A blue-winged teal is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be. — Anonymous

Spring rain is meant to wash away snow, especially the snow that lost its white freshness long ago. Early Upper Peninsula rain comes with its own whitener though — more snow. Predicted to be a part of the weather for at least another week it will not produce the desired effects quite yet. Luckily, this product does not usually linger too long and often the rain is able to restore green to grass and other surfaces as soon as temperature reach the 50’s for a few extended periods of time. In the meantime the wait for change will continue. 

Spring bird migration is beginning to take off though, despite the ice still in the harbors and bays of the Great Lakes and the snow still on the ground and in the air. At Whitefish Point in Chippewa County the number of birds passing the Hawk Platform counted by researchers there tripped for the month last week. From March 15 until April 5 they has just over 550 individual birds. By this past Wednesday the number had jumped to over 1,770. Leaders this past week included red-tailed hawks, red-winged blackbirds, sandhill cranes and turkey vultures coming in and bohemian waxwings heading out. 

Along the southern tier of Upper Peninsula counties, winter wrens, ruby-crowned kinglets, hermit thrushes, pied-billed grebes, double-crested cormorants, and even a great egret were seen this past week in Delta and Schoolcraft Counties. A lesser black-backed gull and an iceland gull were seen in Manistique, near the boardwalk on Tuesday.  The waterbirds were of note, considering the large amount of ice still floating on Lake Michigan. The rain this week and milder temperatures is helping to melt and break up that ice, but it still has a ways to go.

In several interior locations in the U.P. more yellow-bellied sapsuckers and an eastern phoebe were seen. There have been some fly and midge sightings so there are some insects now available for wrens, kinglets, swallows, warblers. and flycatchers and there was at least one mourning cloak butterfly siting reported this past week at Tahquamenon Falls State Park in Chippewa County.

Eastern phoebes were also seen this week in Marquette and at Whitefish Point. They are usually the first flycatchers to return to the area and are perhaps the most familiar as they often nest under the eves of camps, outbuildings and sheds and occasionally under bridges on back roads. Like other flycatchers they have no melodic song, but rather repetitive calls they are born with and do not need to learn. Phoebes’ call resembles their name and heard through the early spring once their territories are set. Their coloration is also quite plain with dark grayish olive backs and creamy colored breasts.

Tree swallows are beginning to creep northward too. A week ago, they were turning up over lakes and ponds in Chicago. On Tuesday, a pair was seen on the St. Mary’s River in the Soo. Brown creepers are another insect eater moving into the area. Five were seen at Presque Isle Park in Marquette earlier this week.

Dabbling ducks are always a welcome sign of change in spring, with the color they add to the lakes, ponds and streams, and the reminder of the way the water is opening up again for summer. Buffleheads, lesser scaup and blue-winged teals are showing up on the Dead River. The buffleheads above Tourist Park are sometimes close enough to see the amazing iridescent pattern of green, red, purple and blue on the necks of the males below their large white patches in the sunlight. South of the Soo, more than 300 Canada geese were seen, and nearby, wood ducks, northern pintails and American wigeons were also reported.

Birding is definitely changing at Peninsula Point in Delta County off Lake Michigan. Last Tuesday six species of ducks, including 250 red-breasted mergansers, blue-winged teals and northern pintails, were seen there with 35 Bonaparte’s gulls. A northern flicker and a golden-crowned kinglet were also seen. Peninsula Point is one of the best places to observe spring migration in the U.P. Over 100 species can be seen in a day during peak migration there in May, including species like orchard orioles, summer tanagers, blue-winged warblers and blue-gray gnatcatchers, ones that seem to be checking the area, before heading back south to their current summer range. Northern cardinals and red-bellied woodpeckers once did that, and they are now regular permanent residents here.

Turkey vultures are another species once difficult to find and now a regular feature of summer skies in the U.P. A large wave of them appeared this past week in the central counties. Scavengers, they have joined the crow and raven, and occasional bald eagle highway clean-up patrol working to reduce the remains of spring road-kills. It seems many of these more frequently seen species may be moving farther north as a result of both habitat changes and climate change. Winters have become shorter here (most years) with warmers spring and fall temperatures creating more favorable conditions for some species, especially some that may be challenged by conditions like drought to the south.

One other species to watch in spring is the ruby-throated hummingbird. Fortunately, migration maps plot their progress https://www.hummingbirdcentral.com/hummingbird-migration-spring-2022-map.htm Currently they are being seen closest in central Illinois. They should be closing in on the U.P at the end of the month, or early May – just two to three weeks from now! Get ready for the changes!

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