Today Lizzy Kibbey emailed us a Wastewater and State Game Area report about sightings yesterday (March 4, 2017) and Feb. 25, 2017, plus her photos of Rusty Blackbirds (her area on Bayne Road is near the Maple River about one mile east-northeast of the traditional Rusty Blackbird location at the foot bridge behind the DNR State Game Area headquarters), and Ross's, Snow and Greater White-fronted Geese.
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Here is Lizzy's complete report with many other good waterbirds:
Yesterday (March 4, 2017) Mr. Fyfe and I were in Muskegon. We went to the MWW and also checked a few spots along the edge of Maple Island Rd near N Bayne Rd for any lingering bands of Rusty Blackbirds. We went to the WW first and kind of ran through the fields on Swanson, but then went out the WW entrance onto Maple Island Rd to look for Rusties. A huge flock of blackbirds dotted the tops of many bare trees. Most of them were Rusties, although the occassional grackle and Red-winged Blackbird did occur. We even found three female RWBL. Not a single starling or cowbird, however. I did take some videos of this massive flock. The Rusties even were vocalizing for us! It was pretty cool considering the fact that I've never actually heard them before, not to mention this was a year bird for me, and the massive group was simply amazing to watch.
After watching the blackbirds take off and relocate to another bundle of trees, we decided to head back to the WW to cover the lagoons for ducks. Shovelers were everywhere, no doubt about that. We didn't start off with a very diverse group of ducks. Mostly some shovelers, a few Redheads, six Canada Geese, and a few Gadwall. We hadn't even seen a Mallard yet! But then as we inched closer to the dump, we saw a long string of Canada Geese, and I told Mr. Fyfe that we just HAD to scan through that for Greater White-fronted Geese. We scoped them, and as we were counting geese, a flock of other geese flew over. I thought they were Canadas, but then I saw flashes of white with black wingtips, and did a double take. They were actually Snow Geese, and they had two Ross's Geese with them!
After watching the blackbirds take off and relocate to another bundle of trees, we decided to head back to the WW to cover the lagoons for ducks. Shovelers were everywhere, no doubt about that. We didn't start off with a very diverse group of ducks. Mostly some shovelers, a few Redheads, six Canada Geese, and a few Gadwall. We hadn't even seen a Mallard yet! But then as we inched closer to the dump, we saw a long string of Canada Geese, and I told Mr. Fyfe that we just HAD to scan through that for Greater White-fronted Geese. We scoped them, and as we were counting geese, a flock of other geese flew over. I thought they were Canadas, but then I saw flashes of white with black wingtips, and did a double take. They were actually Snow Geese, and they had two Ross's Geese with them!
Last Saturday we were at the MWW too with my friend from Kalamazoo. We ended up running into a flock of Snow Geese and picked out 5 Ross's Geese. I am led to believe that this flock of Snow Geese and Ross's Geese is the same flock that we saw yesterday and on the 25th. I didn't go for pictures of the Ross's yesterday, but since I never reported these to you anyways, I'll attach a pic of the Ross's.
Anyways, back to yesterday's ducks, so, the Snow Geese landed with the Canadas in the E. Lagoon. I managed to pick out 8 Greater White-fronted Geese too. I got bad scope pics because the wind kept moving the scope and the camera.
Four species of geese all in one spot! Next were the ducks. We had six American Wigeons all in one spot, plenty of Pintails, Green-winged Teals, Redheads, Mallards, and other ducks. We picked up the scope and moved along down towards the Center Dike. Down there we spotted a lone male Hooded Merganser, but he magically disappeared before I could get pictures.
Four species of geese all in one spot! Next were the ducks. We had six American Wigeons all in one spot, plenty of Pintails, Green-winged Teals, Redheads, Mallards, and other ducks. We picked up the scope and moved along down towards the Center Dike. Down there we spotted a lone male Hooded Merganser, but he magically disappeared before I could get pictures.
As we finished up with the E. Lagoon, we drove to the S. WW and kept going straight on Swanson till we got to the little pond area. The water was quite open and full of Anatids. Canada Geese, Ring-necked Ducks, Mallards, Hooded Mergansers, Redheads, a pair of Canvasbacks, Lesser Scaup, six more wigeons, plus some other ducks were all crowding the water. No unusual looking geese, but plenty of ducks for one trip!
To finish of the trip, we ended up with 42 species for the WW that day, and a total of 19 species of waterfowl. Waterfowl migration seems to have begun!!
Lizzy Kibbey (Duck Wizard)
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