Summers provide the perfect times to explore out of the way places in the Upper Peninsula, especially on narrow winding backroads, ones often covered in snow or inaccessible during other times of the year. Summer can also provide other diversions along these byways to make the trip all the more enjoyable.

In Chippewa County there is an eleven-mile long paved road that essentially dead-ends at Whitefish Point. The point has long been recognized as one of the best birding sites in the country during spring and fall migrations. At least 340 species have been recorded there and the total count for birds during the eight-hour daily tally periods for April and May this year was nearly 55,000 birds (www.trektellen.nl/site/totals/4209/2025). It has a treasure trove of wonders in summer besides the observations of birds like the recently late fly-by red-throated loons and the recently hatched piping plovers. Pebbly beaches offer a refreshing respite on warm days and later in summer blueberries can be plentiful in the nearby woods. There are dunes and bogs there as well to explore.

It was noted recently grasslands in Chippewa County had produced some great birding in the Pickford-Rudyard area south of the Point. Bobolinks, eastern and western meadowlarks were all reported there last week. This past Tuesday a bobolink was seen at the Piche Grasslands, a small wildland to the north between Dafter and Brimley and last Monday four bobolinks and an eastern meadowlark were seen south of Rudyard. And back on Monday the same collection of bobolinks and meadowlarks was reported last week were again on the Pickford-Rudyard loop along with clay-colored sparrows and an upland sandpiper.

Alger County birding stepped up on its part in great summer birding this past week too. The MDNR has managed a grassland east of Limestone off the Storm Road for many years. For a long time, it provided an area used by sharp-tailed grouse as a lek during the breeding season. Males would arrived before dawn on early spring mornings and perform courtship displays on a small raised knoll for females.

STEWART

Females would arrive and look over the dancers and pick one to mate. This process happened on mornings when the weather was good, often when there was still snow on the ground. Sharp-tails have small, fleshy projections on the feet called pectinae to give them better balance on unstable grounds like snowy hills. The females would head back to their nest sites, usually less than a mile from the dancing area later in the morning and produce an egg each day until 9-12 eggs are laid. Eggs hatch together as the young are precocious and are able to follow the mother as soon as their feathers dry after hatching.

The Limestone Grasslands no longer hosts sharp-tails in the spring but has a produced a great array of grasslands sparrows, like savannah, clay-colored, and grasshopper sparrows, warbling vireos, American kestrels, red-tailed hawks, upland sandpipers, bobolinks, and one other grasslands species, dickcissels. Last Saturday a birder found a quartet of them singing across the open lands there.

Western meadowlarks and dickcissels are more commonly seen in grasslands to the west – especially in the states with larger tracts of prairie. Although the official range does extend eastward for dickcissels their summer ranges there are restricted to more open fields and away from most farm fields. Western Wisconsin also is the summer home for many. During years when drought and rangeland fires are more common in spring and early summer, some, especially dickcissels, may wander eastward looking for better conditions, and occasionally end up in the central U.P. They are well-known for major range shifts some years. A number of years ago nesting dickcissels were located in hay fields around Skandia and Trenary and one pair even nested in the old City Compost Area in Marquette. In fall they may mass in huge flocks as they head to the west side of Central America and the northern part of South America for the winter.

Male dickcissels are described as chunky, with a basic color pattern similar to meadowlarks – brown backs, black chins, and bright yellow chests. They have been connected with buntings, cardinals, and blackbirds at various times because their genetics is tricky. They can often be seen atop medium-sized trees singing a rattling song the sounds like their name.

Another current great birding site in Alger County is the southern edge of Cleveland Cliffs Basin to the east of the Limestone Grassland. Fifty-one species of birds were seen there last Saturday. A great variety of water birds were seen at the shore and in the water including wood ducks, green-winged teal, American black ducks, sandhill cranes, killdeer, Wilson’s snipe, sora, and later Virginia rails, by another party. Nearby black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos, golden-winged warblers and a rare to the area blue-winged warbler have been seen.

One of the great parts of birding in the U.P. is the combination of truly gifted birders, with careful looks and a great knowledge of songs and calls, able to locate a tremendous number of birds in the field. When that ability is combined with web platforms like eBird where birders can list the birds they encounter and add a pin to show others where to look, there is an invitation to know where to explore those locations off the beaten path for an incredible experience of their own.