Was It Really Worth Getting Up At 5:30 a.m. For Jaegerfest?

Yes, getting up at 5:30 a.m. was worth it. Look at the sky! I arrived at 6:40 a.m. at Wisconsin Point Parking Lot #1 and 20 people with binoculars and scopes were already there.

I stood in line next to a young woman from Madison, Wisconsin. She had come up the day before. She came to this spot at 4 p.m. yesterday. She said she threw bread at the gulls. The bread landed in the sand and the gulls gave her dirty looks and flew off without taking the bread. One of the members of Duluth Audobon threw slices of wonder bread into the water to attract the gulls which in turn attracted the jaegers. Gulls like their bread soaked in the water and not thrown in the sand. We saw 3 jaegers. In my binoculars the jaegers were the size of a speck of black pepper and I would never have known they were jaegers if the bird nerds around me hadn't told me so.

The bread worked. Much like anglers or bird nerds or politicians, the gulls flocked toward a good thing. I asked if bread was healthy for the birds. The woman from Madison said whole wheat might be a better choice. Dawn is here but the sun is not over the horizon yet. The air temperature is 45 degrees. The difference in temperatures creates a visual distortion over the water in the distance. To my right mist rises above the water. The sun will rise in 30 seconds.

Immature bald eagles and golden eagles fly above us. A merlin flew right over our heads but I didn't get a picture of it. The merlin was quick like a wizard.

We saw a single yellow headed blackbird hanging out with the red winged blackbirds. After searching the pine trees with my binoculars for 6 minutes the kind yellow headed blackbird flew right over my head. We heard Canadian goose. Just after sunrise we heard hunters shooting the geese. Why do the geese talk so much during hunting season? Keeping quiet seems more prudent. 

We saw 4 sanderlingss, a Boneparte's gull, ring billed gulls, herring gulls, Sabine's gull and Franklin's gull. We saw cormorant, golden eye ducks, pintail ducks, wigeons, grackle, and northern Flickers.

So many gulls to watch I can hardly stand it.

Gulls love water soaked white bread. I hope they get nutritious food later.

Jaegerfest was great and there was no German alcohol involved! By the time I left at 9:30 there were 100 people with binoculars and scopes.