A pair of mourning doves are pictured. (Scot Stewart photo)

“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” — John Ruskin

Mother Nature seemed to have hit the pause button for Spring this past week with her series of winter storms. Last weekend’s was a whopper with between 15 and 20 inches hitting most of the Upper Peninsula along with some impressive deposits of ice too. It stopped many of the latest migrants in their tracks in Wisconsin and Lower Michigan and left little new to show for their progress. Chipmunks headed back down into their underground lairs and it would be a good bet the area’s blue-spotted salamander pushed as far down into their winter spots as possible.

Several watched miserable-looking robins looking for something to eat. Several hung around bird feeders where other species were congregating, hoping something might turn up to suit their desires. While there are a few trees in Marquette still bearing fruit from last fall’s production, the best opportunities for many birds now are some now softening crab apples from some European hybrids growing in yards. Bird lovers can put out fruits like raisins, chopped apples, grapes, blueberries, and strawberries, along with meal worms from the pet stores to keep robins fed until the new snow melts.

The stalled weather has kept the winter visitors a bit longer. Both redpolls and pine siskins continue at area feeders in varying numbers. In the Graden Peninsula up to 75 siskins, along with seven redpolls and 40 goldfinches have visited one feeding station this past week. A snowy owl popped up at the old compose site on Lakeshore Blvd. in Marquette very early Wednesday morning. Three young swans continue to wander around Marquette wetlands, shifting between the Dead and Chocolay Rivers, now apparently without the two adults they have been with all winter. The adults may be starting to look for a summer territory while the juveniles wait at least another year, maybe two, before looking for mates and nesting territories of their own.

Despite the blanket of snow and temperatures struggling to get out of the low 40’s. there were some signs to encourage those ready for Spring to get back on track. The deep snow sent many birds back to area bird feeders to stock up on readily available seeds until more natural food is available for them too. Groups of American goldfinches and mourning doves have crowded in, only to be pushed aside by common grackles, European starlings, and blue jays. Those mourning doves have provided a little more to watch this past week as courtship has turned to some mating behavior in Marquette. Others, like the goldfinches, dark-eyed juncos, chickadees, and even a few doves have been very active chasing each other around as they too jockey for mates, territories, and for now a place at the feeders.

The sunshine on Monday and Tuesday also prompted some male northern cardinals to begin their spring songs of “Cheer, cheer, cheer!” Two males were heard on the east side of Marquette as the snowstorm cleared and the latest layer of white slowly began melting. They also have made multiple trips to area feeders and have dealt with bossy gray squirrels and pushy blue jays.

Perhaps the most perplexing sight this past week besides the robins in despair has been a bewildered black-capped chickadee in Marquette fighting its reflection in car windows and mirrors. Occasionally birds, especially robins, will see their reflection in a window, think it is another bird in its territory, and try to chase it away. The chickadee in Marquette has been extremely busy this week attacking reflections in the windows of two parked cars and several windows of a house.

Migration at Whitefish Point in the eastern Upper Peninsula seems to be progressing a little bit faster. A wider diversity of raptors has been seen there this past week. Besides the continued movement of both golden and bald eagles northward a good array of hawks has also been seen. All three Michigan accipiters, sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper’s hawks and American goshawks are trickling through. At the end of the month a huge wave of several thousand sharp-shins will wind through there. Red-tailed hawks, merlins, and turkey vultures (not a raptor) made it through during the clear weather last Tuesday too.

A few other interesting species are also making their way north. Last Friday five tundra swans were seen flying over Whitefish on their way from the East Coast of the Atlantic to the northern edge of Canada and Alaska. There are pockets wintering areas of the West, along with the Pacific Coast where the swans stay. Many of those tundra swans head straight north to Alaska.

The other species arriving at a number of sites this past week was the sandhill crane. Small numbers have been seen on the Dead River in Marquette, northern Marquette County, Portage Point Marsh in Delta County and at Whitefish Point. At the end of the month hundreds of cranes will also head north over Whitefish Point. The Point lies just west of the line directly north from the Straits of Mackinac, so finding large flocks of cranes migrating up from the Lower Peninsula makes lots of sense. Many migrants try to avoid passing over large stretches of open water, and Whitefish Point provides a view of the Canada mainland to the north.

On April 15 the water bird counter will begin work at the tip of Whitefish Point providing more daily reports of Spring’s migration progress.

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