Another Weekend Report from Lizzy

Good morning Ric! Hope you're doing well since the last time we talked. :)

We did our rounds on Saturday. We've been in Muskegon a lot lately, so we've got a typical schedule.

There was some good stuff, but we also made stops in Ottawa Co. I'll just include highlights for those.

We first headed over to Coopersville, as there is a goose field that contains both Cackling Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese in it. The goose field is in front of the car dealership on O'Malley Dr, but also contains the field on the opposite side, found on Conran Dr. We dipped on finding any Greater White-fronted Goose, but I took pictures of the flock of Canada's and found a goose that we thought resembled a Cackler.

Pere Marquette was the next stop. Since we didn't have a spotting scope handy (it's in California being repaired), we decided to check what was close enough to tell. Nothing super unnatural, but we did find some Red-breasted Mergansers, a few Bonaparte's Gulls, and a Great Black-backed Gull bobbing in the water.

The channel was nearby, and we did stop, but there wasn't much excitement stirring in the murky water.

We hit the Waste Water after a few other minor stops. I'll include highlights and pics.

Muskegon WW highlights:

Blue-winged Teal - 4
Savannah Sparrow - 1
Canvasback - 1

Eared Grebe - 1
Great Black-backed Gull - 2
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1
Common Raven - 2

​

Wood Duck - 1
Pied-billed Grebe - 1

Ducks are still in fairly strong numbers. Ruddies are seeming to dissipate in numbers, while Buffleheads are starting to show signs of steady increase, plus the males have made an appearance! 

​
Still waiting for a glimpse of a Goldeneye, since I haven't seen one this fall yet. Snow Buntings are still present on the center dike, with fairly large numbers, but Pipits seemed to have disappeared, as we only had two, and these were ones that we heard. We missed the chance of an Eastern Bluebird, American Kestrel, Dunlin, or Peregrine Falcon.

We then made a stop again by the goose field and got lucky this time on the Greater-white Fronted.

We also were able to relocate our Cackler from the morning, with the possibility of a few other candidates.

​Lastly, we had a Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Coopersville Wastewater Treatment Plant. 

That's all for now. Thanks!

Lizzy Kibbey (Duck Wizard)