Last Sunday’s storm seemed to bring significant changes to what had been some incredible birding in the central Upper Peninsula. The storms can also bring amazing changes to the landscape. The two storms last week proved that as they blasted the Lake Superior shoreline again. The storms brought a foot and a half of snow to the highlands west of Marquette, but far less to the Lake Superior shoreline, where some flooding did occur. The Sunday storm though brought a heavier dose of snow to a much bigger area and more winds and heavier waves to some parts of the Lake Superior shoreline, especially along the lake between Fair and Hawley Streets in Marquette.

The waves caused some major changes to the Lakeshore Blvd. area where new flooding occurred. Some of those waves tore out significant stretches of pavement, and pushed them onto the bike path. Nearly the entire roadway was covered in smaller rocks from the riprap barrier constructed to protect the road. Some of those rocks were driven farther into the 50+ year old chain-linked fence.

Storms tend to bring new birds to the area, but often take others unable to cope with conditions away. Two really great birds, a mountain bluebird in Munising, and a northern hawk owl had been wowing birders. The owl had been in the former Marquette City composting site west of Lakeshore Boulevard, since Nov. 19. Completely fenced in, the site was the perfect spot for the owl with plenty of mice and voles scurrying over the area including more open roadways where the rodents were more visible. The fencing also kept humans at a distance where the owl could hunt with fewer distractions.

The mountain bluebird had arrived near the mouth of Anna River along Lake Superior east of the city since Nov. 25. It searched for insects in the shrubs and weeds around the Anna River mouth, but also spent time inside a fenced area to the west. Both birds had been seen daily through the Wednesday storm before Thanksgiving, encouraging birders to think both might remain in the area longer, especially the hardy northern hawk owl, a resident of central Canada and interior Alaska. With the upcoming Marquette Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 14, all owls are particularly great birds to have for the count, but a northern hawk owl would be truly special because of its rarity in the area.

Scot Stewart

Sunday’s storm was particularly powerful, with more than a foot of snow in Marquette and those amazing waves and wind. While it was difficult for most birders to even get out of the house during the storm on Sunday, many were out on Monday to see what effects the storm had on the hawk owl and the mountain bluebird. As of Wednesday, neither had been reported through. As is often the case with these disappearances, little is known about how they vanish. The greatest hope would be they sense the dropping air pressure and simply leave. They could be pushed to new areas in search of more accessible food. Both birds were in areas with relatively high densities of birders looking for unusual species so moving even a few miles may leave them undetected and “lost.” In some cases, especially with smaller insect eating birds, they may simply perish.

Some lingering surprises again turned up in the central U.P. In Au Train a very late common grackle showed up last Monday. Most all of the local and migratory blackbirds are gone for the season, so a lingering grackle in the first week of December is notable. A belted kingfisher was also reported this week, seen in Agate Harbor, between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor on Lake Superior, over open water. Finding them both after the latest storm is somewhat remarkable. It is difficult to know if both had been in the area and were just seen for the first time in a while, or were birds brought here from sites to the north, or elsewhere by the storms.

Birders have reported larger numbers of ducks like common goldeneyes appearing on open waters, especially bays of the Great Lakes after the storm. Two weeks ago, there were reports of over 1,000 redhead ducks below the Mackinac Bridge at the Straits, so it will be interesting to see how they disperse with the storms and the slowly dropping temperatures and eventual ice formation there. At some U.P. feeders, there has been an increase in dark-eyed juncos and American tree sparrows since the storms ended.

A Nov. 25 update from the Wisconsin state DNR contains information and a map of snowy owl reports https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/SnowyOwls.html. Maps from that day showed around 15 snowy owls in the U.P., with nearly all in Chippewa and Mackinac Counties, and reported concluded around 20 snowy owls were currently in Wisconsin and nearly 40 in the Lower Peninsula.

More snow is expected next week, and with it more changes before the CBC’s start. Marquette birders can meet at Mattson Park Dec. 14 at 8 a.m. to participate or become a feeder watcher using the following: http://www.upbirders.org/cbc_mqt_feeder_form_10.pdf and report their sightings. More next week about other area counts. Until then, weather the storms!

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