A ruddy turnstone looks on. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Life’s so unpredictable. You never know when the next high or low will strike you. The trick is just to flow with the tide.” — Zeenat Aman

By the middle of September, many who love the outdoors are asking, “What’s next?” Most of the local ruby-throated hummingbirds, swallows, robins, orioles, swifts and wrens are gone for the year. Maple trees are beginning their blush of crimson and vermillion and the goldenrods are in its final touches of bright lemon yellow.

Fall color enthusiasts are salivating as they ponder what is to come. For birders, they are wondering what is left of the fall flow south.There is definitely more to come, but the questions of how much and when are always at the heart of those migration discussions.

Dabbling ducks are on the move. At Whitefish Point blue-winged teals have been leading the march with triple digit numbers being counted some days. This past Wednesday green-winged teals really broke through with 170 streaming past the point along with some good numbers of American wigeons and blue-winged teals. A few northern shovelers were seen too. While blue-wings have been coming for a few days, on Tuesday the only duck seen was one mallard.

Another sign things are starting to wind down, the last of the shorebirds, black-bellied and American golden-plovers are beginning to show up. There have been some families of semipalmated sandpipers and flocks of sanderlings, but sightings of other shorebirds are definitely dwindling.

With the great flying weather – little precipitation and some days with variable winds, many flocks have just pushed through. Some of the single birds that often show up at unusual times, spend several days, or end up in nonconventional places are often birds in distress. There were two examples of that in Marquette this past week.

At the Dead River what appeared to be a female common goldeneye showed up resting on the river edge near the mouth several times this past week. Seeing goldeneyes resting on the sand is somewhat unusual, as they are diving duck that rest mostly on the water. A closer look revealed the duck’s right foot was tangled in a bundle of fishing line with a lure also apparently connected to the mass. The duck was clearly bothered by the line, and when it stood it occasionally lifted its leg, maybe hoping the fishing line had fallen off. The duck was able to swim and when it headed out into the river it did appear to catch food, possibly crayfish, on about eveyr fourth or five dive. It remained on the same basic stretch of river the entire time it was observed foraging, about 100 yards from Lake Superior.

Another bird with serious problems was seen on the Lower Harbor breakwall on Tuesday. Nestled in a small hollow of large rocks on the lake side of the breakwall was a ruddy turnstone, a shorebird vaguely resembling a plover. Turnstones get their name from their foraging methods, wandering down beaches, flipping shells and stones to hunt for aquatic invertebrates beneath them. They do occasionally hunt for insects atop the large rocks on the breakwall, but they usually just stop there to find a protected resting site.

The turnstone seen earlier this week appeared to be missing most of its left leg, although it looked like there was some remnants of the leg bone visible. The condition would be critical to the bird’s survival as they spend much of their feeding time in winter along the ocean coast lines walking over wet, slippery rocks. Their feet have special spine-like structures and their toes feature curved nails to help them get tractions as they look for food. Their legs are short to get them better balance.

As the season stretches closer toward winter, more birds with challenges are sure to show up. Slowed by injuries, sickness and wounds from predators, they are usually seen resting. A sure sign of trouble is a bird with continually blinking eye(s). Illnesses and injuries affecting to birds’ eyes are particularly serious challenges as both interfere with foraging, navigating, and avoiding predators.

Generally, though, unless a bird is unable to move – swim or fly, wildlife officials would prefer to allow the bird to continue to prevail on its own, unless it is a species of concern, unusual, threatened or endangered. If it remains in a small area observations can continue to monitor its health. Currently, with avian flu prevailing, there is a greater concern attempting to capture and treat wild birds in care centers where infected birds might come in contact with humans or other wildlife.

Some birds do offer mysteries. Often the last songbirds to descend into the U.P. are longspurs, pipits, horned larks and snow buntings. Some of these birds, like the snow buntings will remain in the area all winter, but as ground feeders, they will stop in open areas to forage on weed and grass seeds but continue on at the first sign of snow cover. Whitefish Point has had a special longspur visitor since September 5, but not the typical lapland longspur. A much rarer to the area Smith’s longspur arrived near the tip of the Point quite close to the waterbird counter’s shack.

Rather drab birds in nonbreeding plumage, they spend winter months in open country of a teardrop shaped area bordered by Iowa at the top and Texas and Kentucky at the bottom of the range. Great birds like it are in the fall tide south so follow their flow through our area.

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