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What’s Flying: Intrepid travelers are visiting the U.P. now

A bohemian waxwing is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spring migration of birds is a most welcome event, with Baltimore orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, indigo buntings and rose-breasted grosbeaks bringing great joy, with all the colors they present after the long season of winter with its whites and grays and blacks.

Fall migration is really different, with all the young, inexperienced birds, and subtle fall colors.

But there is something to say about the visitors arriving at the end of fall migration. for some of those intrepid travelers are making their way to the Upper Peninsula, not from it, for the challenges of winter here.

Luckily for U.P. residents, these visitors come in an amazing array of colors to brighten what is quickly becoming that monochromatic. Late fall can often bring a host of guest from Canada and Alaska. These birds can quickly devour much of the available food they depend upon and move on, leaving the area a bit more quiet for the rest of the winter if they come in large numbers. So far, there have been some big numbers, so they may make quick calls as fall visitors.

Some of these birds are moving into the area, with a few are arriving in large numbers. Bohemian waxwings, common crossbills, pine and evening grosbeaks, red and white-winged crossbills continue to stream into the Upper Peninsula.

While it is rare to see large flocks of crossbills, the other species have been seen migrating at Whitefish Point in Chippewa County and at a variety of sites across the U.P in flocks from half a dozen for the pine grosbeaks to several hundred bohemian waxwings.

Crab apple trees and a few mountain ashes have always been the big draw for waxwings and pine grosbeaks in Marquette. With an estimated 700-900 crab apple trees in town, there’s a fairly substantial food supply for both. The diameter of the crab apples is a key factor in which birds are found in each tree.

Less than 5/8″ fruits and the bohemians will eventually find the crab apples and any other fruits smaller. These can include viburnum (high bush cranberry, though not a cranberry), evening nightshade, an introduced vine related to the tomato with bunches of red berries, winterberry and mountain ash.

The waxwings generally will drop down from a taller tree into a fruit tree, swallow two to three fruits and sail back up to a safer place to digest, Subsisting on a nearly all fruit diet during the winter months, they extract the facts and proteins, as well as the carbohydrates within fifteen minutes and then drop back down to grab a few more fruits.

In a quiet spot they will feed for hours. They can in a larger flock, strip a small tree of fruit in a couple of hours and an exceptionally large tree in two or three days.

The pine grosbeaks feed on larger crab apple fruits by taking bites from them with their large bills. They are quiet, gentle, messy eaters, often getting food all over their bills and throats. Warbling while they feed together, most have lived in boreal forests in Canada and may have never seen humans until arriving on the south shore of Lake Superior. Their subtle colors, quiet calls and tame nature make them true delights to watch as they may feed in small flocks for days at a single tree. For many birders they are a winter favorite because of their low key, relaxed behavior.

Waterbirds have also added a splash of excitement recently in Marquette County. On Teal Lake a large flock of 150 common mergansers was seen last Monday. They are seen most of the year in Marquette on Lake Superior, but usually no more than 15 are seen together.

This was probably a migratory flock headed south heading to winter from coast to coast across the central third of the U.S. from Michigan to Kentucky, but south to Mexico in the western states, wherever open water is available.

In the Lower Harbor of Marquette, a nice variety of ducks is still being seen with common goldeneyes and buffleheads in the majority, and redheads, mergansers, long-tailed ducks, scaup, horned grebes and an occasional common loon all in the mix.

A loon gave out a single lonely call from the harbor last Saturday as if giving out a final goodbye for the season.

At South Bach, a single black-bellied plover lingered several days at mid-week.

A few rusty blackbirds, a single northern mockingbird at Whitefish Point and a smattering of odd sparrows are still hanging around, due in part possibly to the amazing record weather this past week. Birds have more access to a variety of weed and tree seeds on the ground and even some insects while the temperatures remain above freezing and there is no snow on the ground.

That will change again, at least to some degree over the next week as temperatures get back closer to normal and a bit of snow returns.

Snow buntings, one of those species of ground feeders, have also been present in some slowing dwindling flocks, but a few will remain through the entire winter. They continue to feed in open areas with plants like ragweed and grasses where seeds close to the ground can keep a flock going as long as there are no disturbances. There still are a few horned larks in the area occasionally feeding with the larger flocks of buntings. In the days ahead it will become clearer which friends will remain through the start of winter.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Scot Stewart is a teacher at Bothwell Middle School in Marquette and a freelance photographer.

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