“Spring: the music of open windows.” -Terri Guillemets

While the temperatures are not cooperating very well with open windows yet, the birds are. The morning air in Marquette, can now be filled with songs and calls of at least a half dozen species.

On the east side of town, the mornings can be amazingly musical despite those cold temperatures. With sunrise still at least half an hour away, at least one northern cardinal’s song breaks through the cold air, and there is something truly exciting about that “Cheer, cheer, cheer.”

Mourning doves join in quickly as the east brightens, and common redpolls and American goldfinches are soon heard in treetops as they near feeding stations to fire up their metabolism after a cold night. Close to Lake Superior the clatter of awakening ring-billed gulls also rattles the bottoms of low flying clouds.

Robins should be adding their part to the morning chorus soon too. At the moment they are only clucking and making other short calls, but territorial songs should start as soon as the warmer weather and some bare ground appear. They are being seen in Quinnesec, Manistique and in Marquette where four were seen feeding on last year’s apples in a tree on the east side. Early robin arrivals facing a couple feet of snow on the ground are denied their worms. They often turn to fruit still hanging on apple and crab apple trees.

Other early arrivals continue to trickle into the area despite the low temps and the high snow piles. Red-winged blackbirds are continuing to show up at scattered spots across the U.P. and turkey vultures were spotted March 25 in the Quinnesec area in Dickinson County and at Whitefish Point in Chippewa County. There seems to be a slight uptick in the number of blue jays around as some of them seem to be edging northward to join a few that have been in the area the past month or two.

Early turkey vultures, especially ones arriving while there is still snow on the ground may be hard to believe, and even misidentified due to their early arrival, being mistaken for bald eagles. Vultures usually soar in their classic dihedral configuration, with their wings slightly upraised. They look like those V-shaped birds in children’s drawings. When there are slight puffs of wind or a bit of turbulence, the birds may appear to rock back and forth a bit. Turkey vultures have become increasingly common in the Upper Peninsula over the past 20 years, and are seen regularly during summer months Marquette, Christmas, Big Bay and west of Ishpeming.

Open fields between Sault Ste. Marie and Rudyard have been making news all winter with great numbers of snowy owls — 22 or mare seen on a given day, rough-legged hawks, snow buntings and northern shrikes. Recently the open country near Gladstone was informally surveyed, and “numerous” rough-legged hawks were found Tuesday. Both snowy owls were adults.

Manistique has seen some northern harriers pass by and a single greater black-backed gull. Vagrant gulls have been scarce on Lake Superior, hindered by the harbor ice cover in many areas. Herring and ring-billed gulls are staking out territories on Gaines and Picnic Rocks respectively in Marquette, but glaucous, iceland, greater and lesser black-backed gulls have been very scarce so far this winter.

Even though it hasn’t all been spring weather, the past two weeks have gotten off well for the Hawk Count at Whitefish Point. Since it started March 1, with over 7100 passing birds have already been tallied. The number one species coming through that area so far has been the common redpoll, making up 67 percent through Thursday. White-winged crossbills were second at 23 percent. The raptor side things were good with 81 bald eagles counted, but 25 golden eagles were counted too. 20 red-tailed hawks and 16 northern goshawks have come through the area as well. Smaller numbers of American kestrels and red-shouldered hawks have been seen.

Most of the hawks counted are headed to Canada. They are looking for the shortest place to cross Lake Superior after following their northward path to the point. Eagles are the first raptors to make the trek northward. The most numerous hawks seen at the point will come later – sharp-shinned hawks will peak near the end of April, with thousands passing per day at the peak. That will be followed by a big wave of buteos, wide-winged, wide tailed hawks. The most common hawk in that May push will be broad-winged hawks. On days when the wind is from the north, they will get bottled up at the point in kettles, large, circling flocks of 400 or more waiting for favorable winds. Thousands will cross there this spring too.

It seems like a fairly average spring so far, weather and bird wise. It is the start of an exciting season for everyone. The website for the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, www.wpbo.org, is one of the best to gage what is currently being seen in the area. www.UPBirders.org offers the opportunity to sign up for emails from other birders reporting their sightings. They are great ways to keep an eye on what’s flying.

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