We started our biggish year in the Upper Peninsula hoping to get some northern species. We got some but missed a lot of others. On January 1in Marquette MI, we saw the following species; great horned owl, snowy owl, downy woodpecker, house finch, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, starling, rock dove, Iceland gull, golden-eye, mallard, American crow, bufflehead, herring gull, glaucous gull, common merganser, mourning dove, Lapland longspur, and northern cardinal. The snowy owl and Lapland longspurs were real treats.
The snowy owl flew by and looked at us with detached nonchalance. Major cool. The Lapland longspurs were too cute while they pretty much ignored us, bending down grass stems with their feet and eating the grass seeds.
Conditions for birding were less than ideal. Snowing and air temperature around 30 F. Nasty wind with a wind chill in the single digits. Apparently these are good surfing conditions in Marquette. Kowabunga, surf’s up in Marquette. These Yuppers are a tough lot. 
On December 30, while scouting an area called the McCormick Tract, we had white-winged crossbills, gray jay, black-backed woodpecker, redpolls, and a pine grosbeak. Because of the storm that blew in on January 1 we couldn’t get back to that area for this phase of our biggish year.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 