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Some bird species a little behind schedule this spring

A rose-breasted grosbeak looks on. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Dabbed with the colors of orioles, grosbeaks, indigo buntings and goldfinches, the spring forest looks more like a line of Christmas trees. What great presents after a long winter!” – Anonymous

The best of the spring migration has hit the Upper Peninsula. Social media, listserves and casual conversations are all punctuates with stories of the color splashing across the trees through the entire area. Everyone lights up each May when the spectacle of all the birds of color arrive from the south during migration.

There are several big waves of birds, some heading across Lake Superior and on to Canada and Alaska and some staying the U.P. to nest and raise their young for the summer. Good numbers of orioles, indigo buntings and new grosbeaks have joined the bright yellow American goldfinches and pink house and purple finches to continue to a parade of color into the area and maples’ flowers and new leaves bring reds to the hill sides and the aspens bring their early apple green shades to the forest canopy.

This spring many species have been a little behind in the arrival but now as May quickly winds down, birds are beginning to show up in their final waves. Many species of earlier arrivals still have individuals arriving and some group like sparrows never arrived this year in large waves. Neither did juncos, another group of sparrows, ducks and grebes never seemed to be found in large groups either.

Warblers and shorebirds are the last two major groups of migrants to make it into the U.P. While very small numbers of yellow-rumped Myrtle), pine and palm warblers have made their way here in the past few weeks flocks of eight or more species have been rare until just this last week or so and then it has been at spots along migration routes connecting Wisconsin and the southern U.P. along the shore of Lake Michigan. The arrival of warblers along that shore has been historically tied to the major hatches of midges along areas of the shore where they land in the conifers along the lake edge. It is usually a littler earlier in the year so it might be interesting to see how the warblers have fared this year.

Larger varieties of shorebirds are appearing at traditional stopping points around the U.P. Very small numbers of a few species have followed the same pattern of occasional sightings this spring over the past few weeks, but diversity has been lacking. Species now being seen include spotted solitary and least sandpipers, dunlin semipalmated plovers and a few piping plovers. A few really big exciting flocks have really changed things in a few places lately. At Sand Point in Keweenaw Bay 10 whimbrel and 13 marbled godwits were spotted May 16. The same day a Hudsonian godwit was seen at the Arnheim Wildlife Area on the Baraga-Houghton County line along with semipalmated plovers, least sandpipers, dunlin, lesser and greater yellowlegs.

On Tuesday, 256 whimbrel were seen on the Manistique boardwalk. At the Portage Point Marsh south of Escanaba more than 430 whimbrel were seen the same day. Large movements of whimbrels are seen frequently in spring migration in northern Lake Michigan.

Yellow-rumped (myrtle) pine and palm have been found in decent number throughout the past few weeks, but large mixed flocks of more than eight species has been rare until just the last week or so. Recently flocks have included ovenbirds, black-throated blue, black-throated green, orange-crowned, blackburnian, chestnut-sided, yellow, Tennessee and bay-breasted warblers. Full leaf out is still a ways off depending on the distance from the Great Lakes, so warbler watching is still possible and fairly easy.

It has been noted in several places in the area this spring that yellow-rumped warblers are referred to as myrtle warblers. Originally the myrtle name referred to warblers in the eastern U.S. with narrow yellow stripes on the head, two white wing bars, white chins and a narrow black strip across the lower neck. In the western states where birds had full yellow caps and throats, a single white patch on the wings and a broader black neck stripe, they were called Audubon’s warbler. Taxonomists lumped the two species together because of a variety of reasons much to the dismay of birders hoping to count two separate species on their lists and know they had seen two different birds. Their status is being revisited but a decision to determine if they are in fact two species is not currently close.

A surprise was found on one of Marquette’s golf courses last week, a horned lark. An unusual species spending most of its time on the ground, it is common in the western states and to the north in Canada, and during migration, but rarely in the U.P. in summer although this area is part of their summer range.

The recent heavy rainstorm has evidently had an impact on American woodcock nesting. One observer reported following two different nests in the area and found both lost entire broods of young birds unable to survive the cold wet conditions. Brood sizes were believed to be 7 and 8.

Weather is sure to continue to play a role in the state of color in the U.P. this spring.

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

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