A buff-breasted sandpiper looks on. (Scot Stewart photo)

Across the narrow beach we flit, One little sand-piper and I; And fast I gather, bit by bit. The scattered drift-wood, bleached and dry, The wild waves reach their hands for it. The wild wind raves, the tide runs high, As up and down the beach we flit, One little sand-piper and I.

— Celia Leighton Thaxter

These days are carrying travelers to their autumn destinations. Where the rivers and creeks meet the shores of Lake Superior, the points of land jutting into the cooler winds of the big lake and the breakwalls the weary, hungry birds in need of something, food, rest, a leeward side of a rock are making their necessary stops.

It is on Marquette’s Lower Harbor breakwall birders may have one of the best places in the Upper Peninsula to get a closer look at the sandpipers and plovers now making their way south on their long journeys. Autumn is a special time to watch shorebirds. Many have nested in the far reaches of northern Canada and Alaska. The buff-breasted sandpiper is a good example, nesting along the continental coast of the Arctic Ocean and on the islands of northern Canada. Most young birds fledged there have had little or no contact with humans, can appear quite tame. They may be observed from a very close range as they rest or forage on the concrete and the rocks, especially on the second part of the half mile long concrete section of the breakwall.

Last week there was a new hatch of small midges along the breakwall, adding to the food supply on the surfaces of the structure. There are scores of orb weavers living in the rock crevices attempting to catch the midges and the surprising number of other insects that are blown over the water’s surface from the shore.

This past week has seen a spike in the diversity of the shorebirds in the area with semipalmated plovers, semipalmated least, buff-breasted and spotted sandpipers all seen on the breakwall plus two extremely rare stilt sandpipers spotted with others at the mouth of the Dead River. The buff-breasted sandpiper is a special one to see in the fall. Rarely seen in the spring, a few drift from their main flight path through the Central flyway west of the Mississippi and wander through Michigan each fall. Most seen are single individuals passing through, but occasionally small family groups up to six are seen on beaches and weedy fields like those at the dome on campus in Marquette.

On the breakwall sandpipers frequently weave in and out across both levels of concrete and under and over the rocks when the waves are not crashing in on them picking insects off the surfaces. A few may stay a couple of days, but most appear to stay a day and leave. Weather can be everything though for shorebirds in Marquette. During foul weather (no pun intended) the birding can be nearly spectacular some days with many birds on the ground. With favorable winds and sunny days, it may be near impossible to find a shorebird in the entire area.

Because some birds may be very tame in their behavior, it is often possible to walk slowly and quietly along the wall following one or more birds as they feed within a concrete block or two. Most blocks atop the breakwall are about nine feed long, so the views can be spectacular. This is really handy when trying to separate the least sandpipers with their yellowish legs from the black-legged semipalmated sandpipers. It also may be possible to see the semipalmated state of the so named sandpipers and plovers. Semipalmated birds have partial webbing of their toes. To have the chance to see these elusive birds up-close seems a true honor.

Close-up, buff-breasted sandpipers look a lot like mourning doves, with their smaller heads. It is also possible to see the gorgeous patterns of feathers on the sandpipers and just how small they are. Such tiny birds flying from the Arctic to southern South American or back each migration season!

At Whitefish Point shorebird diversity has remained relatively constant the past week, with eight to 11 different species seen most days. Daily numbers have been single digits for all except for sanderlings on two days when more than 20 were seen.

Songbirds are moving at about same pace as last week. One of the big attractions for thrushes and robins currently is the heavy crop of mountain ash berries across the area. Bright orange bunches of fruits are easy to spot, and robins are flocking to some trees. Careful inspections may lead to the discovery of other species not frequently found in town — hermit, Swainson’s and the elusive gray-cheeked thrushes. The thrushes are all woodland birds, relying on stealth and protective coloration to go largely unnoticed until them begin to sing, Then, it is purely heavenly. They are among the best singers in the north woods. To see them in town is a true treat, so mountain ash trees should be watched for signs of these beautiful singers.

Some dabbling ducks like blue and green-winged teals are beginning their southward push too, and at Whitefish Point rare Pacific loons and jaegers have been fly-bys, so the fall migration continues to offer great opportunities!

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