A great horned owl is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Then at night the general stillness is more impressive than any sound, but occasionally you hear the note of an owl farther or nearer in the woods.” — Henry David Thoreau 

The Upper Peninsula is in the darkest weeks of the year. The winter solstice is just four days away, occurring at 10:59 AM on Dec. 21, the shortest day of the year. In these early days of winter, it is a mostly quiet time of year, especially in the woods away from settlements. Occasionally, a front does rip through, and with its 50 mph gusts temporarily steals the beauty of the silent woods.

Better though, are those other breaks from the snow dampened silence, ones that bring a smile and the knowledge that there is beauty that comes with those muted times. Winter nights are punctuated with the calls of barred and great horned owls. They are the nighttime guardians of this season, and only occasionally have to share the night air with the raspy barks of territorial foxes in town, and the choruses of coyotes and wolves deeper in the woods. With evenings arriving so much sooner now the time frame for calling is much longer and can extend from dinner time until its time for work tomorrow morning.

While the great horned and barred owls are just getting started with their calls, the daytime and early evening presence of snowy owls has really begun to amp up. At least half a dozen are still being seen in Chippewa County in the Rudyard-Pickford area south of Sault Ste. Marie. One of them is nearly all white, the markings of an adult male. Four more were seen near Dafter, also in Chippewa County last week. Two have been spotted along the shore near Ludington Park in Escanaba, including one on the green and white channel marker. There continue to be sightings in Marquette, especially around Harlow Park and open area to the south. Fences, power poles and the tops of prominent building are great places to find them late in the day.

During the daytime hours they prefer low profile spots and locations away from the daily activities of crows and jays who will harass the owls mercilessly until they move or just wear out the protesters. Flocks of loud crows in divebomb mode are one of the best ways to locate an owl in the daytime. All three species of the large owls and northern saw-whet owls will be high priorities for the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC’s) again this year.

More western and northern birds are arriving in the U.P. A quartet of bohemian waxwings were seen on Presque Isle, feeding in a mountain ash tree last weekend at Sunset Point. A quartet was seen the next day on the east side of Marquette in another mountain ash tree. Fifty bohemian waxwings were seen at 5 Mile Point in Keweenaw County of Dec. 13 and 12 cedar waxwings and several robins have been found in Manistique this past week.

An uptick in white-winged crossbills is also being seen across the central U.P. On Dec. 12, 20 were seen near Bete Gris in the Keweenaw, and 70 were counted along the Peshekee Grade along the Marquette-Baraga County line.

This is shaping up to be an excellent year for these crossbills. They will be on the move though, through areas with good spruce cone crops. Surprisingly, they will stop and nest, even now, if there is a large enough stand of productive spruces.

Rough-legged hawks are also putting up good numbers, across the eastern U.P. These large buteos, hawks with wide wings for soaring and hovering, have moved down from northern Canada and Alaska, and can be found near open fields, often hovering over a grassy spot waiting for a mouse or vole to pounce on as it scampers across the snow.

In some of those same fields birders are find good signs of sharp-tailed grouse. In recent forays, three were found near Dafter and 26 northeast of Pickford in the Munuscong Potholes area. Sharp-tails have disappeared from a number of areas in the Upper Peninsula as their more open fields type habitat has changed in recent years. They were even found in opening on Isle Royale some years ago but second growth in many places has pushed them out.

A pair of red-headed woodpeckers has been a true surprise to birders in Gladstone. A pair raised a family this summer on the north end of town, but they usually migrate south the southern parts of the state and Wisconsin. It will be interesting to see if they stick around area feeders until spring.

Warblers are always a special treat in the U.P. in December. An orange-crowned warbler in Marquette continues and a yellow-rumped warbler was seen recently in Escanaba.

There are true bonuses here in winter and are prized finds on the Audubon CBC’s.

The Audubon CBC’s started Wednesday at Cedarville. Marquette’s officially kicks off at 8 Saturday morning at Mattson Park as the circle is divvied up into quarters and smaller pieces for the day.

Birders will be out before dawn listening for barred, great horned and saw-whet owls and hoping to see the snowies before they tuck in for the day. AuTrain and Manistique have counts on Sunday.

For more counts and contact information see https://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ac275eeb01434cedb1c5dcd0fd3fc7b4. With a new crunch of snow, it is a good time to look and listen!

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