BEAVER ISLAND, MI – Beaver Island is a birder’s paradise.
There are chickadees and grouse, snow buntings and snowy owls. Plovers and loons on the water, eagles and osprey in the skies. Plus, gulls and terns, warblers and thrushes galore.
As the largest island in Lake Michigan, Beaver Island is a key stopover spot for migratory birds, as well as ideal habitat for resident nesting species which benefit from more than 12,000 acres of public lands and nature preserves on the remote island about 30 miles offshore from mainland Northern Michigan. The island is home to a designated birding trail that took flight a decade ago, where enthusiasts annually host a special birding conference with guided field trips.
Much of the birding trail success on Beaver Island is because of good partnerships among private landowners, birding advocates, and scientific researchers, said Pam Grassmick, a lifelong Beaver Islander and longtime environmental advocate for the rural community.
She stopped her truck along East Side Drive near a hayfield and shut off the engine.
“When I was a kid here, you would hear bobolinks all over the island. Now, this is about the only place that I can find them,” Grassmick said, gesturing at the field. “Their song is just really, really awesome.”
Bobolinks are a migratory songbird related to blackbirds and orioles and are considered by the National Audubon Society to be a priority bird species for conservation because of significantly declining numbers in recent decades.
Grassmick said the preservation of bobolinks on Beaver Island at this spot called “Bobolink Bend” is thanks to the landowner modifying his farming plans for the approximately 260 acres.
“We have bobolinks and meadowlarks, and Savannah sparrows, all nesting in these places. There are so few of them, that they can choose wherever they want to go. They come here and nest,” she said.
“The issue across the board is early mowing. These are all ground nesting birds. And when they mow this in early July, they’re killing all these baby birds. They do one brood, and they go back to South America. And so, the owner of this particular property agreed not to mow until later, and that’s all it is.”
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The Beaver Island Birding Trail loosely circles the 55-square-mile island, with designated spots along the eastern shoreline such as Luney’s Point and Martin’s Bluff, with more inland spots on the western side like Miller’s Marsh and Fox Lake.
The island’s welcome center across from the ferry dock serves as the birding trail “trailhead,” where birders can pick up free maps that come with detailed descriptions of each stop along the trail. Some of the stops are open for exploration on foot and others are marked to be only roadside viewing.
Birders are asked to stay on trails to protect ground-nesting birds, never approach bird nests, keep pets on leashes during breeding season, and not use taped or smartphone bird calls or songs during breeding season (May 1-July 15).
Birders can expect to find songbirds, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, shorebirds, raptors, and waterfowl.
Eastern bluebirds, indigo buntings, belted kingfishers, great blue herons, common loons, and more can all be easily found with a good set of binoculars.
Beaver Island isn’t the easiest place to arrive for birding, given it’s about 30 miles offshore from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. But the 2-hour ferry ride to the island is worth the trip for die-hard birders.
“It is definitely a bucket list area, especially if you want to see some of these more rare colonial nesting breeding birds,” said Erin Ford, Michigan conservation manager for nonprofit Audubon Great Lakes.
She said the shorelines along parts of Beaver Island and its surrounding outer islands are critical for endangered Great Lakes piping plover nesting, and a mecca for many other species.
“The open waters off the north end of the island, which is really important for breeding colonial waterbirds, including Caspian tern, black-crowned night heron and double-crested cormorants. And common terns also historically nested there on the shoreline,” Ford said.
Beaver Island’s location in northern Lake Michigan makes it an ideal stopover spot for migratory birds, particularly in the spring.
“It does fall right off the coastline of Michigan and during migration, particularly spring migration, that west coast of the state is an incredibly important migratory bird hotspot. Migratory birds in order to avoid crossing the Great Lakes generally follow the shoreline so that would take them through Beaver Island during migration on their way north,” Ford said.
Warblers on the Water is the birding conference on Beaver Island hosted annually during the Memorial Day weekend, though birdwatching opportunities continue throughout all four seasons. More details about the island’s birding trail can be found here.
See all of our Beaver Island coverage here.
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