“I love how summer just wraps its arms around you like a warm blanket.” – Kellie Elmore

Like the concert goer slipping into the auditorium during the second song, hoping to go unnoticed, summer seems to have attempted the same trick. Rumbles of thunder and temperatures in the upper 70s made summer difficult to miss though as it slipped into the Upper Peninsula earlier this week. The warmer temperatures have been a welcome change.

It looks, sounds and now feels like summer in the U.P. Trees and flowers are still trying to catch up with flowering and setting seeds, but the warmer temperatures, especially at night, are helping to speed things up a little. Many song birds are beginning to show their newly fledged young. In Marquette young black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, American robins, downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers have joined the ranks of the starlings and common grackles at feeders and yards in Marquette.

Two different pileated woodpecker nests were noted last week in Marquette, with two male young leaving one nest last Saturday, and a male and female pair leaving the second nest shortly thereafter. The former’s nesting tree was a large, healthy looking big-toothed aspen tree in Marquette Township in a backyard. The fledged young already had bright red crests and full surprisingly loud calls.

Marquette seemed to show an increase in the warblers feeding and singing in town this spring and early summer. Over the past five the years the number yellow warblers singing along Lakeshore Blvd. between Founders Landing and Ridge Street has been gradually increasing. There are probably at least five with territories along that stretch this summer. A few chestnut-sided, mourning, black-throated green, black and white warblers and American redstarts and common yellowthroats are regulars in the city limits most years. This summer there seem to be a few more wandering around including a Nashville warbler or two, singing as they move around.

Seney National Wildlife Refuge in Schoolcraft County also has noted a few changes in the birds being seen there this summer. There were more common terns seen there early this season. High water levels on Lake Michigan may have flooded some islands where the terns nest, pushing them inland to look for suitable sites. Even at Seney water levels are higher and may have complicated original nesting sites for common loons. Some of them lost their first clutches and have been forced to renest.

The Seney staff was delighted to note the return of a male loon known as “ABJ.” This male was hatched at the refuge in 1987 and banded that summer with the metal U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service leg band. It was also given several other colored leg bands to specifically identify him. This technique allows observers to carefully follow the movements, reproductive success and habitat selection of individuals. Some believe it may cause some problems though, especially for loons, as the brightly colored bands are highly visible as the birds dive and may help predators like bald eagles pursue and catch them, particularly young ones, when they are in the initial seconds of a dive. Despite the concern, the banding has provided a wealth of information about a number of species, and some of them are particularly long lived for the species. This has been particularly valuable managing and collecting important status information for threatened and endangered species like loons and piping plovers.

ABJ’s mate is a female banded in 1990 as an adult and is actually believed to be a year older than ABJ. They have produced 28 fledged young since they first paired in 1997. ABJ did have another mate prior to his current partner. There is another female on the refuge believed to be a year older than ABJ’s mate.

Seney have tapped into the data of eBird this year to provide information about current sightings by visitors. On their visitor page, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Seney/visit/visitor_activities/birding.html, sightings of specific birds are listed along with a link to maps of the spots at the refuge where each bird was seen. It is a handy aid for seeing what birds are currently being seen and provides direction to some places to walk, bike or bird by car once visitors arrive when they are looking for specific species or places with a good variety of species.

Snapping turtles are just wrapping up their nesting for the summer at Seney too, finishing a bit later than usual, and northern blueflag irises are beginning to bloom. The biggest holdup has been of the prickly wild roses at the refuge, blooming probably two weeks behind their average dates.

A rarity recently was found on the AuTrain River in Alger County last week and heard again this past Wednesday. A least bittern was located on a small island adding to the excitement of summer sightings. Rare to the U.P. just a few are seen or heard each summer in the U.P. due to their low numbers here and the dense vegetative habitat they prefer.

It’s a great time with warm nights, dewy mornings, the songs of warblers, vireos and in Marquette a few cardinals providing morning songs to wake up with at each sunrise.

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