The season is winding down, and the end of August brings quiet times in the woods. This month birds have really quieted down. On the north shore of Lake Superior in Ontario, birders have noticed some similar conditions but some exceptions too.

Across the north shore roadway bridges offered signs of barn swallows, indicating some will still be heading south through the area this fall. Bank swallows were also seen along one river valley where large cuts along sandy banks next to the river offered nesting sites for them. All the swallows seemed to be teaching young flying maneuvers in anticipation of leaving. Although mostly quiet, red-eyed vireos, least flycatchers and cedar waxwings are being seen.

On the east side of the lake around Lake Superior Provincial Park there were good numbers of mixed flocks warblers, golden-crowned kinglets and red-breasted nuthatches. The warblers will all head south eventually, with many following the lakeshore and streaming through the eastern Upper Peninsula. Straight across the lake, large flocks of noisy kinglets and nuthatches make up the majority of sounds heard there, along with families of crows.

All around the lake common loons are heard at nightly at many sites along the edge of Lake Superior. It seemed a bit puzzling they should be so vocal, but identification of family member’s locations seems one possibility.

Scot Stewart

After some initial reports of fruit and cone crops across parts of Ontario, it will be interesting to see how conditions around Lake Superior compare with the rest of the province. Each fall Ron Pittaway contacts biologists across that area to collect information on mountain ash berry production, catkins of birch and spruce, tamarack and fir cones. After analyzing the data Pittaway issues a fall finch report for Ontario, making predictions on the movements of crossbills, redpolls, evening and pine grosbeaks, and siskins, as well as other northern birds dependent on these crops to survive the winter conditions of Ontario like bohemian waxwings, blue jays and red-breasted nuthatches.

The predictions offer information about the movements of these birds southward during the winter as they search for food away from their normal winter range, including into the U.P., when there are shortages.

White spruce cone production seems particularly good to the north meaning crossbills may not move much. White-wing crossbills were heard daily in Pukaskwa National Park northwest of the Sault Ste. Marie, in one of the areas where cones looked particularly good. Mountain ash crops at the west end of the lake seemed dried out due to late summer drought. Those conditions might send more waxwings and pine grosbeaks southward toward to the U.P.

Here in the U.P., August means packing extra fat onto both adult and young birds preparing to head south. Along the eastern Lake Superior shore of the U.P., piping plover adults are heading off their nesting grounds to the winter range. Young will follow them, usually with a couple weeks. The families at Grand Marais and Whitefish Point, where they have been watched all summer will be observed with extra hopes these Michigan endangered species get away safely.

Rose-breasted grosbeaks are another easily observed summer resident getting ready to head south. Males, while looking worn are still sporting their red “v’s” across their chests, but young and females blend in more, with they feathers modeling lines of brown, tans and whites, Their “arm pits” do carry bright yellowish-orange markings. They too will be heading south soon.

Right now though there are plenty of signs of fall movement. Along Little Bay de Noc a movement of 4000 cliff swallows was observed August 11. The flock size estimate was made by counting birds passing overhead, in a short period, in this case about 200 birds per minute, and extrapolating over the time they passed – about 20 minutes. Groups were also seen overhead in Iron Mountain the same day.

Good numbers of shorebirds seen at Whitefish Point August 14, including semipalmated and piping plovers, least sandpipers and sanderlings. In a much earlier report from Manistique, a Wilson’s phalarope, a more westerly shorebird was seen with a pair of lesser yellowlegs August 7, making it one of the rarer shorebird sightings this summer in the central U.P. Some other shorebirds on birders’ lists to see soon are ruddy turnstones and buff-breasted sandpipers. The former are sometimes seen on the Lower Harbor breakwall in Marquette and at Whitefish Point. The buff-breasted sandpipers can show up at both places too, but are sometimes seen in the drier open areas around the Superior Dome. Both are fall birding highlights.

Plenty of young birds still being reported in the Upper Peninsula too. Pileated woodpeckers, house wrens, black-capped chickadees and yellow-bellied sapsuckers are currently being seen around Marquette.

A surf scoter has appeared or reappeared in Marquette’s Lower Harbor too. One was seen for more than a week in mid-July. It is a great bird in town any time of year. Plenty to see across the Peninsula, and lots of anticipation of the birds still to come. What better time to get outside than mid-August!

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