Nature Notes
Island Residents Report Welcome Sounds of Spring
By Patricia Martin

Amonth or so ago a friend of mine came to the Island for a winter visit. She commented to me, over lunch, how much she enjoyed hearing the crows call in the morning and how it reminded her of spring. Now I've got to admit that a crow's call does not remind me of spring, especially since hearing them all winter, but there are other bird songs or calls that do.

During mid-March, I began to hear one of the songs that tell me spring is coming. It is the song of the Northern Cardinals. Now Cardinals do spend the winter in our area, but I really haven't heard them singing much until the warm weather began to approach. Every morning now, as I walk the dog up the hill and along the East Bluff, I hear their song and begin to look for the brilliant red color of the male Cardinal's feathers. Even if you can't identify the song, you've probably heard it. The Audubon bird guide describes it as a "rich powerful" voice and "pleasantly musical." The song, which often starts softly, is a repetition of short whistled phrases in which some notes are usually run together. After a few phrases on one pitch, the bird generally changes to another. They have a variable song, which is a series of clear, bubbly whistled notes which often sounds like, "What cheer! What cheer! Birdie, birdie, birdie what cheer!" or sometimes it sounds like, "whurty, whurty, whurty." If you listen as you walk through the cedar trees at the edge of the forest, you will often hear them. These birds like to nest in shrubs, vine tangles, or low on coniferous trees, which is probably why I hear them so often along the hillside behind my house. It is interesting to note that the female Cardinal sings usually after the male has established his territory but before nesting starts. During mating, the male and female stretch out their necks, as with erect crests they sway their bodies from side to side while singing, sort of like a slow dance. These birds are monogamous and the male looks after the female while she is incubating the eggs. She will occasionally sing from her nest and it is thought that in doing so she is informing her partner whether or not she and the young need food.

Sandhill Crane

Most people have seen Northern Cardinals, if not in the wild, then on Christmas cards and calendars. The female is less colorful than the male, with the same crested head but with buff olive feathers, a red bill, crest, wings, and tail. The male, of course, is a brilliant red with a black mask and throat and a red conical bill. It is for the male's coloring that these birds were named, as their feathers are the same color as the robes of a Roman Catholic Cardinal.

While biking around the Island last week, nearing Pointe Aux Pins, I was startled by an unusual sound echoing off the lake. As I looked off to the north, I saw four large birds riding low in the water. I couldn't identify them at first, but their call and song finally gave them away. They were Common Loons, which, by the way, are no longer common in Michigan, and they're listed as a threatened native species in our area. What I first heard were several sounds, a rather harsh "kwuk" as if they were talking back and forth, and then sort of short hoots, sort of a yodel, and finally I heard their distinctive "loon laugh," that quavering tremolo. It was then that I was able to identify them. Loons are usually silent away from their breeding areas, but it's a sure sign that summer is coming when you hear them.

Northern Cardinal

During the breeding season the head of the loon is a green black with a thick, stout, black bill and a white "necklace" around its neck. Its underparts and breast are white, and a black and white checkerboard appears to cover its back. Its eyes are red. During non-breeding times of the year, their appearance is

much duller, with sandy brown/black plumage and light colored underparts.

Loons float very low in the water, often disappearing behind waves and then reappearing. These birds have nearly solid bones (instead of the hollow ones found in most birds) that make them less buoyant, and their legs are placed well back on their bodies for underwater propulsion. These birds are great divers and will pursue small fish like bass, perch, sunfish, pike, and whitefish underwater to depths of 180 feet. On land these birds have a hard time walking because of the placement of their legs and their heavy bodies. Even taking off in flight seems somewhat difficult and requires them to sprint across the water in order to get airborne. It is said that the name "loon" comes from a Scandinavian word "lom," which means clumsy person, referring to their awkwardness on land.

Just after seeing the loons on the lake, in the sky overhead came the most awful noise. It was sort of a loud, resonant, rattling "gu-rrro, gurrroo, gurrroo." Yes, another sign of spring, the Sandhill Cranes were flying overhead, migrating north. It is a very distinctive sound. The coiling of their trachea adds harmonies to the notes in their call, allowing them to call louder and farther. Their noisy trumpeting can carry more than a mile.

I've become familiar with these birds because one of the areas in Michigan where they spend the winter is in the Waterloo Recreational Area, which is close to the farm where my horse stays in the off-season. It is common down there to hear or see them in the fields around the farm.

These are very large birds with wingspans of six to seven feet, with a typical crane long neck and legs. They are predominantly gray in color with a red crown, though their plumage is often stained a rusty red by iron oxides in the water. When they fly in migration, they often form a "V" like the Canada geese, but unlike the geese, they circle upward on thermals and they slowly soar downward until they find another rise. They may continue this pattern all the way to their nesting sites. They can fly more than 600 miles a day and soar up to a mile high using this method. On Mackinac, we usually only catch them in March/ April or October/November when they're migrating. You see, these birds like to find isolated areas near water that are not disturbed by humans for nesting, though they don't seem to mind people so much the rest of the year. So, while they're known to nest in Michigan, they usually won't choose busy areas like Mackinac. Cranes mate for life and each spring a mated pair renews its bonds with an elaborate courtship dance.

In a recent article in USA Today by Laura Bly, it was mentioned how thousands of people travel hundreds of miles to see these ancient birds. In Michigan we're fortunate to have a number of spots for sighting them, including White Fish Point and Seney National Wildlife Refuge, not to mention just looking up at the sky on Mackinac when you hear that funny call. By the way, there's a Sandhill Crane festival held in the fall in the south central portion of our state.

There are dozens of other birds we will be hearing and seeing in the next months, including the hawks and eagles that have already begun to pass overhead in some numbers. Warblers should be heading this way in the near future. Keep your eyes and ears open for the new arrivals.

Trish Martin is a year-around resident of Mackinac Island, has earned a master's degree in botany from Central Michigan University, and owns Bogan Lane Inn.