A ruby-throated hummingbird. (Scot Stewart photo)

“The thinnest yellow light of November is more warming and exhilarating than any wine they tell of. The mite which November contributes becomes equal in value to the bounty of July.” — Henry David Thoreau

The season of Autumn marches on. This past week’s weather made a convincing move to show the way. The freezing temperatures that came to so many new places this week helped to close down many trees trying hard to hold on to the leaves they still had left. Cold temperatures, wind, and snow literally took down near a quarter of the remaining leaves on maples, locusts, and cherry trees in some areas close to Lake Superior.

Bird migration those seemed hardly fazed for many birds this week. The most impressive birds continuing on in the Upper Peninsula this week were hanging on despite the change in weather. The first was a hummingbird. Not too surprising to find a really late ruby-throated hummingbird here, continuing on in Agate Bay, west of Copper Harbor in Keweenaw County. Despite the snow this week, it continued on at feeders at a residence there. It may not be a local bird still not ready to leave, but most likely is a Canadian hummingbird slowed by a late hatch, illness, or injury. It does have a yellow mark below the bill, making it easy to identify and be relative assured to be the same, lingering bird.

The second is also a hummingbird, also in Keweenaw County, even closer to the tip in Copper Harbor. This one continuing on for its second week is a black-chinned hummingbird and not from a location directly north of the U.P. The northern edge of their range crosses southern British Colombia, northern Washington, Idaho, and western Montana and settle into western Mexico for the winter. It is the first report of the species in the state.

According to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology these hummingbirds rarely stay more than a day at a feeder during migration. This one in Copper Harbor was noted and identified on Oct. 19. Even more surprising the website notes the heart rate of black-chins is about 480 beats per minute and can drop to between 45 and 180 when it goes into a state called torpor at night to conserve energy. At 55 F their breathing rate runs around 420 per minutes and slows to “periodically” during cold nights.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds have been reported in Marquette into late November and Anna’s hummingbirds have been seen in Duluth the first week in December and in Grand Marais, Michigan into late December. So, feeders still bear watching and can be kept inside at night to prevent freezing for warmer days.

Migration numbers continue to increase and impress for some species this fall. Back at Hawk Ridge in Duluth a new record was set with their counters tallying 77,089 blue jays during the month of October https://hawkridgeblog.blogspot.com/ . Laura Erickson, in her weekly radio program noted the actual number of blue jays passing along Lake Superior were even higher as jays flying low through local neighborhoods and those flying farther west were not in the count. They have also seen more that 16,400 sharp-shinned hawks and 10,200 broad-winged hawks.

At the other end of Lake Superior at Whitefish Point, almost 51,000 pine siskins have been seen by the waterbird counter and with long-tailed ducks now running second at more than 26,400 birds as of Wednesday. Larger number of ducks at Whitefish Point compare well with the first appearances of some of these species in Marquette’s Lower Harbor. Long-tailed ducks showed up in Marquette, albeit in small single digit numbers last week, to join redheads and both species of scaup present for a couple of weeks. Also appearing in larger numbers at Whitefish Point and some of the first appearances in Marquette were common goldeneyes and bufflehead ducks.

In the city of Marquette, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows and dark-eyed juncos are showing up around feeders with a few fox sparrows this past week, but snow buntings are currently the rage. A large flock of around fifty has been seen with some regularity in the weedy areas around the Superior Dome. A flock hovered in the shady areas between the Dome and the soccer area this past Wednesday, preferring the shade where they would be harder to see. Merlins would currently be their biggest concern. At Mattson Park a whooping 200 were counted this past Wednesday morning.

Shorebirds continue to trickle through. Two sanderlings and a semipalmated sandpiper were seen at the mouth of the Dead River late last week and another sanderling was seen at the mouth of the AuTrain River on Halloween morning. Even though the Ontario Winter Finch Forecast for this season did not look to have many pine grosbeaks this winter in the U.P. a few have shown up this week. One was on the waterbird count at Whitefish Wednesday and two were observed in the Keweenaw early in the week. With plenty of mountain ash berries still on the trees at many sites in the area there looks to be a good amount of food for them if they come. Currently robins, some house finches, and a few European starling are feeding on them.

Sunday morning marks the end of Daylight Saving Time for Michigan and much of the rest of the country. The birds won’t know it, but birders will, being able to start an hour earlier to look for the remnants of migration and end in time for dinner at a reasonable time. Earlier to bed and earlier to rise for better birding!

Scot Stewart is naturalist at the MooseWood Nature Center, a writer and photographer.