A trip to the U.P. for bird photography has always been for me a hit or miss journey. After seeing recent reports of Long-tailed Ducks, Hawk Owls, and Snowy Owls, I had hoped to try and catch theses northern species before they left. As I crossed the bridge I was hoping to see some snow cover remaing but 5 straight days of temperatures in the sixties had erased all signs of snow-even the lakes were opening up. I started out at De Tour where several thousand Long-tailed Ducks had been seen. I scanned the water at the Drummond Island Ferry dock but found no sign of them. I then began a search of the fields south of the Soo for Hawk Owls and Snowy Owls but came up blank there also. I gave up at sunset and found a hotel for the night at the Soo. Believing warm weather had driven all Boreal birds north I headed west. My first stop was Hulbert Bog for Gray Jays and/or Boreal Chickadees. Except for a few Black-capped Chickadees the place seemed devoid of life. My next stop was the Bear Butt Bar in Ekerman which always produces some Evening Grosbeaks, and this year was no different as a flock of a dozen flew back and forth across the road from feeder to feeder just north of the bar. The only problem was they would not come down from the tree tops and when they did they stayed tight in some shrubbery. I finally gave up, hoping Whitefish Point would break my string of misses.
Northern saw-whet Owls had been banded recently and I had hoped to find some, but besides chickadees, starlings, and a flock of Snow Buntings the Point was rather dead. I stopped off at Taquamenon River State Park and had a quick look at a Ruffed Grouse. Becoming discouraged, I decided to make a final run to Seney NWR. On the way I had a Pileated Woodpecker and Northern Harrier flyover. At Seney everything was closed including the Marsh Road. I debated heading to Munising but decided that this trip was probably going to be in the complete miss column no matter what I did. Too late for Boreal species and too early for the migrants.
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