A northern shoveler is seen. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” — Hal Borland

When the year comes to an end and everyone is still in one piece and without major disasters, it becomes a great time to look back at all the amazing experiences the year held and perhaps more importantly look at back at trends, changes and successes. The past year seemed in many ways so much different than 2023.

Some of the differences played little in the birding seen between the two years, other variations have seen wide differences. The Upper Peninsula missed much of the forest fire smoke this past year, a great improvement from the many smoke-filled, hazy, red ball sun days seen the year before. There has already been much more snow on the ground this month than in December 2023. Differing amounts of seeds and fruit has altered the winter movements of some bird keeping some species that were here in high numbers last year, especially of bohemian waxwing. So far they have stayed in Canada this fall and early winter.

Picnic Rocks was a great place to bird this past year. In late February and early March both iceland and glaucous gulls hung out with the herring and ring-billed gulls. Early summer saw a wonderful flock of American white pelicans spend a bit of time resting in the waters off the rocks. December saw snowy owls make multiple stops on the rocks.

By the way, several birds, including the herring gulls got new names. The American Ornithological Society is the organization responsible for naming North American species. New names include American herring gull and redpoll. Due to closer examinations some birds with similar DNA may be lumped together. That happened to the hoary, common, and lesser redpolls. A single gene was found to be responsible for the differences between these birds leading to the conclusion to lump them together. The reverse was responsible for the splitting of herring gulls and house wrens leading to into several species for each.

Peregrines made their return to Marquette again this past year, setting up two nests in Marquette. Because of the inaccessible locations of the actual nests, once the young started to fledge, it was often difficult to determine the success of their departures. There have been plenty of observations of them in town throughout the summer and fall though, often as they proceed on pigeon patrol.

Trumpeter swans also had a strong presence in Marquette this year, appearing regularly on the Dead River and flying over town. Because a pair did appear numerous times with three young it did suggest they also were successful in raising a family, at least nearby this past summer, but where is still not known. A number of tundra and mute swan sightings were reported in Delta County this year too.

Bald eagles were another species with a huge presence in Marquette and a number of other locations in the U.P. this year. They are seen nearly daily along the Lake Superior shoreline. It will be interesting how their routines will settle in once all the shoreline reconstruction is complete, offering both eagles and humans the chance to enjoy the shoreline even more. One unique eagle, with a rufous tail, was seen for a day on the Chocolay River in early March.

Wild turkeys are flourishing if the number of sightings this year is any indication. A flock of sixteen has been seen regularly in north Marquette this past autumn, and other flocks have been reported across the entire U.P. Mild winters, shallow snow depths in some spots, and bird feeders have all contributed to the rise in their numbers here. The large Marquette flock has been seen at Presque Isle where a pair of eastern bluebirds were also able to successfully raise three young this summer. There has been an apparent small uptick in their presence in the central U.P. too.

Duck watching has been great in the Marquette area this year too. In May Marquette saw a huge flock stop to rest again on Lake Superior between Picnic Rocks and Hawley Street. Hundreds of blue-wing and green-winged teals, shovelers, redheads, and scaup were seen. During migration seasons, northern shovelers, scaup, redhead, mergansers, black and white-winged scoters, long-tailed ducks, common golden eyes, a harlequin duck, a ruddy duck, and buffleheads headlined the harbors’ shows. An American avocet was also seen at the Dead River mouth.

Except for a few snowy owls this fall, owl sightings have been rare, except great horned owls. They peaked in the Christmas Bird Count earlier this month, with six heard in Marquette.

Even this year’s Marquette’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC’s) seemed different from the 2023 count here. The previous year’s results of 49 species may have been due in part to a bigger turn out of participants compared to this year’s 39 species seen. There was a balancing that did help even out the two numbers though. The CBC’s have a separate “Count Week” for birds missed on the count day. In 2023 there were no count week species. This year a sudden cold snap days before froze parts of both harbors and pushed a number of interesting birds out beyond the sight of counters. They included some interesting species not often seen in town. Highlights included a Pacific loon, harlequin duck, and in town a Cooper’s hawk, white-throated sparrow, and an orange-crowned warbler.

2025 will continue to show how climate changes affect all that is seen here in the days to come.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Scot Stewart is naturalist at the MooseWood Nature Center, a writer and photographer.