A Townsend s solitaire is shown. (Scot Stewart photo)
“I pray this winter be gentle and kind a season of rest from the wheel of the mind.” John Geddes
It has been uncommonly warm in northern Michigan this winter. Always strange when the biggest snows come in October! A snowstorm, or even a big snow shower, will jolt life back into winter in the Upper Peninsula. The lack of true winter has made for many strange sights across the U.P. the past two and a half months, with many tree buds already showing some green, but especially for bird life reluctant to leave the mild climate that settled into the area this fall and early winter.
A blue jay is shown. (Scot Stewart photo) “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce
And so, the New Year has started! After the first week it would seem the world is still coping with the problems of 2020, but maybe, just maybe, coping with a greater sense of hope. Certainly, the New Year seems to already be presenting several new chapters suggesting that hope.
For birders in Marquette, the new chapter, in 2021, seems quite similar to the final chapter of 2021 great birds! At the end of 2020 birders found a number of really great birds to seek out. The list included several snowy owls seen along Lake Superior from Founders Landing to South Beach Park, a vagrant Townsend’s solitaire from the Rockies, a late American wigeon, a harlequin duck from the Rockies and a summer tanager from the southern U.S. There were a number of birder
A Northern hawk owl looks on. (Scot Stewart photo)
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” Alan Watts
A new year stands ready to bring new changes. Ironically the changes most look forward to are the ones bringing back the ways of old, the routines of the past. 2021 is all about undoing the changes of the past year! It has been a strange, horrible year in so many ways, but there have been some opportunities to learn from all that has happened and take away some interesting lessons.
rspitza@miningjournal.net
visitors explore the Carters’ Christmas Lights at 1313 N. Vandenboom Ave. in Marquette Township on Wednesday. he display won first place in the Winner’s Circle category in the Marquette Board of Light and Power’s 38th annual lighting contest. It’s the sixth time the Carters have taken first place in the Winner’s Circle category, and the ninth time they’ve been named a winner in the contest. The public is welcome to walk through the display at no cost, and the Carter family is encouraging masks and social distancing. The display is open until 10 p.m. each night through New Year’s Eve. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)