October 15 Email:
Around 4:23 p.m. this afternoon Mark Wloch had just finished walking the south breakwater at Ludington Harbor. As he drove south on South Lakeshore Drive (a few hundred yards south of the harbor parking lot), he saw a long-tailed bird and pulled over to view it better. It was a gorgeous Scissor-tailed Flycatcher ! The bird appears to be an adult female, as the tail is not nearly as long as an adult male's tail.
Amazingly, this not only is the county's second STFL, but it occurred 39 years and one day after the first bird was found (October 14, 1975 by Gary Worton). This flycatcher breeds in the southern Great Plains, but there are records of at least 44 birds seen between 1962 and 2012 in Michigan. Mark is new to Mason County, but he is quickly discovering why I believe the area to be a birder's paradise in northwestern Michigan.
Congratulations, Mark !
Dave Dister
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