The hummingbird migration is a whisper only to the uninitiated.
To birders, it’s a big deal. They shout out the arrival of “hummers” through social media, website posts — and anyone who will listen.
“It’s very exciting,” said Bonny Everett, who shares a deep love for birds with her husband, Reinder “Dutch” Zonderman. The couple recently returned to their home in Elmwood Township after wintering in northern Arizona, a location partially chosen because of its ornithological opportunities.
“In Arizona we saw eight species (of hummingbirds). Of course, we only have one species here in Michigan, but it’s always fun to see them. I was sitting in my studio and I had these flowers on my table, and this male hummingbird tried to go for the flowers. And then he saw our feeder,” Everett continued.
Zonderman recalled years of pulling a travel trailer to birding destinations, including state parks in Texas that had birdwatching specialists on staff.
Which makes sense in terms of nurturing more people into the hobby — and in promoting tourism. A report released in November compiled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that about one in three Americans participate in birding. Collectively they spent more than $107 billion on the activity.
Bonny and Dutch joined with the Barronses — Dave and Patty, also from Elmwood Township — in founding and promoting a weekend birdwatching festival that was held in late May. The concept was a natural fit for Leelanau County, within which migrating birds converge before many follow an archipelago of islands including the Foxes on their way to the Upper Peninsula. Others head east toward Charlevoix and then across the Straits of Mackinac on their way to the U.P. or Canada.
A few years back the festival fizzled as the pandemic hit and volunteers ran out of gas. Dave Barrons, a retired television weatherman, believes the opportunity remains to attract visitors in May, which is the prime month for bird migration through Leelanau.
He regrets that Michigan was once ranked 47th among states in terms of money spent promoting birding.
“It made no sense. Tourism is the second largest industry in the state. We had some success with (the bird festival). I talked to a couple from Seattle who had always wanted to visit Sleeping Bear Dunes, and then they saw something online on the festival and came out,” Barrons said.
County tourism still gets a boost from the festival through the Sleeping Bear Birding Trail website, which remains live through the effort of the Saving Birds Thru Habitat nonprofit based in Omena. The site includes a map that more-orless follows M-22 as it winds from Manistee around the Leelanau Peninsula and ends in Traverse City.
A majority of the pinned locations can be found in Leelanau County. Two of Barrons’ favorites are Veronica Valley County Park in Bingham Township — where he twice spotted Indigo Buntings, their deep-blue feathers standing out in tree canopies — and Lighthouse West Natural Area, a 42-acre piece that includes 640 feet of undeveloped Lake Michigan shoreline. It’s located north of Northport.
“It’s exceptional,” Barrons said of Lighthouse West, which is owned by the Leelanau Conservancy. “It was always a hit with our bird trail people (during past festivals) because so often they would see scarlet tanagers. They got the craziest reactions. Scarlet tanagers excite people.”
Well, the first ruby-throated hummingbirds cause a stir, too. Especially to a young girl who may have spotted the first one to return to the county.
Five-year-old Arcadia Germdt of Empire may own that claim. Her father, James, owner of James Eye View Photography, posted a picture taken April 28 of a hummingbird looking lovingly at breakfast with this message: “Get your feeders out, Northern Michigan.”
Said James when contacted Tuesday, “Two days after a grosbeak showed up, Arcadia said, ‘Dad, the hummingbirds are here!’ I’ve been taking her bird watching since she was in her car seat. She’s enthusiastic about bird watching, and she knows a lot of birds, too.”
This is the time to birdwatch, especially for warblers traveling through.
“There are so many good birds in May that it’s hard to narrow down the list to just one … As a photographer, I’m itching to get out there. It’s different once all the leaves come out,” said Germdt, who annually compiles and sells a calendar based on hummingbird photos.
Given that hummingbirds draw nectar from flowers, it might seem that Leelanau would be teeming with them during cherry blossom time. Not so, according to Kay Charter, who founded the Saving Birds Thru Habitat organization. Leelanau has a healthy population of hummingbirds that relies on plant life diversity, not our orchards with samespecie fruit trees.
In fact, orchards may not be the best place to find hummingbirds, Charter said “Orchards are sprayed with chemicals to kill insects, and hummingbirds go after insects. Birds have a sixth sense about that. I think they know what’s good for them. Very often they won’t visit (non-native) flowers. I encourage people to buy native plants. The birds need more than food from feeders. They need insects to live,” Charter said.
Now 85, she enjoys the birds near her home at the 45-acre Charter Sanctuary, which is adjacent to the Saving Birds Discovery Center built by volunteers including Kay’s late husband, Jim.
While Charter doesn’t put out feeders — she’s overseen the conversion of the sanctuary into a habitat paradise for birds, so what’s the point? — she continues to love her feathered friends.
“I hear them more than see them,” she said about hummingbirds. “They’ll find nectar in tree sap, and get their energy there. I think the reason for that is that spring doesn’t always come at the same time every year. Hummingbirds generate excitement because they are so tiny, and they have beautiful colorations.”
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