An osprey nest with an osprey and Baltimore oriole is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

“I question not if thrushes sing,

If roses load the air;

Beyond my heart I need not reach

When all is summer there…

— John Vance Cheney,

“Love’s World”

Summer is here! And all the events Cheney mentions too! Hermit and Swainson’s thrushes are singing. Half a dozen different species wild roses are also blooming. This week’s rain brought a blush of green back to some of the area’s vegetation and a fresh fragrance of clean to the air in the woods.

This season provided yet another opportunity to show off the tremendous array of great birding locations on Lake Michigan. The locations on the west end of the Portage Point, Peninsula Point, Days River mouth Nature Trail, Rapid River mouth, Ogontz Bay, and the Manistique boardwalk are just a few of the places birders can explore in the search for birds throughout the warm weather months.

The points can have an incredible array of migrants in May and the water birds, ducks, egrets, occasional American white pelicans, terns, eagles, and osprey continue along most of the shores all summer.

The wetlands along the rivers and inland from the Lake shore are filled with kingfishers, shorebirds, warblers, and blackbirds.

It is possible to explore a number of these sites in a day but to properly explore most of them and see many of the birds at most sites so hiking, listening and some serious binocular or spotting scope work should be done to take advantage to all that is there.

The wetlands at the Rapid River mouth have been particularly good recently. A sizable number of killdeer have been found in the boat launch parking lot. The concrete bumpers in rural parking lots seem to hold a particular fascination for killdeer and they can frequently be found there, courting, nesting, and caring for young. Killdeer have nested the past three years in a golf course parking lot in Marquette County and have been treated extremely well as they have successfully brought off broods each year.

Great egrets have been seen with regularity at the Rapid River site too, with two found feeding on small fish there last Thursday. They kept a watchful eye on human activity and do not appear too keen with the sounds of loud vehicles.

They were extremely active on a windy evening flying between different areas in search of fish.

Also in the area is an osprey nest. This nest was the stage for an interesting interaction between the osprey pair and a couple of Baltimore orioles. Songbirds regularly harass larger birds like crows, hawks, and cranes. One of the ospreys had caught a fish and fed in stand of poplar near their nest. While its mate tended to the nest the orioles circled around both fish eaters. One landed repeatedly on the nest itself, both below and beside the osprey.

The orioles must have had a nest nearby and were uncomfortable with the presence of the osprey as it fed, but the activity around the nest, a nest that has been there all spring, was more difficult to explain.

Farm activity can also provide some interesting birding in the agricultural fields off Lake Michigan. Gulls are regularly drawn to disking activity when soil is turned over exposing worms, insect, and other invertebrates. Hay cutting can be a problem for grasslands birds if they have not fledged yet, but other events can also stir things up.

A large group of eagles – 3, ravens – 2, and turkey vultures – 5 were drawn to a recently cut hay field in the Garden Peninsula where a young deer fawn had been killed by the equipment.

The birds had quickly scavenged the remains after discovering it.

Peregrine presence in Marquette has quieted some since the falcons arrived in Marquette this spring. Despite the deconstruction of the power plant on the north end of town peregrines still chose to hang out there early on during what should have been the nesting season, so a nest box was placed on one of the structures just in case. No nesting box was positioned on the Shiras Steam Plant this spring as the teardown of that structure is also underway. No activity has been noted on the Landmark Hotel where a nest box was placed last year.

House finches are common visitors at a number of bird feeding stations in Marquette but are rarely found far from town.

They have had an ebb and flow of populations over the last 20 years but seem to be doing fairly well currently. This spring showed a new way to keep track of a part of the population with mailmen. Well at least one anyhow. A mailman on the east side of Marquette found five different house finch pairs nesting on his route. All nested in similar locations — old Christmas wreathes still hanging on front doors near mailboxes. While no formal data was collected on clutch size or nesting success, it did highlight the adaptivity of the finches and their ability to coexist with humans.

One final birding highlight reported recently was some nesting activity of two pairs of red-headed woodpeckers near a residential area on a local golf course. They were once relatively common on the southern tier of the Upper Peninsula but are now very rare treats to see, let along see nesting. Only in summer! It is the start of a great season.

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