis, the old woman,
Pointing with her finger westward,
O’er the water pointing westward,
To the purple clouds of sunset.

Lake Superior is magical, which Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knew, and I learned at a very early age. This morning, like many days, I went down to the beaches of Minnesota Point shortly after sunrise. For 45 minutes I had miles of beaches to myself (in terms of humans), but the south wind meant Arctic shorebirds were working their way north and stopping off for a rest on their way up to the Arctic Ocean.

Today’s visitor was a Black Bellied Plover and lots of Ruddy Turnstones. These birds time their migration to hit Lake Superior as it finally comes alive after a long cold winter, and then wait before going much further north. The Arctic is still frozen and the lakes iced over.

Both species of birds nest in approximately the same area, and when I say Arctic regions … I mean WAY UP North!!!  This map is from the Cornell School of Ornithology.

Ruddy Turnstones Wave Dancing!

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