It’s true, September is just around the corner. The evidence to support the idea Summer is winding down is plentiful — the shoulders of the roads, now shrouded in heavy shawls of bright goldenrod, sprinkled with violet and magenta blooms of aster and those blasts of cooler air punctuating the skies with some showers and real thunder and lightning! A few ironweed patches, especially ones along the bike path near downtown Marquette are still vibrant, but winding down as many other roadside wildflowers near Upper Peninsula towns have been replaced by weeds like Queen Anne’s lace, vetch, common tansy and butter and eggs. This week’s thunderstorms were impressive, both visually and with the hail and winds they packed.

Insectivores — insect eating birds — are well into developing their exit strategies as their food supplies begin to dwindle. As aerial insects wind down for the swallows, swifts and flycatchers are among the first birds to begin the trip to Central and South America. The warblers are also heading south, but in a more deliberate way. Small groups continue to be seen across the entire area, but nearly all reports have indicated just a handful of species and low numbers.

For those following the shorebird migration, the excitement is beginning to build. Like the other groups on the move, the sandpipers and plovers are moving in small numbers so far, but in a few places the diversity and numbers are both beginning to build. Whitefish Point Bird Observatory may be one of the best places to catch fall migration for most species, but particularly for shorebirds Located eleven miles north of the town of Paradise in Chippewa County, a portion of the Point including the tip is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a separate unit of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge. In recent years there have been some great improvements made to facilitate visits including information signage, an accessible boardwalk and some benches. The goal though is to maintain the Point as an important way-station for migratory raptors, owls shorebirds and songbirds passing the point and also for many stopping to rest and forage.

Shorebirds have picked up considerably this week, but daily numbers and diversity are strongly correlated to weather conditions, especially wind and precipitation. During a recent two-day period, although the weather was warm and sunny, south and east winds kept the numbers of virtually all bird types down. As north winds, favorable for southbound birds pick up, birds increase. Fronts can often put more birds down on the ground to wait until better conditions for flying resume. Fortunately, weather forecasting and live reports from the observatory manned through the Michigan Audubon Society,https://dunkadoo.org/explore/whitefish-point-bird-observatory/waterbirds-fall-2019 can update visitors well on migration progress. The counters are positioned next to the “counter’s shack near the end of the point where they watch the shore line to the northwest for incoming birds, are extremely friendly, announcing the sighting of interesting birds and are extremely helpful in answering questions about birding there.

SCOT STEWART

In recent days roughly eight to 11 different species of shorebirds seen at the point during the approximately eight-hour period following sunrise. Strong birds flying on a good, following wind may simply sail on past the point. Some tired, hungry, with younger juveniles or fighting strong winds may stop. A pair of piping plovers nested at the point this summer but it appears they have left. There have been visits from several single piping plovers this week though, highlights for most birders visiting. Since most piping plovers, endangered species, are now banded shortly before fledging, their original hatch sites can be learned through their bands and single birds are from other sites.

A pair of American golden-plovers spent the entire day there last Sunday, feeding mostly near the edges of small flooded areas off the beach. Probably the most entertaining hunting behavior to watch from them was their pursuit of grasshoppers. Due to the strong winds some grasshoppers were carried into the shallow water of the ponds sending the plovers in after them, wading into the shallower areas and diving in like small ospreys to the deeper spots.

Sanderlings, semipalmated, least, pectoral, Baird’s, buff-breasted sandpipers, yellowlegs, semipalmated, black-bellied and the American golden-plovers are the most common shorebirds, but ruddy turnstones, dunlin, stilt and white-rumped sandpipers, willets and Hudsonian godwits are also see most seasons, the latter seen at the Point last Wednesday. During calmer days the birds may forage along the lake shore, over the well-rounded pebbles. Taller waders stick to the ponds.

Red-necked grebes, common loons, common and black terns, Bonaparte’s gulls and a good variety of ducks can also be seen most days currently at the point. Broad-winged, sharp-shinned and red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, bald eagles and a variety of warblers are being seen too. The most interesting sighting this past week though probably was a northern saw-whet owl that flew out of the woods out on toward the beach and probably back into the woods, as it was not relocated.

Shorelines are great spots to watch. On Lake Michigan monarch butterflies wait for north winds to take them south. So, although there is a bit of melancholy as the summer days wind down, there is plenty to see and do as September rolls in.

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