A snowy owl is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.”— Charles Dickens

More than one author has seen the signs found here in the Upper Peninsula in March. It rarely changes so fast in an hour here, but it definitely had its mood changes in recent days. It is just a little easier to deal with each new tempest as the sunrise rises earlier, higher and warmer, often dispensing with the latest roadway messes quickly and helping drag most outside quickly to soak up the new warmth, something especially reflected in the large numbers on the bike paths around town recently.

Coming with the warmer days is the continuing signs of Spring to come. Swelling tree buds, early morning songs of winter birds, and newly arrived birds like ring-billed gulls help to buoy spirits. Even the lingering signs of winter have brought smiles and encouragements of the toughness of winter residents here.

A snowy owl finally made it officially to Marquette last week! While there have been a number of them in the eastern Upper Peninsula this winter, there had been none reported in the local area this winter. One did turn up last Saturday morning on the ice just north of Picnic Rocks. Originally it was found sitting on an ice about 120 feet off shore, eventually flew three different times, closer to and eventually onto one of the Picnic Rocks. It stopped twice on floating ice, putting up gulls into a swirling cloud each time. Some herring gulls dived on the owl, causing it to splash once in the water. There was another report of a snowy owl near the lake shore several days earlier so it may have already been in the area for several days. Because of the large amount of ice along the shore and the bird’s color, it does blend in well.

While there have been a few snowy owls downstate this winter, it may be a bit early for them to start their progress back north again. The eastern Upper Peninsula though has seen more than 20 in the open country between Sault Ste. and Rudyard-Pickford. Recent research tracking snowy owl has shown some may spend time on ice flows in Lake Superior. They may use the ice as a base to hunt scaup, long-tailed ducks and other divers feeding in the open waters. Recent storms and strong winds have moved some of that ice into southern harbors and may have brought this owl in to shore.

Since Saturday the snowy owl in Marquette has not been reported, but with a large number of ducks currently arriving — greater scaup, common and hooded mergansers all new arrivals adding to the common goldeneyes, long-tails and mallards already in the harbors, it is altogether possible it is still in the area, riding large chunks of ice as they hunt the ducks out on Lake Superior

It is definitely worth watching for on the Lake. Several years ago, a birder found a snowy owl on the Lake Superior beach at the mouth of the AuTrain River in Alger County. As he watched he heard calls behind him and watched as a bald eagle joined the owl for a duck breakfast The owl, not amused at all with the company, spread its wings to look as big as it could facing the larger eagle. After several minutes of hops, chirps and wing flapping, the unsuccessful eagle flew off. The owl left shortly thereafter too, headed in the other direction, most likely in search of a quieter dining area. With the number of eagles in the Marquette area, the owl here may too seek quieter hunting areas elsewhere.

There are more signs of spring. There are now more than 35 ring-billed gulls, recently arrived at Picnic Rocks. They have joined the 500+ herring gulls already spending time there. They will move off once the Lower Harbor in Marquette and the waters around Gull Island northwest of Presque Isle open and they can look to take up nesting territories for the spring. A robin was reported on Tuesday in Quinnesec. Although there have been plenty of robins in Marquette that hung around all winter, elsewhere new robin sightings are probably early spring arrivals. While most will follow an old pattern of traveling north along with steady daily temperatures averaging 36 degrees, some do arrive ahead of that warmer weather. They risk surviving colder weather without the food found on bare ground and hope to make due with fruit like last years apples, still hanging from tree branches, until warmer weather prevails.

Another early arrival to the area is the red-winged blackbird. Early birds also arrive while there is still snow on the ground and ice on the pond, to claim good summer territories. They are beginning to hit the Wisconsin-U.P. border this week and should make it to Lake Superior in the coming weeks as milder weather starts to stretch out to more than a few days at a time.

With Daylight Saving Time coming Sunday morning there will be more time for birding in the afternoons and early evenings next week, and luckily, with an extra minute or two of daylight coming each morning, it won’t be too long until the sunrise will get back closer to 7 a.m. Sun, more daylight, birds, what could be better???

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