Obviously we're not updating this page as often as before. Neither our contributing photographers nor I are birding as much either. It's winter. And we might be getting older.
But we're still here. Whenever I go bird-watching, I'll have my camera with me. They always do. So browse by occasionally to see what we've seen recently. Keep sending reports of your recent sightings too.
Enjoy the new year. Spring is almost here!
- Ric (12/27/22)
This morning a friend called Carol and me to drive out and see the Evening Grosbeaks at his feeder.
Lots of brown (Catharus) thrushes at Black Lake Park yesterday on a cold windy morning. I saw seven in the woods west of the parking lot, one in the woods northwest of the meadow, one at the meadow (beautiful colors there),
and one along the south walkway toward the creek. I presume most were Hermit Thrushes. A few may have been double-counts, but I don't think so. The only ones I identified were two Swainson's and a Gray-cheeked.
The other twelve bird species included a dozen Dark-eyed Juncos, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the usual suspects.
Bruce Delamarter sends this photo he took recently of a Red-shouldered Hawk eating a frog.
Looking for waterbirds from the south lighthouse at Pere Marquette Park this morning Charlie DeWitt, Chip Francke and I saw four Surf Scoters fly from Lake Michigan to the Muskegon Channel. (Charlie's photo.)
Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-crowned Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos were the identifiable small birds on the rocks along the pier (presumably having found themselves over the big lake at first light).
Chip and I then sat near the east end of the channel for a little over an hour. We saw only one raptor (Red-tailed Hawk), a few small birds and woodpeckers, and about 650 migrating Blue Jays.
September 27 Email:
I located 6 Hudsonian godwits in cell D10 at the Muskegon Wastewater yesterday (9/26). They are still being seen as of today (Tuesday). They have moved to D12 last I heard. In addition to the godwits, I found dowitcher sp., greater and lesser yellowlegs, willet (continuing in E2), Baird's, least, and pectoral sandpipers and killdeer, semi-palmated, Am. golden and black-bellied plovers. All these birds were seen in either D10 or E2.
- Chip Francke
September 22 Email:
Thanks for the info. and picture, Don. Seems as if they're using it as a staging area on their migration south. (See Dayle's Sept. 2 post below).
- Ric
I birded Grand Haven this morning finding several birds but nothing remarkable.
At East Grand River Park I found 19 species, none out-of-the-ordinary.
At Harbor Island I saw 22 species including three Wood Ducks, three Great Egrets, a Belted Kingfisher and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Most of the woodland habitat there was overgrown with White Snake Root, particularly the fringes along the walkways.
Dayle Vanderwier counted 151 Sandhill Cranes at 8:00 p.m. yesterday (Sept. 1) on the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center properties.
Today felt okay in the shade but hot in the sunlight at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve. I hadn't birded the preserve in quite a while. I was pleased to see a nice improvement after the last few years of reduction in birding habitat -- the open acreage in the mid-southern section is a wildflower meadow. Many birds were there this morning.
All of today's 28 species were "the usual suspects" including Killdeer, Great Blue Heron,
Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Eastern Kingbird,
Warbling Vireo, Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat.
Jenny Reck posted to Discord this photo of three American White Pelicans soaring around Dune Harbor County Park at 10:00 this morning.
I took a pleasant summer walk at Harbor Island this morning. Of the 28 bird species, all were the usual suspects except an American Wigeon:
... Cliff Swallow, Song Sparrow ...
... and Yellow Warbler. (A thistle isn't a bird, but it makes a pretty picture:)
The first-ever recorded sighting of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker in Michigan was Friday evening near Hoffmaster State Park. It could not be relocated Saturday or today but might still be in the area, so keep your eyes peeled and let us know if you see it. This species is particularly drawn to Red Pine (2 needles, not 5-per-follicle) groves. It could easily be confused with a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker. Look for the white "cheek", speckles under the wing, and absence of a large red patch on the back of the head. - Glen and Beth Miller
Our June 18 Field Trip report is posted on the homepage.
My back-door neighbors on Wilfred received many thank-you's, some small tokens of appreciation, and the official recognition they deserve for first recognizing that the woodpecker on their feeder was special: the only sighting ever of this species in the lower peninsula of Michigan!
My chess-playing buddy on Jensen welcomed hundreds of people to his "Important Bird Area" (back yard). And today my neighbor on Kathryn, a professional artist, brought me this print of a painting he created in honor of the bird.
Bryan does not paint birds! You'll see this immediately if you go to his website: bryansnuffer.com. But obviously he can paint birds!
He also did not paint this one for profit! However, in asking him if I might post the picture on my blog, I asked if anyone else might order a print if they wanted one. Yup. $25 for an 8.5 x 11 suitable for framing.
There's a slim possibility that the Lewis's Woodpecker is still around, but I doubt it. I hope it headed west and will soon find where it belongs. Thanks for leaving us with some wonderful memories!
A birder from Indiana photographed the Lewis’s Woodpecker today at 12:10 pm at the intersection of Marva and Wilfred (1/2 block NE of 2160 Jensen). The bird was also seen later today by the homeowner on Jensen.
No report yet this Wednesday morning of the Lewis’s Woodpecker. The last sighting was from 2160 Jensen yesterday at 3:33 pm. Of the hundreds of people who have seen the bird and the 170+ who have posted it on eBird, only two have been outside the triangular block formed by Jensen, Wilfred and Kathryn streets. Since last Wednesday, nearly all have been from people viewing the trees around the backyard at 2160 Jensen.
Several hundred bird-watchers have traveled to our subdivision in the last week to see the Lewis's Woodpecker. Almost all have been successful.
Today Robert Lawshe took this photo, a remarkably good shot because the bird was on the other side of the 2160 Jensen Road backyard from his camera and often hidden in foliage. The bird has continued into this afternoon at that address.
Checking eBird reports, I've found only two outside the triangular block of Wilfred, Jensen and Kathryn streets. One was two short blocks north on Mary Street; the furthest a quarter mile northeast on Sheridan Drive north of Pratt Lane.
For over half a century on the third Saturday in May our club has conducted a Big Day Count. Object: To find as many bird species as possible in one day in Muskegon County. The record is 156 recorded long ago.
On May 21, 2022, nine people began around 5:00 a.m., were accompanied at times along their way by eight more, and concluded with six at 8:30 p.m.
Big Day Count
May 21, 2022
4:45-10:25 Lane's Landing 78 species
Red-winged Blackbird
American Robin
Common Yellowthroat
Swamp Sparrow
Wood Thrush
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Mourning Dove
Yellow Warbler
Common Nighthawk
Gray Catbird
Eastern Wood-pewee
Sora
Song Sparrow
Black-billed Cuckoo
Barred Owl
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Duck
Indigo Bunting
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Blue-winged Warbler
Common Grackle
Mallard
Warbling Vireo
Ring-billed Gull
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Kingbird
Northern Flicker
Great Blue Heron
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Black-capped Chickadee
Cedar Waxwing
Virginia Rail
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Harrier
Hooded Merganser
Willow Flycatcher
Baltimore Oriole
Barn Swallow
American Coot
Gadwall
Spotted Sandpiper
Orchard Oriole
American Goldfinch
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Great Egret
Veery
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Chimney Swift
Alder Flycatcher
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Sandhill Crane
Blackpoll Warbler
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-eyed Vireo
Prothonotary Warbler
American Redstart
Downy Warbler
Northern Parula
Blackburnian Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Brown-headed Cowbird
White-breasted Nuthatch
Yellow-throated Vireo
Acadian Flycatcher
Cerulean Warbler
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Bluebird
American Bittern
Common Raven
Ovenbird
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Killdeer
Black-and-White Warbler
10:30-12:30 MDNR Headquarters Muskegon State Game Area 9 more species
Brown Thrasher
Eastern Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
House Sparrow
House Wren
Chipping Sparrow
House Finch
Tufted Titmouse
Field Sparrow
1:00-3:30 Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center 26 more species
Upland Sandpiper
Eastern Meadowlark
Grasshopper Sparrow
Horned Lark
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
European Starling
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Black-necked Stilt
Cliff Swallow
Dunlin
Bank Swallow
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruddy Duck
Savannah Sparrow
Herring Gull
Wild Turkey
Lesser Scaup
Bobolink
Vesper Sparrow
Rock Pigeon
3:45-4:30 2160 Jensen Road 2 more species
Lewis's Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
5:00-5:50 Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve 6 more species
Red-tailed Hawk
Mute Swan
Bald Eagle
Purple Martin
Lincoln's Sparrow
Swainson's Thrush
6:05-7:40 Snug Harbor and Lost Lake Trail 4 more species
Marsh Wren
Pine Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Red-headed Woodpecker
7:45-8:00 Lake Michigan Beach at Muskegon State Park 1 more species
Double-crested Cormorant
8:10 - 8:30 North Side of Muskegon Channel 1 more species
Eastern Towhee
That's a Total of 127 bird species. Thanks to all who participated!
The Lewis's Woodpecker continues to be seen in the 2100 block of Jensen this afternoon. Ken Ward sends us this photo he took of the bird on Friday:
Lewis's Woodpecker continues in our neighborhood this morning. Yesterday a homeowner on Jensen Street sent us this photo from his backyard:
Roger Newell took these photos yesterday from the same location:
Yesterday evening after our potluck picnic meeting, MCNC club members took a walk around the Snug Harbor area finding 38 bird species including this Osprey diving for fish. (Photo by Glen Miller)
So yesterday afternoon I'm playing "patio chess" with my neighbor Steve from the next street over (but we're in my rec room because it's rainy) and between games I check my iPad for reports on the Lewis's Woodpecker. One comes in just as I'm checking, so I read it aloud, "Bird now being seen further north in backyard at 2160 Jensen." Steve exclaims, "2160 Jensen -- that's my house!". So we stop playing chess and hurry over to his place. Sure enough, I had "given him the bird". And he's still got it this morning.
(By the way, it's hard to count how many bird-watchers have arrived to see this bird, but a conservative estimate as of this morning is 200. The furthest was a guy from Whitefish Point who heard about it Monday evening and drove all night to see our woodpecker at first light Tuesday. Others have been here from Indiana, the Detroit area, Saginaw, Flint, Kalamazoo, Manistee and (yawn) Grand Rapids. It's the first sighting ever of this species in the lower peninsula.)
The Lewis's Woodpecker is still here this morning.
Thanks to Ruth Achterhoff Aust for sending us these pictures she took yesterday:
The Lewis's Woodpecker has been cooperative today (May 17) in my neighbors' yard next door and across Wilfred Street in the same tree as yesterday. I'd guesstimate that over 130 bird watchers have been here to see it these two days, all successfully as far as I know.
We've had birders from Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Houghton Lake and northern Indiana. One man drove last night from somewhere in the Upper Peninsula to be here at first light and see the bird.
Thanks to Kathleen Steele from Grand Rapids who took this photo while the bird was foraging in the morning sunlight on my back neighbor's lawn.
- Ric
At 2:15 Carol and I were shopping when we got a call from our next door neighbor that a Lewis's Woodpecker had been in her yard, she took its picture (below), and then it flew toward our yard.
We hurried home and from 2:30-2:45 I took these photos as it hawked bugs from the tree behind our house.
Then a Red-winged Blackbird showed up and seemed to scare the woodpecker away. It's about 3:20 now and I haven't seen the woodpecker since.
We should all just travel around with Charlie DeWitt. Yesterday he was minding his own business watching a track meet at Western Michigan Christian High School on Ellis Road when a Mississippi Kite flew over. Here's his photo:
I checked eBird. There is no Mississippi Kite listed there ever for Muskegon County! (However, it is the 4th recorded sighting in our county. See Chip Frankie’s information in the comments below.)
Then today Mike Boston went to Patterson Park and photographed this Yellow-breasted Chat!
I should quit while I'm behind. Instead I'll mention that Carol spotted this Merlin perched behind our house this afternoon ...
... and this morning I found 42 species at Snug Harbor including this Great Blue Heron catching a fish ...
... a pair of Eastern Kingbirds ...
... plus Green Heron, Red-tailed Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Red-headed Woodpecker (three loudly chasing each other among the trees near the water's edge), Northern Rough-winged Swallow and a female Nashville Warbler.
- Ric
My son Andy and I birded Black Lake Park around noon today. We found 48 species including Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Sandhill Crane, Peregrine Falcon (previously reported by Beth Miller) ...
Blue-headed Vireo, Common Raven, Brown Creeper, Brown Thrasher, Hermit and Wood Thrushes, White-throated Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat ...
... and Pine Warbler.
