Scot Stewart

By SCOT STEWART

Marquette bird expert

Sometimes that clarity comes with thoughts of a new furnace, sometimes with new opportunities to get outside and see the Upper Peninsula with a new look, filled with a fresh coating of snow.

Last week’s big storm did leave a mark, actually lots. Besides the thick layer of ice-lined snow, there were plenty of broken branches and many blown-down trees and branches. There was even an uprooted tree or two pulled out by the roots in last Wednesday’s big blow.

A male harlequin duck. (Photo courtesy Scot Stewart)

Power outages also, but many on high alert reminding all the wonder of more certain services U.P. society provides most.

Early winter continues to provide plenty of birds and birding opportunities to keep the season even more exciting.

Pine grosbeaks and bohemian waxwings, two of the more colorful visitors, usually arriving in flocks have continued to make guest appearances in many places. Winterberry and mountain ash fruits continue to be the first choices of both, but some grosbeaks have been seen in crab apple trees, too.

Mackinac County has been a great birding stop recently. Two thousand redheads were counted below the Mackinac Bridge on Nov. 1. The Mackinac Straits are a staging site for redheads in early winter was upwards of 20,000-plus can be seen.

Unfortunately, some of the best views are from the bridge, so they are fleeting unless someone else is driving. Scaup and common goldeneyes are often mixed in the rafts. Some photos of the rafts are reused so some care must be taken when gauging the numbers currently there.

At Pointe La Barbe, nearby swans are continuing. On Monday, both tundra and trumpeter swans were seen, with four of each tallied. The trumpeters may stick around, but the tundras will most likely continue to the Atlantic Ocean for the winter. At the Ford River mouth in Delta County, 19 trumpeter swans and two mute swans were found.

Raptors have continued to be seen around the Marquette area the past two weeks, keeping many songbirds more alert. A merlin was seen flying over south Marquette on Nov. 24 near an area where chickadees were visiting several bird feeders and three pine grosbeaks were feeding in crab apple trees nearby.

It is a falcon with a slender body, narrow-pointed wings and a rapid wingbeat. At several places, larger numbers of American goldfinches have added to the activity at black sunflower feeders, possibly drawing more attention to those areas.

A Cooper’s hawk has been reported on the east side of Marquette near the Coast Guard station. Besides a number of sightings near one home, evidence of predation has been found at several other residences nearby in the form of feather piles from both mourning doves and pigeons, possibly from the same bird.

A sharp-shinned hawk was seen on Lakewood Lane near Harvey on Dec. 1. These two hawks are called accipiters. Adults have grayish backs and rusty barred chests. Their tails are somewhat narrow, and their wings are wider than falcons and they often fly with a “flap, flap, flap, glide” pattern when cruising.

An even larger red-tailed has also been seen along the Dead River and in town. Larger than a crow, red-tails are buteo hawks with wide tails and wings and can look like eagles in overall shape.

As temperatures have dropped well below freezing at night, eyes are on the water in the Lake Superior harbors as the Christmas Bird Counts draw closer. The Marquette CBCs have produced 52 to 55 species in years with higher counts when the open lake waters can harbor species that will head south where open water is present as local lakes freeze. Normally present in Marquette in those years are about seven species of ducks, at least one grebe or two, and one gull species.

Currently there are at least 10 duck species in town, some herring gulls and a horned grebe. Up to 11 other species of ducks could make it on the count, plus a second grebe. Four other gulls, trumpeter swans and a common loon or two could also be here then. That is a chance of up to 28 water bird species making it on the count.

Clearly the chances of that happening are just about nil, but open waters will add many to the 78th annual count on Sunday, Dec. 20. It will be one of the latest Marquette counts, one of the first to be held in Marquette on a Sunday, lowering the chances of late departing birds. A warmer November this year should help, though.

One of the vagrant duck species seen several times recently in Marquette has been the harlequin duck. At least one female or juvenile was seen in the Upper Harbor several weeks ago. After the big storm last week, though, a beautiful male was seen in the Lower Harbor. Unfortunately, neither has been reported in the past few days, but the hope simply adds to the desire for more unusual species to show up on a day where a good number of great birders will be checking the Lake Superior shore all day.

A few other Upper Peninsula Christmas bird counts will be held from the end of December through the first week in January. Two larger counts, the AuTrain Count in Alger County (Dec. 20) and the Les Cheneaux CBC in Cedarville (Dec. 16) are in the works.

Check https://www.audubon.org/community-science/christmas-bird-count/join-christmas-bird-count or search Join Christmas Bird Count for dates and meeting places for other counts.