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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted April 30, 2007 Text © 2007 Copper Country Audubon Club Press Release courtesy Dana Richter. Photos © 2007 Dana Richter, Aaron Peterson and Joseph Youngman, as indicated. Reprinted with permission.

Manitou Island Bird Survey goes international

HOUGHTON -- This spring will be the sixth year of the Manitou Island Bird Survey, a project of the Copper Country Audubon Club under the direction of Joseph Youngman. Manitou Island is the small island three miles long and three miles east of the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Each spring thousands of raptors of at least 13 species have been documented. Raptors that come to Manitou are part of the massive bird migration that moves up the Keweenaw Peninsula every spring. Visitors to the Second Annual Keweenaw International Migratory Bird Day Festival Friday and Saturday, May 4 - 5, in Copper Harbor, will have a chance to see many of these migrating birds and to learn about the Manitou Island Survey.

Manitou Island, three miles east of the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula, is visible in the distance in this photo taken from High Rock Point on the Keweenaw Tip mainland. Thousands of raptors visit the island during their spring migration. (Photo © 2007 Dana Richter. Reprinted with permission.)

Raptors come from the mainland and fly all the way to its eastern tip. The great majority of these raptors take a gander at the 80-mile expanse of Lake Superior ahead of them and turn back west to the Keweenaw. But each year a small number of raptors leave the east tip of Manitou and flap out of sight across Lake Superior. Their flight direction varies from east to northeast. An east-northeast bearing from Manitou Island would take these birds straight to Canada’s Michipicoten Island, which happens to be the shortest crossing of Lake Superior from the Keweenaw.

This photo of an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk was taken by Aaron Peterson of Marquette. The end of April through May is a good time to see hawks and other raptors at eye-level on top of Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor. (Photo © 2007 Aaron Peterson. Reprinted with permission.)

We cannot be sure that birds are actually crossing Lake Superior just because they are seen flying out of sight in that direction. It is quite possible that somewhere beyond view they are returning to the Keweenaw, but are just not observed. However it suggests that some of these raptors are crossing the lake.

Michipicoten Island is one of the most remote islands in Lake Superior, over 50 miles from the nearest port. It is 14 miles from the mainland, approximately 16 miles long, six miles wide, and 71 square miles in area. Several times during the five years taking boat trips out to Manitou Island, the trip had to be postponed due to winds and rough water. However, the trip out to Manitou is nothing compared to the 80-mile-plus ride from the Keweenaw to Michipicoten Island. So the prospect of hiring a boat to get us from the Keweenaw to Michipicoten is not possible.

This map of Lake Superior shows Manitou Island and Canada’s Michipicoten Island to the east. (Map © 2007 and courtesy Dana Richter. Reprinted with permission.)

Fortunately, there is a small bush plane that operates out of Wawa, Ontario, that flies people to remote Canadian lakes. One of those lakes is Michi Lake near the west tip of Michipicoten Island. The dream of getting to Michipicoten was closer, yet the high cost of the seaplane ride back and forth was prohibitive. Then, a member of Copper Country Audubon who has studied bird migration in the Keweenaw for many years offered a major donation to support the research of the Manitou Island Bird Survey. His donation, together with other contributions from Copper Country Audubon members, will support airfare to send observers to Michipicoten Island this spring. 

Aaron Peterson of Marquette photographed this gull chasing an immature Bald Eagle over Lake Superior. (Photo © 2007 Aaron Peterson. Reprinted with permission.)

To get closer to knowing whether migrating birds really do cross the 80 mile expanse of Lake Superior, this May, Copper Country Audubon will have two observers on Manitou Island, and three observers across the big water on Canada’s Michipicoten Island. The Manitou observers will be recording the number and kinds of raptors as they leave Manitou’s east tip, while observers at the western tip of Michipicoten Island search for inbound raptors that may be coming from Manitou. Observers will be focused primarily on raptors but all birds seen at or passing from Manitou and along Michipicoten’s west tip will be recorded. The data will then be put together to see how well it jives and how strongly it supports the hypothesis that birds cross Lake Superior from the Keweenaw to Canada via Manitou and Michipicoten Island. Canadian biologists have also expressed a strong interest in this research.

To keep informed and/or to contribute to the Manitou Island Bird Survey contact the Copper Country Audubon Club, PO Box 124, Houghton, MI 49931, and watch for updates on the Manitou Island Bird Survey Web site. 

International Migratory Bird Day Festival May 4-5, Copper Harbor

Joseph Youngman, project director of the Manitou Island Bird Survey, photographed this Red-tailed Hawk Youngman will present a slide program on the Survey at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 5, in the Copper Harbor Community Center. (Photo © 2007 Joseph Youngman. Reprinted with permission.)

The event begins with registration from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday, May 4, in the Copper Harbor Community Center. At 7 p.m. Friday in the Center, Keren Tischler, a biologist with the local non-profit Common Coast Research and Conservation, will give a talk titled "A Natural History of Loons: Perspective from the Great Lakes State." In it Tischler will explore the nooks and crannies of loon natural history, from nesting to migration. She will also share what 20 years of loon study in Michigan has revealed and discuss conservation strategies for sharing our common coast with these iconic birds.

Registration will resume Saturday morning at 7 a.m.  Guided bird watching at several strategic sights around Copper Harbor will be available. At 5 p.m. there will be live music by an Old Time Fiddle Band along with a barbecue in the community park. At 6:30 p.m. Copper Country Audubon member and leader Joseph Youngman will present a revised slide program and talk on the Manitou Island Bird Survey.

The Copper Harbor Community Center is located on US 41 in the center of town. For more information please visit the Copper Harbor Web site.

For further information and/or booking please contact Hannah Miller or Laurel Rooks - Laughing Loon Gifts - (906) 289-4813, keweenawbirding@yahoo.com; Karen Karl - Boreal Beans and the Brockway Inn - (906) 289-4588; or Ken Steiger - The Pines Resort - (906) 289-4222.