How do thousands of birds from across northern Canada and the Alaskan tundra find their way to the southern United States or into Central and South America?

Many sift south to Lake Superior, then funnel through select stretches of forest and shore that lead across narrow channels or around wide expanses of open water.

Some find Lake Superior locales to support them through winter.

How do birders find these mass fall migrations? By funneling along the same busy corridors.

From the time of brightly colored maples and aspens until the skies fill all too soon with snowflakes, birds guided into the Lake Superior region by geography and weather provide wonder and delight for those looking toward the skies.

The path that birds take when they reach Lake Superior depends on their comfort with crossing water. Some birds, like common loons, red-necked grebes, long-tailed ducks and other waterfowl, take the shortcut straight across the open lake no matter how vast. After all, they can land on the water for a short respite.

But most raptors (hawks, owls, eagles) and songbirds prefer a trip over land or across water where the far shore is visible, directing them to wander along the water’s edge looking for a short stretch of open water or following the lake shoreline.

Since these migrants prefer to skirt the water following the landmarks of large lakes, rivers and coastlines, the result is a mass of birds streaming southward around the big lake, piling up along the east and west shores.

Peninsulas present problems for migrating birds and opportunities for bird watchers. Like passages in a maze, peninsulas lead birds into the middle of Lake Superior.

There they might continue across if they can see land ahead or especially if they have a tail wind (from the north in fall and winter). If they don’t like what they see, or if winds are wrong, birds may linger at land’s end to await better weather. Sometimes they start back toward the mainland in search of a better route. Across a lake arm or bay at the end of a day’s flight, birds may flop at the tip of a point, exhausted.

It’s no wonder, then, that three of the four best places to watch bird migrations around Lake Superior are peninsulas.

Migrating birds flock to Thunder Cape at the southern tip of Sibley Peninsula in Ontario, to the Keweenaw Peninsula around Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor, Michigan, and to Whitefish Point at the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Hawk Ridge in Duluth, Minnesota, makes a fourth bird-watching hot spot.

Birders have long recognized these premier bird-watching spots, but biologists and naturalists only recognized the significance of these places in the last 40 years. It’s only in the last 20 years that research has begun to paint a picture of what happens in each place during the birds’ movements.

Observation and banding stations at Thunder Cape, Whitefish Point and Hawk Ridge log valuable information on numbers and types of species, times of migration, destinations and longevity (through bird-banding recaptures) and track trends in bird populations.

Besides the expected bird populations, migrations sometimes lead to unexpected observations. If strong winds prevail, pushing migrating birds off their appointed course, they may land in places where they are spotted only once in a generation, much to the enchantment of skilled birders.

Even the casual bird observer, though, can find great places to focus eyes skyward around the lake.

Sibley Peninsula is one of two large peninsulas that run 32 miles into the lake’s northwest corner, separating Thunder Bay from Black Bay. The Sleeping Giant rises up across its backbone to create a terrific cliff line up to 450 feet above the lake. This cuesta, a ridge that slopes on one side and drops sharply on the other, distinguishes it from the Black Bay Peninsula to the east. Birds follow this winding stretch of land to its tip, creating a birding way station.

At Hawk Ridge in Duluth and Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor, hawk migration builds in early fall. On a favorable day in mid-September, 6,000 to 10,000 hawks may pass the ridge. On September 14 last year, more than 22,000 hawks passed on that day alone. Throughout migration peaks, Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve naturalists aid in identifying birds. They present slide programs and demonstrations with birds captured at the banding station.

Broad-winged, sharp-shinned and American kestrels make up the majority of the passing raptors, but Swainson’s hawks, bald eagles, ospreys and even a Mississippi kite may coast past.

PHOTO BY WALT HUSS
A black-backed woodpecker makes a rare appearance on Lake Superior’s shores.

To the east in Michigan, the cliffs of Brockway Mountain and the surrounding area are old conglomerate formations standing 735 feet above Lake Superior. They drop sharply to the south creating impressive cliffs with strong updrafts favored by raptors to gain altitude. Birding here is more informal than at Hawk Ridge, but the mountaintop provides a spectacular, commanding view of the Keweenaw Peninsula south to Lake Medora and out toward Lake Superior. The view of hawks is riveting as they float below the summit viewing area. An added plus is the autumn color, truly spectacular in early October nearer the end of hawk activity. Nearby Lookout Mountain, south of Bailey Lake, provides raptor watching, but requires a short hike to reach.

Farther east, large numbers of waterfowl shoot down Whitefish Bay past Whitefish Point. The point sweeps into the bay as a series of swells and swales created by old lake shorelines. Low areas furnish ponds and bogs, higher areas contribute sand dunes covered primarily by jack pines. The point’s tip is a windblown gravel arrowhead where waterfowl counters study the open water for passing ducks, loons and other water birds. Red-necked grebes, geese, scaup and long-tailed ducks, golden-crowned kinglets, yellow-rumped and palm warblers and robins pass in good numbers. Rarities like jaegers and peregrine falcons round out highlights.

These four sites benefit from the seasonal funneling of migrating birds, but they are by no means the only spots for great bird watching around Lake Superior in fall and winter.

The open farm country of the Sault Ste. Marie area, Sugar Island east of the Soo and points east to Manitoulin Island provide a good food supply for raptors like owls and rough-legged hawks. Feed for wintering horses and other livestock and seeds in open farmland provide a good source of food for rodent populations that sustain these overwintering owls and hawks, and the loose seed feeds good numbers of snow buntings and lapland longspurs.

In winter especially, it might be difficult for a serious birder to hold down a regular job in the Soo or Duluth. There’s too much to watch.

Last winter at the International Bridge between the Sault Ste. Maries, peregrine falcons hunted, perched and circled their summer nest site on the bridge. As many as five great gray owls could be found within 10 miles of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, as well as a northern hawk owl that remained near the same intersection for close to four months. Gyrfalcons were spotted within 12 miles of town and on Sugar Island. At least 30 sharp-tailed grouse hung around feeders south of town and were “budding” (eating buds) in birches and other trees near the St. Marys River. Northern shrikes, winter finches, several rough-legged hawks, a pair of northern goshawks and two snowy owls were other highlights of the winter. Harlequin ducks gather most winters on the headrace of the power station on the Ontario side of the St. Marys River. Glaucous, Thayer’s and Iceland gulls often linger in the river rapids.

Meanwhile at the lake’s far western tip, Minnesota’s north shore offers much the same bird-watching feast. Last year birders logged gyrfalcons, northern hawk, snowy, boreal and great gray owls, Townsend’s solitaire, an ash-throated flycatcher, varied thrush, Thayer’s, glaucous and Sabine’s gulls, king eider, black-backed and three-toed woodpeckers, harlequin duck, northern shrike, Barrow’s goldeneye, winter finches, boreal chickadee and even a gray-crowned rosy finch.

Birders, whether just starting or trying to add No. 600 to their life list, will find winter bird watching around Lake Superior stimulating and successful.

Scot Stewart teaches middle school science in Marquette, Michigan, has been a nature photographer for 27 years and writes a weekly birding column for The Mining Journal.

As early as August, hummingbirds, swallows, and shorebirds (sandpipers and plovers) start south. The semipalmated and black-bellied plovers frequent lakeshore mud flats or sandbars. Sandpipers, a few ruddy turnstones and dunlins skip along the shore in small groups, while larger groups of sanderlings pass Whitefish Point, Michigan.

Next follow the warblers, thrushes and a few owls and hawks. At Thunder Cape, Ontario, Swainson’s thrushes, American redstarts, black-throated green and yellow-rumped warblers join other warblers and tiny saw-whet owls. Loons and grebes start the waterfowl migration in early September, with ducks concluding it some two months later.

Mid-autumn colors come to Lake Superior at the same time as owls wander down from the tundra and the taiga (the conifer forest of the Canadian Shield).

Along with saw-whets, slightly larger but more rare boreal, northern hawk, snowy and great gray owls pop up along the Minnesota shore, Thunder Cape, Whitefish Point and around both Sault Ste. Marie.

Wintering finches, including common and hoary redpolls, white-winged and red crossbills, pine siskins, plus pine grosbeaks may be circumpolar birds. They visit only once every two or three years, then all but disappear. The bright yellow and black evening grosbeaks are year-round residents. To check out the latest in what’s up, log onto www.northbirding.com and www.hawkridge.org/

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