What’s Flying: Christmas bird count is nearly upon us
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"Counting in octal is just like counting in decimal, if you don't use your thumbs." -- Tom Lehrer
It is with much anticipation the 124th Christmas Bird Count will begin across the country and beyond. It will involve a variety of counting systems to be sure. Some will snap quick photographs to produce exact counts of flocks. Some flocks will be so large the observers will count smaller portions and estimate the fraction of the total group to create a good guess at the total number. For fly-by flocks ornithologists sometimes use hand-held tally counters. Here in the Upper Peninsula most birders will be able to count individuals on their fingers and may not even need their thumbs. Even that may be easier this year with the warmer temperatures, they may not even need mittens and can see their bare fingers as they count.
Yes, there will be some larger flocks -- 70 common goldeneyes were seen on the AuTrain River in Alger County last Sunday. There is always the potential for finding a big, swirling flock or murmer of European Starlings, a large number of bohemian waxwings or pine siskins, requiring more immediate methods of counting them before they disappear, and that will surely add to the excitement of the day.
But for the most part, bird numbers will come just one at a time or a clump here or there with a chance to enjoy the beauty and behavior of each before moving on to the next discovery. The number of unusual birds in the area has dwindled over the past two weeks, but birders are continuing to check daily haunts, feeder stations, and ever-changing stretches of open water on rivers and the big lakes for new arrivals with hopes they will stick around until counts are complete.
In Marquette the "Dead River Marshes," the open water just above the Lakeshore Blvd. bridge continues to remain nearly entirely open and is seeing a seesaw battle of the ice across the water's surface, hosting common goldeneyes, red-breasted mergansers, and mallards. In Marquette's Lake Superior harbors those species have also been seen with a lesser scaup, long-tailed ducks, horned grebes, and both common and red-breasted mergansers. There seems to be no worry along the shores, Superior's edges will be ice free most everywhere around town for the CBC count.
It does look as though the swans seen over a good part of the fall along the Dead River have again moved on. Swans make periodic stops on the river both above and below the Tourist Park and this fall included both trumpeter and tundra swans. Both species have been seen on the St. Mary's River in Sault Ste. Marie this past week. Tundra swan flocks often stop on the river east of the Soo on their way to the Chesapeake River during fall migration. Eleven were found near Sugar Island last Sunday afternoon. Two trumpeter swans were seen last Saturday afternoon south of town on the river. A harlequin duck was found last Friday on the river on the west side of town. All would be great additions to the Soo Christmas Bird Count that covers both sides of the border on Dec. 16, the same day as Marquette's.
Escanaba has also had a good showing of waterfowl at Ludington Park including nearly 200 bufflehead, common goldeneyes, hooded, common, and red-breasted mergansers, 30 Canada geese, a horned grebe and three swans. Because of viewing conditions, it was not possible for the swans to be identified to species.
The Mackinac Straits continue to offer the best numbers of ducks in the area, with an estimated 5,000 seen under the bridge last Monday, thought to be mostly red-breasted mergansers. Other good sightings in the eastern U.P. included a very late killdeer near Hessel and a very few hawks -- red-tails and rough-leggeds.
There have been some other usual wanderers found in the Marquette area besides the harbor and rivers waterfowl. A number of bohemian waxwings have been cruising around town, nibbling on mountain ash and crabapple fruits. There are telltale signs of their visits visible when studying the trees around town. In trees with plenty of fruits, the treetops are often bare or bearing few fruits, where the birds often start when feeding. The lower branches are often still full of berries. Just one of the four crabapple trees at the entrance to Presque Isle Park bore fruit this year and it has had just a few waxwings feeding there with some regularity this month.
Another visitor has been a northern shrike. This is one of the more unusual birds of North America. Robin sized, it is a predatory bird capable of catching mice and small birds like chickadees and juncos. With no talons, it relies on quick responses and a sharp hook at the tip of its bills to quickly grab and dispatch its prey. They often secure their food on a thorn, a fork in a branch, or on barbwire to help hold onto it while it feeds.
For birders interested in joining a count as an active participant or as a feeder counters, there are plenty of opportunities from Recife, Brazil, the most easterly count, to the North Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific, to Arctic Bay in the far north of Canada, to several in South America including one in Paraguay and possibly one in the Drake Passage near Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of the continent. Search "Christmas Bird Count circles" for more information. Some early results will be covered here next week.
Scot Stewart is naturalist at the MooseWood Nature Center, a writer and photographer.