Muskegonites - I haven't visited the Wastewater much this summer (been busy Kent Co. listing), but I decided to take a jaunt over there this evening, 13 Aug, to see what shorebirds were around. Most of the shorebirds were scattered around the edges of the aerator basins, in particular the SE corner of the 3rd (middle) basin, viewed most easily from its north edge. The swallow swarms are so large it is very difficult to even estimate how many are present, but conservative guesses for Tree Swallow and Bank Swallow, respectively, are 5000 and 3000. My feeling is the actual #s are much higher than this.
Rather surprising was a brood of 5 Gadwall in the east lagoon (north shore), including a VERY worn adult female accompanying the youngsters. This is the first proof of breeding I have found for the wastewater. Another 4 youngsters (unaccompanied; 3nd photo) were present in the 2nd westernmost aerator.
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Highlights:
Baird's Sandpiper 1 adult (easternmost aerator)
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Common Raven - 2 at E.end of east lagoon (my first for the MWW- thanks Ric!)Eared Grebe: 1 (probably 3) in with Ruddy Ducks in middle of e. lagoon
Bufflehead: 3 in s. edge of e. lagoon
Semipalmated Plover 4
Semipalmated Sandpiper 14 (all or mostly juvs)
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Least Sandpiper 51 (all or mostly juvs)Here is the complete eBird checklist for the evening:
Location: Muskegon Wastewater System
Observation date: 8/13/10
Notes: Ava and I- giving Sara the night off for movies with Stevie. Endless thousands of swallows dominated by TRES and BANS. GADW included 9 juveniles and 1 adult female in very worn plumage (photos of both), and proving local breeding.
Number of species: 45
Canada Goose 15
Wood Duck 15
Gadwall 10
American Black Duck 10
Mallard 30
Blue-winged Teal 20
Northern Shoveler 130
Green-winged Teal 8
Bufflehead 3 All juv/females in the east lagoon, south dike.
Hooded Merganser 1
Ruddy Duck 240
Eared Grebe 1 Likely 3 EAGR present but couldn't verify at distances involved.
Double-crested Cormorant 2
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 2
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Kestrel 5
Semipalmated Plover 4
Killdeer 25
Spotted Sandpiper 3
Solitary Sandpiper 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 36
Upland Sandpiper 2
Semipalmated Sandpiper 14
Least Sandpiper 51
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 325
Herring Gull 200
Mourning Dove 8
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 4
American Crow X
Common Raven 2
Horned Lark 10
Tree Swallow 5000
Bank Swallow 3000
Barn Swallow 200
Cliff Swallow 3
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin X
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 4
Red-winged Blackbird 5
meadowlark sp. 3
Brown-headed Cowbird 14
American Goldfinch X
Good Birding,
Caleb Putnam
Sparta, MI
1 comment:
Caleb
Nice list. On the Gadwall, I can think of at least four breeding records (courtesy of Wickstrom, Chu, et al.), with the earliest going back to the summer of 1987. All reports are of females with young. I know of no actual nests. I suspect there are other breeding records, but I also figure that some Gadwall broods go unrecorded since many birders do not realize how unusual such records are.
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