What’s flying
Bird watching has become challenging
“The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within.” – William C. Bryant
Hard to know what will come with the last three weeks of February, but there are sure to be both situations holding true and some surprises. Early in the week, the Lower Harbor in Marquette showed just a touch of ice near Mattson Park, with the colder nights promising to add some more, because it just seemed right. Across the entire lake, Superior has just more than 25% ice cover so far, and historically, there are usually only small increases to that cover once January ends. The gentle, mild weather has been good to wildlife, although the city of Marquette has already moved 26,000 yards of snow from the streets, a fair amount considering the early stage of winter February finds it.
Punxsutawney Phil, the Ground Hog, woke up Sunday under cloudy skies and brought a promise of an early winter, but Yoopers know things in the U.P. are different. Spring will be along when it is darned good and ready. In the meantime, more subtle changes, like maple sap dripping from broken branches, longer shadows, longer icicles and a few head-bobbing mallards and goldeneyes starting their courting will have to do.
A gray catbird has been lingering for weeks on the east side of Marquette, and probably all winter in the Upper Peninsula. Normally catbirds are only summer resident, feeding on a mix of insects and fruit during this period. It is necessary for them to migrate south during wintertime to search for better food supplies. Most end up along the Atlantic Coast south of Cape Cod, down through the Gulf Coast States to Mexico, nearly always close to the coast. This bird has been seen feeding on viburnum berries and may be feeding on suet tool
Another unusual bird, a northern flicker, was seen this past week at a feeding station on the east side of Marquette. A woodpecker, they too feed mostly on insects and have a winter range extending south from the Wisconsin border to the Gulf. Most though, winter in the southern states where there is bare ground. Beetles, ants, spiders and other arthropods living on the ground make up a lion’s share of their diets, but they too will eat fruits and seeds when insects are scarce. They are one of the few woodpeckers regularly seen here in summer that migrate out of the U.P. each fall. Because of their loud calls, large size — bigger than a robin and habit of feeding regularly on the ground, they are probably the most noticeable and regularly seen woodpecker here in summer.
As winter has progressed, many birds that have relied on the bounty of natural foods like birch seeds and mountain ash fruits are running out of those staple and have begun turning to bird feeders to at least supplement natural food supplies. A significant uptick in diversity was seen at several feeders in Marquette County this past week as regular feeder birds like chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers were joined by golden-crowned kinglets and brown creepers traveling with the feeder flocks, mourning doves and larger flocks of American goldfinches and house finches.
Another species that may fit the role of a seed and fruit eater out of supplies is a pine grosbeak that appeared at a feeder north of Ishpeming last Wednesday. They have been scarce this winter across the U.S. portions of the upper Great Lakes due to solid mountain ash crops in Canada this winter. This is one of the first pine grosbeaks reported in the U.P. this winter. It was in the company of a flock of over 30 evening grosbeaks that have been regulars at the same feeding station. The evening grosbeaks have been seen in large flocks across the central U.P. this winter.
It may be a little bit more difficult this year to know when migration is really underway. One of the first migrants to make it into Marquette is the ring-billed gull. Typically, they arrive the very end of February or the first week in March. This year, due to the warmer conditions, there has been a handful seen from time to time in Marquette, probably due to large amount of open water on Lake Superior providing more favorable afternoon resting and evening roosting sites for gulls. When these gulls start showing up in numbers at Picnic Rocks, their summer nesting colony site, we will know for sure.
Until then, winter guests, like the northern hawk owl, still being seen at the old city compost site on Lakeshore Blvd. looks to be able to provide some interesting birding for resident and visitors to the area alike. Last Saturday it was observed chasing blue jays near apartments on the west side of the site and on Sunday birders watched it as it perched near a competitor, a northern shrike. Both birds have been hunting mice and voles there and with the increased amount of ice on top of snow across the area, restricting rodent travel, hunting for the birds has gotten a little more challenging lately. Mid-winter thaws — just another part of the happenstance of February.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Scot Stewart is a teacher at Bothwell Middle School in Marquette and a freelance photographer.