Owl Up Close and Eagle Action

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A couple Snowy Owls from the Wastewater Wednesday.  I guess if you're going to live in the Arctic, it's good to have insulated eyelids!

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This immature Bald Eagle didn't like sharing airspace with a Snowy Owl and chased him all around the east lagoon.

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Don Neumann
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Long-tailed Duck Etc. at W.W. Tuesday

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Email November 29:.

While spending some time at the Wastewater today photographing the Snowy Owls, I found a Long-tailed Duck at the southeast corner of the west lagoon and several American Pipits still on the center dike road.  I also saw a very large flock of Snow Buntings, probably 200 birds, on the road that travels east to west at the north part of the property.  Several Great Blue Herons are still there as well. Rick Hamlin . .

Good Wastewater Birds Monday

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Chip Francke to Mich-Listers:
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Pat Bazany, Connie Peoples and I searched the Pere Marquette Park pier today (Monday) for purple sandpipers with no success.  At the Muskegon Wastewater we found two snowy owls (each was sitting on top of a short white structure in the farm field in the southeast corner of Swanson and White Road (the structures are about 100 yards apart and can be seen from Swanson south of White), two eared grebes along the dikes around the east pond, ten snow geese and at least two cackling geese mixed in with the numerous Canadas in the east pond, and two lesser black-backed gulls (adults) in the east pond off the dump.  
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Eagles and Owls, Ho Hum

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I saw a Blue Jay !   :-)
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Charlie DeWitt
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Banded Bald Eagle: I.D. Requested

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I'll see all the Snowy Owls and raise 2 Bald Eagles! Taken on the west side of west the lagoon November 25.  The leg band is on the upper bird if someone knows how to decipher the code.

Don Neumann

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Two Short-eared's This Evening

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Carol and I (and about ten unknown birders west of us by the model airport) watched two Short-eared Owls interacting along Swanson north of Laketon on the south Wastewater properties at 5:30 this evening.  One landed briefly in the road.
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- Ric Pedler
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Let it Snow!

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Just a few angles of the Snowy Owl taken this morning

Mike VanderStelt
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Snowy Owl and People Watching

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Can you guess how many pictures were taken of the Snowy Owl on  the center dike?  It sat there for at least an hour.  Carol spotted a different Snowy Owl coming from the north, on the north side of the east lagoon.  It stopped for a few minutes on a power pole and then flew to the center dike.  It is a different owl, so we had at least two Snowy Owls today.
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Charlie DeWitt
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Thanksgiving Snow Geese and Snowy Owls

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On Thanksgiving Feller DeWitt reported, "This morning Dee and I saw a Snowy Owl on the east side of the Center Dike 100 yards from the northwest corner of the East Lagoon.  On the southeast corner of that lagoon were two Snow Geese, a blue morph and a white morph."
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Rick Hamlin reported, "My wife and I took a quick drive out to the Wastewater again this morning and got a little better photo of one of the Snowy Owls.  We also spent some time watching the Peregrine Falcon feasting on a male Bufflehead.  I am not sending the photos of the falcon as he was pretty bloody and might not appeal to some on Thanksgiving Day."
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Snowies, Harrier and Peregrine Photos & Video

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The two Snowy Owls sat on this power pole for a long time (north of the East Lagoon) and a third was hunting the north edge of the lagoon. As luck would have it, it was hunting about a quarter mile in front of me and I didn't see it until leaving the other two.  Then it was getting too dark to chase it around.
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Our Peregrine Falcon was in its usual spot. The Northern Harrier got a little curious as to what the heck was in its territory but (wisely) chose to "observe only".

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Here is a Video of one Snowy.  It's a little shaky (handheld) but what the heck!  I had my tripod in the back of my truck and didn't want to risk opening the door.  That won't happen again!  It's kind of funny when it shakes its head, "No, no, no, no!"  :)
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Mike VanderStelt
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Two Short-eareds and Three Snowies

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Carol and I saw two Short-eared Owls at the model airplane field (south Wastewater properties) today at 5:35 p.m.  They were in the road right where Rick Hamlin was parked.  Sorry Rick, I hope you got to see the other owls.
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- Charlie DeWitt

I was out looking for Short-eared owls this evening when Charlie DeWitt drove up and told me about a pair of Snowy Owls on the large power poles north of the East Lagoon.  I hustled over, driving down the center dike and I found this Owl.  It was getting dark so the photos aren't great.  As it turns out there were three of the owls, one on the dike and when I finally got to the power poles, there were still two sitting on the poles.  It was too dark to get photos of the birds on top of the poles but it was still light enough to make them out. I went back looking for Charlie to thank him but he was gone.  I don't have his email address but I want to pass along my thanks as this was a life bird for me.  Thank you Charlie! Rick Hamlin . .

Two Notable Winter Species Here Today !

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Mike VanderStelt reports two Snowy Owls on the pylons along the north side of the East Lagoon at Wastewater this afternoon (Nov. 23).  Check back later today and he will probably have some photos posted here.
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Meanwhile, Feller DeWitt reports 25+ White-winged Crossbills came through his woods out on Ellis Road today.  "They did not stop, but I just wanted to let people know that they are in Muskegon County now."
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Snow Buntings at the Wastewater

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Rick Hamlin saw a small flock of Snow Buntings darting around him on the Center Dike Monday (Nov. 21) and sent these photos:
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Dunlin at the Wastewater November 21

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I found this Dunlin at the Wastewater today at the north end of the Center Dike.  It seems to me that this is a little late for a Dunlin at the Wastewater.
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Charlie DeWitt
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Thayer's and Iceland Gulls at Pere Marquette Park Sunday

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Alison Vilag and I birded Pere Marquette Park with Randy Vandermolen and Albert Rowell yesterday afternoon (Sunday). We also ran into Joseph and Dave Lautenbach and Feller DeWitt briefly. There were an adult Thayer's Gull and an adult Iceland Gull on the beach just south of the south breakwall at around 3:00 p.m.
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We later visited the Wastewater and had little of note except for a Short-eared Owl at Swanson and Laketon at dusk which put on quite a show for us at close range (15 feet!). The eBird checklists, complete with embedded photos of the rare gulls, are here:

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http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9167481
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9167049

Caleb Putnam

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Loons and Grebes at Pere Marquette

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Email: Pere Marquette Sunday Nov. 20:
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Today out on the South Pier there were 2 Common Loons and 4 Horned Grebes.  Inside the Channel there were 7 or 10 Horned Grebes and 3 Common Loons.  No Purple Sandpiper yet.

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Feller DeWitt

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11 Sandhill Cranes over Muskegon Nov. 5

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During Saturday's field trip at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve Carol Cooper mentioned that she had photographed some Sandhill Cranes flying over the preserve earlier this month. This seemed unusually late for Sandhills at Muskegon so I asked if she could recall the date and send me the photo for posting here.  It was November 5.  Brian Johnson heard them overhead and Carol snapped this picture.
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Siskins and Merlin at Snug Harbor

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On our Saturday morning Northside Field Trip (click here for species numbers), our group saw ~27 Pine Siskins and an adult female Merlin along the Snug Harbor Trail toward Bay Mills at Muskegon State Park among ~40 species.
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Mink and Fox Sparrow at Hoffmaster

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The Mink is back at the Gillette Nature Center at Hoffmaster State Park.  It was there last winter.  The Fox Sparrow was around for over an hour.
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The Nature Center closes this afternoon and will stay closed until Jan 2012.  I didn't see any White-winged Crossbills
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Charlie DeWitt
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Crossbills at Hoffmaster, 11-18

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As the banding at Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve winds down, I'm spending more time counting waterbirds from the shore of Lake Michigan. Yesterday (11-18), despite the wind, I did a short watch at Hoffmaster State Park. Afterwards, I encountered 15 White-winged Crossbills in the hemlocks at Gillette Nature Center. These were the first I have seen this fall.

For the most part, migrant passerines have passed later this year versus the last five years (especially last year). This has been true with both long-distance, warm-weather, early-season neotropical migrants and short-distance, cold-weather, late season, temperate migrants. Finches clearly fall into the latter category. At the banding station, both Purple Finches and Pine Siskins appeared several days later than normal. However, Purple Finches have since been common. On November 15, I caught a daily high record of five. While American Goldfinches continue to arrive, their numbers seem to be down from last year - 44 versus 157 by this date. House Finches have also been less numerous than last fall, and there has been a much higher proportion of adults.

At the Muskegon Wastewater System I also conducted the final Shorebird Survey of 2011 on November 17. No shorebirds were encountered, but I did record 254 Tundra Swans in the west lagoon (my first sighting this fall was 24 at on November 4 at MLNP). My count of 236 American Coots was surprisingly close to my count of 237 from October 22. Highlights from the previous visit were 206 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Glaucous Gull (also seen by Charlie DeWitt), and 1 Rusty Blackbird seen by Carolyn Weng and me on November 5. One Wilson's Snipe and 6 Dunlins from that visit were the last shorebirds from the 2011 surveys.
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Brian Johnson
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Pine Siskins at Snug Harbor

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On a 20-species "dry run" for tomorrow's Field Trip, Feller DeWitt and I encountered a flock of ~27 Pine Siskins at 9:45 a.m. in the pines along the Lost Lake Trail at Muskegon State Park across from the east end of the Snug Harbor parking lot.
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Snow Geese and Horned Grebe Tuesday

Be sure to check the large flock of Canada Goose at the Wastewater as there were 4 Snow (Blue) Geese with them, 3 matures and an immature (at far right of picture; all four didn't want their picture taken at the same time) on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

I also had a stare-down with a Horned Grebe in the Muskegon Channel near the USS Silversides.

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- Don Neumann

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Bonaparte's, Loons and Harlequin

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Today there was a flock of 70 Bonaparte's Gulls at the Sand Docks in Muskegon Lake.  I also saw 3 Common Loons in Muskegon Lake.  Not much from the pier.  I did see a Harlequin Duck near the end of the pier.  Most likely the one that was reported earlier.  No Purple Sandpiper.
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- Charlie DeWitt
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Peregrine and Prey Tuesday at Wastewater

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November 15 Email:
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Ric, Not sure if you are interested in more Peregrine Falcon photos but I got a couple of decent shots yesterday (Nov. 14) as he started his stoop and then a couple of more as he was eating. Rick Hamlin . . . . .

Good Birds at Muskegon Saturday

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Today at Pere Marquette Park we had a 1st year male Harlequin Duck and a second cycle Iceland Gull out at the end of the pier. At Wastewater we had a Northern Shrike at the usual spot south of M-46, a Glaucous Gull by the dump, and a 1st year Peregrine Falcon on the center dike (pics below).

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The Lautenbachs and Neil

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Peregrine and Coot at Wastewater

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I think this is the Peregrine Falcon that everyone has seen.  Notice there are no bands on the legs.

I will "see" Rick's grebes and "raise" him an American Coot!  Great pictures, Rick.
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- Charlie DeWitt
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Grebe Trifecta and More Last Monday

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I was out at the Wastewater on Monday Nov. 7 and had a rare treat for me.  A young Peregrine Falcon sitting on a fence post close enough for good photos.   I also saw several Great Blue Herons as well as Horned, Eared and Pied-billed Grebes.  There was also a fairly large group of Bonaparte's Gulls on the northwest corner of the West Lagoon and the Trumpeter or Tundra Swans (sorry, I couldn't get a positive ID) were on the north side of the East Lagoon.  There were at least 50 of them.

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Rick Hamlin

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Short-eared Owl at Wastewater Today

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This is a better picture of the Short-eared Owl (see Nov. 5 post below).  Not the best but you can tell what it is.  It showed up at the model airplane field at 5:27 p.m. today. There were also 3 Northern Harriers using the same field.
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- Charlie DeWitt
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Blackbirds, Buntings and Bonaparte's

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Ric, just a quick note to say that at the Wastewater this morning I had Red-winged Blackbirds yet and Snow Buntings also.  Seemed strange to see these two birds on the same trip.

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I also saw loads of Bonaparte's Gulls and more American Coots than I ever remember seeing at the Wastewater.

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Phil Willemstein, Grand Rapids Audubon Club

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All Tundras?

These swans were in the Northwest corner of the East lagoon at the Wastewater this afternoon, November 6. The two on the left I'm sure are Tundra Swans, I'm not positive about the two on the right. Any ideas?

Mike Boston