Eagles Kill Gulls at Wastewater

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February 1 Email:
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I spent several hours at the Wastewater today watching Bald Eagles catch, kill and eat seagulls.  There were eleven eagles on the east lagoon at one point.  There was one juvenile in particular that was pretty deadly.  I saw him capture three seagulls.  He would make short work of the gulls and go right back to hunting again.  When I left, all but one of the gulls he had attacked had been reduced to a pile of feathers and the lone survivor wasn't going to make it for long.  The photos of the hunt are not great; he was pretty far away.  The gull that he is chasing in these photos didn't make it.  

Rick Hamlin.

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Finally the Golden Eagle

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Carol and I took a ride to the Muskegon County Wastewater this afternoon to see if we could get the Golden Eagle. I am glad we did.  It  was on White Road east of Swanson in the grove of pine trees on the south side of White.
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The Northern Pintail was in the Rapid Infiltration area "E" cells about E8.  There were 12 Nothern Pintail total.
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Carol took the picture of the Bald Eagle by the Administration Building.
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We saw 5 Snowy Owls and 2 Short-eared Owls.  The Short-eared Owls were by the airplane field.  They came out at 6:10 p.m. and stayed until 6:15 p.m.  They seemed to move out of the area in a hurry.

Charlie DeWitt
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Long-tailed Ducks

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Monday afternoon I went to the Muskegon Channel (northside) and several Long-tailed Ducks stayed within photo distance. A Horned Grebe also wanted its picture taken.

Don Neumann
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What Bird Do You Think Rosie Saw?

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Below are three emails between a lady from Illinois and me.  After reading them, if you have any ideas what bird she saw, please comment or email me.  Thanks!  - Ric.

Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 4:07 PM
Subject: Bird question 

If you could help me ID this bird, I'd appreciate it.

Yesterday while watching through my binoculars on the shores of Lake Michigan (from the Illinois side) I spotted a bird in the distance flying parallel to the shore, but out far enough that I could not get a good look.  It was flying low near the water, and I kept seeing flashes of red---though I doubted it, this was unmistakable as I watched it fly for about a minute. I wondered if it was an illusion!  It also landed in the water and then dived .  Then, in the waves, I lost track of it b/c of how far out it was.
Thanks!
Rosie
Glencoe Illinois

Rosie,

I'd need more information to make a guess.  Could you provide any details about the bird's size, shape, color other than the red, and where the red was flashing?  If so, I'll give it a guess and ask a few other better birders than I.

Thanks!

- Ric 

It was so far away, it made it difficult to tell, but it flew like a duck. The flash of red seemed to be on the top, and the wings were not as white as a gull but I didn't exactly see black. I was looking down from the bluff here, which is probably 100 feet above the lake. 

I know this sounds crazy, but the flash of red was the most dominant sight, appearing intermittently as if it coincided with the wing stroke.  The wings did not seem very long.

I have been observing birds for many years, and this was very strange to me.

Thanks for your help, and I understand that it may not be enough for you to tell. It certainly was not enough for me to figure out at all, and I have never known a water bird here to have any red.  Rust, maybe, but this was red.

Thanks.

Rosie

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Good Birds + Congratulations Charlie!

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Carol Cooper emails that our very own Charlie DeWitt took home three places at Grand Haven's Winterfest Photo Contest last Friday, 1st in Buildings, 2nd in Sports and 2nd in Nature (Bohemian Waxwing)!
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She also reports three Pileated Woodpeckers at Riverside Park in Grand Haven along the Grand River and a Common Redpoll at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve on Jan. 25, 2012.
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Wastewater Birds Sunday

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Ken Sapkowski emails:
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Glenda (Eikenberry) and I birded the Wastewater Sunday afternoon and saw the following birds:

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2 Golden Eagles
  From the road that runs along the north side of the east pond we noticed
  large birds diving into the deep ditch that parallels the north side.
  They were near the east end of the pond and at first too far away to identify.
  As we got somewhat closer they flew past us heading west and we got an
  outstanding view of both birds.

1 Red-shouldered Hawk
  North of White Rd 1/4 mile east of the observatory.  It was in the small
  oaks in front of the pines; very close to the road.  Barring across chest is a
  rich orange ... really beautiful bird.

1 Belted Kingfisher
  In the first north-south ditch you encounter driving White Rd. in from
  Maple Island

4 Snowy Owls
  First in the filtration fields south of White Rd., then 2 more near Swanson
  & Laketon on irrigation gizmos; one on each side of Swanson.  The last
  one was on Moorland.  We were on the way home at 6:15PM when it swooped
  past our windshield at eye level about 10 feet out.

1 American Kestrel
4 Bald Eagles
1 Rough-legged Hawk
2 Hawk sp. (unid.)
20 Horned Lark
40 Mallards
30 American Black Ducks
xx Canada Geese
Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, American Tree Sparrow - feeders by office

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Birding Muskegon County Saturday

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Brian Allen from the Manistee area posted this on Mich-Chat today:
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After missing one trip due to a virus attack and hearing about good birds in Muskegon one time too much I decided to splurge on gas and Tim Granger and I headed down there yesterday during what we believed to be a break between winter storms.  We had heard about the Short-eared, Snowy Owls, Snow Geese seen yesterday as well as previous reports on the White-fronted Goose, Golden Eagle and the Purple Sandpipers out at the pier, not to mention all the gulls you could want at the landfill.

Our first stop was at the Short-eared Owl spot, no luck but cool to see flocks of Horned Larks and a Rough-legged Hawk there.  We headed over to the waste water ponds (all frozen now) and studied the thousands of gulls at the dump which appeared to all be Herring Gulls. There were also 5 Bald Eagles adult and imm. here.  Out on the ice was another large group of several hundred gulls including a first yr. Iceland Gull.  We headed to the north side where the Snowy Owls and Geese had been seen but alas there were only a couple hundred Canada Geese and nothing else.  Some what dejectedly we decided to make the thousand stoplight journey over to Pere Marquette park in hope of seeing the surviving Purple Sandpipers.

Winds were now gale force and no sensible humans were out by the pier so we decided to get out there and give it an idiotic try.  We were in luck, near the base two Purple Sandpipers were huddling close to each other avoiding the crashing waves and ice on the outer pier where we were afraid they might be.  Also there were hundreds and hundreds of ducks very close into shore like I have seen on previous stormy days on the big lake.  First we saw a Horned Grebe then a small group of White-winged Scoters including a very confiding female Black Scoter surfing the waves.  We went out almost to the elbow of the pier where the waves and ice made it too difficult and at the point was a juv./female Harlequin Duck!  There were hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks, Common Mergansers and Common Goldeneyes also seen before our eyelids froze.

We thawed out on the way back to Swanson Rd. to try again for the SEOW, again no luck just a nice Northern Shrike. We drove some tough drifted in mucky two tracks but could not find the owl.  We headed back to the WWT ponds going on the north side this time and saw a gorgeous adult Golden Eagel on the power line that let us stop and visually burn his image into our brains.  We had seen some more geese flying into the north and when we got there saw 2 Snowy Owls, one very speckled and dark and the other almost entirely white.  Nothing new with the geese.  We headed back for one more shot at the Short-eared Owl as it was appropriatley crepuscular now just before 6:00 PM.  Again no luck, too windy?  Anyway a very enjoyable day despite the previous day departure of gees and the extra 200 pounds of carbon dioxide we liberated on the trip.

BA 
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Another Common Redpoll !

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I noticed that Mike Boston posted a photo of a Common Redpoll at his feeder a couple of weeks ago (Jan. 15 below).  This is one that I found today at our feeders.  Like Mike's, it is also the first in several years.
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Rick Hamlin
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Red-shouldered Hawk and Purple Sandpipers

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Rick Hamlin photographed this Red-shouldered Hawk hunting along the north side of White Road across from the Observatory at the Wastewater today.
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In a message to Mich-Chat today, Chip Francke said, "There were at least two Purple Sandpipers on the pier at Pere Marquette Park today.  The pier was only safe to walk for a short distance, then was solid ice and very dangerous.  The birds were near the very base of the pier ... "
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Sandpiper, Goldeneyes, Long-tailed Ducks

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One Purple Sandpiper on the south side of the south pier 100 feet out or on the bare rocks.  It is very shy.  Lots of ducks off the entrance to the harbor, mostly Common Goldeneyes and Long-tailed ducks.

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Feller DeWitt

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Foggy Day at the Wastewater

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Today I took a trip to the Muskegon County Wastewater to see if the Golden Eagle was around; no luck again!  Not much going on.  I saw one Bald Eagle, one dark morph Rough-legged Hawk, one American Kestrel, one Red-tailed Hawk, three Snowy Owls and one Northern Shrike.  I saw the shrike make three passes at a bird that was flying over the field he was in.
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Charlie DeWitt
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Red-shouldered Hawk

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Late this afternoon Carol and I went looking for the Golden Eagle at the Muskegon County Wastewater. No luck on the eagle, but we did find this Red-shouldered Hawk.  It was along the north side of White Road across from the Observatory.

Charlie DeWitt

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Wastewater Rules and Etiquette

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There have been some recent incidents of Wastewater vehicles being hindered due to improperly-parked bird-watcher vehicles and of bird-watcher vehicles driving in unauthorized areas on that property.  If you bird the Wastewater properties, PLEASE observe the rules and basic birding etiquette, which would include:
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- not driving on the berms in the rapid filtration cells along the south side of White Road.  There are five cells between Maple Island Road and the Headquarters, encircled and separated from each other by dike roads where it's okay to drive; but within those cells are berms (dikes without roads) which are not for vehicle use,
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- not blocking rights-of-way preventing WW vehicles from doing their job or other birders from continuing on their way,
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- Etc., etc., etc.  Use common sense and courtesy.
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The Wastewater authorities have been more than generous in their policies regarding birder-watchers' access to this magnificent area.  It would be a shame if the behavior of a few reduced or eliminated this access for the many.
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Golden Sunday

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The Golden Eagle Ed Schools reported Saturday (below) stuck around until Sunday.

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Don Neumann
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Explorer Comments Problem Fixed

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Everybody, in regard to the problems posted below about not being able to leave comments using Internet Explorer, I believe that is fixed.  Thanks to Don Neumann for looking into this and sending me a suggestion made by others having similar problems elsewhere.  Now when you click "Comments", a pop-up window will appear.  Just read the comments or make your own comment following the same instructions as before and you should be fine no matter what browser you're using.  I tried it with the post below while using Internet Explorer and not signed into my Google account. It worked fine.  (Since I was not signed in, Google didn't know who I was, so I wrote my name at the end of my "Anonymous" comment; whether you non-Google folks want to do likewise is up to you.)
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