A male common goldeneyes is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)
“December’s wintery breath is already clouding the pond, frosting the pane, obscuring summer’s memory.”— John Geddes, “A Familiar Rain”
Ice is slowly making its way across most of the medium-sized lakes in the Upper Peninsula. Although many small lakes and ponds have frozen over, up and down temperatures have helped the larger lakes, like Teal Lake in Negaunee and AuTrain Lake in Alger County, keep their rippling good looks a little while longer and providing clear sailing on Lake Superior, so far.
The open water continues to be a magnet for waterbirds.Common mergansers have been foraging and staging on Teal and on AuTrain Lake, big flocks of common goldeneyes have been counted recently with 80 seen last Tuesday, and 150 the day before. Scaup, long-tailed ducks and all three species of mergansers were there too along with 90 more ducks swimming to far from shore to be identified.
In the Lower Harbor of Lake Superior in Marquette, it looks like the common eider seen there last week apparently left just before Thanksgiving, but scaup, common goldeneyes, long-tailed ducks, mergansers and mallards continue with occasional common loons and horned grebes.
The fall to winter transition is a favorite time for birders, because so many things are just not explainable. Temperatures the last few years have led the way on this one, and the coming week looks to continue this with temperatures predicted to run from the teens to the upper thirties again. Summer birds turning up in unexplainable places probably un a close second for fall-winter delights. In Copper Harbor, at the tip of the Keweenaw, an eastern meadowlark showed up last Thursday,
Also, in Copper Harbor at the same time, a flock of 100 common redpolls was seen in Copper Harbor. Sizeable flocks of both redpolls and American goldfinches have been wandering around the U.P., seeking out white and yellow birch stands with good crops of catkins and seeds. This was one of the largest flocks seen away from Whitefish Point in Chippewa County.
Another summer resident sticking around the past two weeks has been an orange-crowned warbler seen along Whetstone Brook at the bike path at Founders’ Landing. Normally an insect eater, the warbler will feed on midges still flying near open creeks and streams but will visit suet and peanut butter feeders when weather gets colder. Their normal winter range is the southern tier states, the West Coast and Mexico to Guatemala. They are among the first warblers to return in the spring on their way north to Canada and Alaska.
A really nice surprise was found on M-28 in Chippewa County just west of M-123 and Eckerman. A golden eagle was seen feeding on carrion near the road for several days earlier this week. Golden eagles are most frequently seen in Michigan during migration, especially in the eastern parts of the state in spring as they head to summer breeding sites in northern Canada. In the east they are found in a few pockets in Wisconsin-Minnesota, Missouri and the Appalachians during the winter and occasionally found in other states during the winter, In the west, they are permanent residents in the Rockies, and have a summer range across much of the western states, Canada and Alaska.
With a wingspan up to 7.3 feet they are slightly larger than bald eagles and very powerful predators. They are very similar in appearance to immature bald eagles and can be mistaken for them when feeding along roadways. They hunt mostly smaller land mammals, but they will feed on carrion and in the west, fight with wolves and bears over food.
Other predatory birds are also working into the U. P. A northern shrike was seen along the Dead River earlier this week on Nov. 30. Just about the same size as a robin, a shrike are impressive predator, catching small birds like juncos and chickadees and mice using toes without talons and a sharply-hooked beak to catch and eat its prey.
Snowy owls did make their way into the Marquette area last week. There had been a report of one on the breakwall in the Lower Harbor, but then one showed up at the edge of the one of the parking lots on West Washington Street Nov. 24. More reports came from Presque Isle, South Beach and again at the breakwall of the Lower Harbor, suggesting there were several in town. One has continued regularly on the breakwall. In Chippewa County, seven snowy owls were seen driving a loop around Rudyard where they are frequent winter guests.
Lingering summer birds and newly arriving winter guests will be followed closely during the next few weeks as final plans are being made for the area’s 2021 Audubon Christmas Bird Counts (CBC’s) Marquette’s will be held on Dec. 18 starting at Mattson Park at 8 a.m. As mentioned previously, the 7.5-mile radius circle around Marquette will be divided into four areas as birders attempt to see and/or hear as many individuals and species as possible in a 24-hour period. There is also a CBC Count Week to add additional species not found during the count day. Anyone can participate but again this year counters will be following Covid protocols asking counters not related or in the same pod to travel in separate vehicles. Volunteers can join a group Saturday morning at Mattson Park. Volunteers can also watch feeders at their home in the count area and report their results. Contact Melinda Stamp, mstamp@mstamp.net to learn more.
Ah, December!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Scot Stewart is a teacher at Bothwell Middle School in Marquette and a freelance photographer.
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