Saturday Morning at the Wastewater

Up here for Thanksgiving my Ohio son Steve accompanied me to the Wastewater yesterday morning looking for Snowies or whatever.  We witnessed the encounter below, three Rough-legged Hawks, and Charlie DeWitt (who had seen a Snow Bunting), but saw nothing snowy ourselves.

Heading south on Swanson we watched an immature Bald Eagle scare the landfill gulls and then glide southeast.  A few minutes later we saw it on the field east of Swanson south of Apple.  It had some small prey in its talons.  Beside it was a Common Raven.

About six feet separated the birds except when the raven stepped toward its gigantic foe, beak up in a menacing posture.  Then the eagle would respond with a counter-charge displaying the prey, some grass stalks, and its talons.  The raven wisely stepped back.  

We figured that the prey belonged to the raven before the eagle arrived and that the raven wanted it back.  Otherwise it's hard to explain why an intelligent animal would intentionally get that close to those talons.

The dance continued until we stepped out of the car.  Then the raven flew up, performed an impressive low-level wing-over, crawked, and flew north beyond Apple.  The eagle carried its prey and grass stalks in the same direction for a few hundred yards, then settled back down on the field.

- Ric

Harbor Island

 Mute Swans

 American Wigeon

 Gadwall

Canada Geese, Gadwall and American Wigeon

Yesterday Annette Makin on Facebook reported a large flock of ducks on Harbor Island, so this morning I checked it out.  I counted 82 Gadwall, 13 American Wigeon, 2 Mallards, 8 Buffleheads, 250 Canada Geese and 50 Mute Swans.  There were also 5 American Crows, 2 European Starlings and 1 Downy Woodpecker.

- Charlie DeWitt

Christmas Bird Counts & Hemlock Crossing

If you're interested in either of the Muskegon Christmas Bird Counts (Dec. 14 and 18, 2019) or a report about our club's November field trip to Hemlock Crossing, go to our home page.

Of Peregrine Falcons and Short-eared Owls

At our meeting last night, Chip Francke presented an interesting program about Peregrine Falcons with emphasis on those that bred for several years at Grand Haven.  The Board of Light and Power smokestack will come down soon leaving no place high enough in that area for peregrines to breed. * 

In better news, Chip mentioned that Short-eared Owls are back on the south Wastewater properties.

- Ric

* Peregrine nest boxes remain at the Consumers Power Campbell plant (between Grand Haven and Holland) and in downtown Grand Rapids.  The Muskegon nest boxes from the old B.C. Cobb stack are still awaiting residents on the roof of the Shoreline Inn hotel.  Since the relocation of those boxes, peregrines were reported eating pigeons on that roof with one even entering a nest box.  Those reports are old, however, and we know of no recent sightings of local peregrines in the Muskegon area.

Two Photos from Saturday

Thanks to two members of the Barry County Audubon Club (see post below) for sending these photos taken on Saturday during their field trip:

White-tailed Deer by Maive

Cell phone image of Greater White-fronted Goose by Gayle

- Ric

Gloomy Saturday Morning with Many Birds

I birded the Wastewater properties Saturday morning, most of the time with 14 members of the Barry County Audubon Club on their field trip.  Despite dodging raindrops, we found a good number of birds, and they were still looking when I left.

Among the 15 species I saw were 7 Gadwall at the Clay Pond, 36 Snow Buntings along the southern half of the main dike, 24 American Black Ducks and 2 Green-winged Teal in Aeration Cell #5, 15 American Pipits, 6 Dunlin and a Pectoral Sandpiper in the south Rapid Filtration Basins,  2 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Bald Eagle, and a Partridge in a Pear -- uh, no.

One of many Ruddy Ducks on the West Lagoon

Just before I joined the group, a member of their club had taken an excellent photo of a gigantic White-tailed Deer with a huge rack!  If she sends me that photo, I will post it here.

- Ric