A greater yellow-legs shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

“But tomorrow may rain, so I’ll follow the sun.” – The Beatles

Sun, where art thou and why have you been so shy this spring? It is finally good to see you again.  So far, this has been the spring that hasn’t come. Another week of 40-degree temperature brought little besides some warblers, shorebirds, and a few crocuses. What kind of a spring is that?

The last few days have seen some more encouraging signs. Spring peepers were heard near the Dead River in north Marquette, possibly for the first-time last Tuesday. More of them and wood frogs to come this weekend! Aspen trees are in full fuzzy bloom too and the brilliant red fireworks maple blossoms are on their way.

The migrant additions have been sparse. There have been a few more shorebirds passing through the Upper Peninsula, but not a lot. The first ones are usually fit and don’t often stop to rest of grab some food. As the season moves ahead though, a few do stop. Killdeers were here a couple of weeks ago, but a check of a few sites where they have nested in recent years showed no signs of activity this year yet, even though they were seen nearby recently. One famous site, in a Chocolay Township parking has been unfortunately quiet so far.

A few greater yellowlegs and spotted sandpipers stopped in Marquette this week too, but sites where they stop in larger numbers, small pond edges and the Lower Harbor breakwall in town have also been relatively quiet. One can only hope the colder weather, especially that frigid north wind on Tuesday are part of the reason. Another is the late ice on a number of inland lakes and ponds last month. In the Republic Wetlands Preserve sora, greater yellowlegs, American woodcock and Wilson’s snipe were all seen on May 4 though.

A quick check of hummingbird migration has also noted stalls. Two ruby-throated hummingbirds had made it to the eastern U.P. by midweek, but the rest were waiting at the Wisconsin border. This is not too unusual — hummingbird arrival in the U.P. is usually between May 2 and May 9, and the warmer weather this weekend will entice them to come closer. A check of willow flowers along the edge of the pond and creeks in the central U.P. still shows the fuzz is on the flowers and they are not open for business yet of sharing their nectar from their beautiful yellow flowers.

Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology continues to provide an amazing array of ways to learn more about birds. Their migration tracker, Migration Dashboard,  https://dashboard.birdcast.info/region/US-MI-103 offers an intriguing way to see and hear what migrants went over the house, county, or state during the night.

The program, made available last month to the general public  https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/04/dashboard-reveals-migration-path-billions-birds, and provides data collected from radar scans and recording of flight call notes as the birds fly overhead at night.

The radar provides images that can be translated into estimate numbers of flocks, show their flight direction, often influenced by wind speed and direction, and the altitude of the flocks. The recordings offer general information of species in the flocks. Locations can be pinpointed amazing specificity. A check on the records for the night of May 3 was quite interesting. It included reports of a number of sparrows, warblers, blue-winged teals and greater yellowlegs. Groups of teals and a greater yellowlegs were all seen at the small pond behind the Lambros Park Parking lot on Lakeshore Boulevard the next day.

Five northern shovelers continue at the retention pond on Lakeshore Boulevard and Wright Street in Marquette, another sign conditions farther north are not great yet. It is a wonder how some of these birds know when it is time to leave a stop-over and continue north. Long-tailed duck numbers have increased in the Lower Harbor of Marquette too. 

At feeders, nearly all the common redpolls have departed. Those hardy souls have begun their flight back to the boreal forests of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, Siberia, and even parts of Greenland. American goldfinches continue at feeders. Nearly done with their spring molt, the males’ bright yellow and black plumage is great to see. Some purple finches have also joined the goldfinches and house finches to feed on black-oil sunflower seeds. A number of homeowners have noticed singing house finches in their yards and some activity on wreathes hanging on doors as the finches scout out nesting sites at the front doors.

At Whitefish Point cranes continue to make their way north. More than 12,200 have been counted there this spring. The cold weather had created a little different set of conditions for hawk migration this spring there though, with few days of massive movements. Nearly 500 broad-winged hawks were counted there last Wednesday though. Birders always love big sharp-shinned hawk days and while there have not been many, nearly 3000 have made it through there this spring.

There will definitely be some big days ahead, especially for sparrows, shorebirds and warblers. These are the last of the big groups to come through in the spring and none has seen make it this far yet. A couple of warm days with some south winds will see flocks of all three moving through. The days should also see the hummingbirds too. So, don’t miss any of it. Take advantage of all these wonderful spring days. They are all going to be filled with birds, flowers, frogs and SPRING.

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