For the Birds (2022)

Birding is a diversion I enjoy whether on the water, stuck in port, or marooned inland. One of the things I enjoy most about Escanaba is the variety of birds that are attracted to the rich lakeshore habitat. The mouth of the Escanaba River is a great place to see migrating warblers where the water meets the UP woodlands. The most popular spot for birding is Portage Marsh, a spit of sand and wetlands a short bike ride south of the marina. All kinds of wading birds and waterfowl are seen there...something interesting pops up nearly every day on my e-bird alert. My personal favorite places are Sand Point and Aronson Island, the two bits of land that enclose the Escanaba Harbor. I just have to step off the boat and I'm there!

A Great Blue Heron--because I can only take pictures of large birds at close range.

A early morning walk out to the the tip of Sand Point has me wondering if I've just stepped into a Star Wars laser gun fight as I'm swarmed with Purple Martins shouting "Pew-pew-pew!" The City of Escanaba has thoughtfully erected a number of Purple Martin 'condos' at the waterworks and lakefront parks and they seem to be fully occupied with Purple Martins and a few Tree Swallows.

Cliff Swallows eschew the condos, building their muddy nest structures directly on the waterworks building. I had one of my weirdest bird experiences with this species on Aronson Island. I had taken an off-trail detour through the pines to look for warblers and when I stepped back on the paved path it was as if I'd broken the laser beam and set off an alarm. Startled, I jumped off the path and the buzzing stopped. Gingerly, I put my foot back down to proceed and the buzzing began again. Coming out of my instinctive, protective crouch I understood I was being dive-bombed by agitated swallows. I figured I was the source of their agitation so I continued walking to get out of their territory, only to confront a rather long Fox Snake stretched across the path. I still don't know if the swallows were alarming at me or the snake or warning me about the snake.

That same day, which was a slow birding day, I was just messing around with my binoculars trying to focus on various targets only to see a red-headed woodpecker flying directly at me. He veered at the last minute and went into a tree behind me. I hadn't seen many of those close up so that was a fun surprise.

Aronson Island has a quite a few 'usual suspects'. Yellow warblers, who like to buzz-chirp at you from the bushes, can be seen pretty much all summer. Hordes of Cedar Waxwings are attracted to the fruiting shrubs and trees that have been planted on the island for that very reason. When the place gets buggy the Waxwings treat you to a show of acrobatic flight. If you're lucky you can spot a Brown Thrasher in the shrubs near the ground.

Eastern Kingbird (not Belted Kingfisher) nest on Aronson Island. (Waterworks in the background)

My nemesis bird in Escanaba has to be the Belted Kingfisher. The shy Kingfisher loves to perch in dead trees on the south end of the harbor. I spot him quite frequently on evening walks but by the time I can get my family to turn their heads and look he is gone and they don't believe me. By late September, the crowds had thinned out and the Kingfishers moved closer to the marina, perching on the lampposts near the boat putting on quite a show as they called out to each other on their evening hunt. Everyone saw and heard them then. Vindication.

Spiders are about my least favorite part of boating. If you have a boat, you have spiders. On the Perseverance you have spiders in the Portuguese bridge which is the passage you have to traverse to get into the pilot house. It takes much of the charm out of greeting the sunrise when you become enmeshed in the house of horrors that has been woven overnight by the 8-legged crew members. The upside of this revolting situation is the swallows that come to raid the spiderwebs. They sit on the rail and chirp waiting their turn to rob those arachnid bastards. (I can't believe I don't have a photo of swallows lined up on the rail, I guess I was too busy being entertained by them.)

Ideally, this post would have lots of bird photos but my iPhone is not that good at a distance. I can't even find the birds in most of the photos I attempted. I need a wingman with a better camera. Let me know if you're that person and you'll be invited on next season's birding excursions.

A Yellow-headed Blackbird which was nowhere near the boat but it was the coolest bird I saw this summer. (Crystal Lake, Illinois at my mom's place.)