I gave myself a few options for this year's fall migration trip: go west to hit McKenzie's Slough and Long Lake NWR; go south to bird Pierre; head up north to Grand Forks; go further north to the Winnipeg area; or, the last-second winner, head up and over for another weekend in Duluth. There, I made my first visits to Park Point (after waiting half an hour for the draw bridge to excuse a single ship) and Wisconsin Point over in Superior. It was a fun and rewarding couple of days, and on the way home, I made stops at Jay Cooke and the Rice Lake NWR.
A pack of sanderlings strolling the beach of Wisconsin Point (accompanied by a sole semipalmated plover) provided my only "lifer" bird species of the weekend. Boy, was it nice to see shorebirds up close. I'm too used to seeing pipers and plovers across sizable stretches of water. A pair of these sanderlings scurried just feet from me.
Jay Cooke provided a lifer of another variety--my very first red foxes! When strolling a picnic area of the park, two red foxes darted into the open and went bounding across the trail right in front of me. I was so surprised and excited that I barely thought to raise my camera and grabbed only this photo for evidence.
Rice Lake NWR was my last stop (discounting a couple quick pullovers on the drive home), and it was a great way to go out.
And lastly, a little montage to highlight some other birds of Park Point!
