June 3 Field Trip to Allegan County

Our monthly field trip is scheduled for this Saturday, June 3.  We will bird the Allegan State Game Area in the morning and enjoy lunch at the Crane’s Pie Pantry Restaurant west of Fennville at midday.

Allow about an hour of travel time from Muskegon to the US-31 / M-89 interchange south of Holland.  We will meet at 8:30 in the parking lot of the Shell gas station a half mile east of the interchange where M-89 crosses the Blue Star Highway.  From there we will drive to various places on the nearby farm properties of the Allegan State Game Area to look for whatever birds we can find.  Having a walkie-talkie in your vehicle tuned to Channel 11, Subchannel 0 can be helpful, but is not necessary.

Around noon we’ll drive to the Crane’s Orchard Pie Pantry Restaurant, 6054 124th Ave. (M-89), Fennville, MI. for lunch.  Some of us may return to Muskegon with a stop at New Richmond Bridge Park along the north side of the Kalamazoo River .  

This trip is open to the public.  Hope to see you there.

Big Day Report

On Saturday our Big Day group found 121 bird species.  Click here for more details.

Chat on Lost Lake Trail

May 16 Email:

I saw this Yellow-breasted Chat on the Lost Lake Trail on Tuesday afternoon.  In the open stretch between the woods, about midway between the 2nd and 3rd bridges.

- Mike Boston

Black Lake Park Monday Morning

I walked the south side of Black Lake Park this cool May morning.  Among the 29 bird species were four warblers: Yellow, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart and Black-throated Green.  Others included Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Towhee, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole and Sandhill Crane.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

American Redstart

Year Birds Saturday

Two first-of-the-year species arrived in our back yard during pre-breakfast coffee this morning: Baltimore Oriole and Great Crested Flycatcher.  

Later I birded East Grand River (Flahive) Park in Grand Haven.  The bird radar last night had me hopeful that trees would be filled with warblers, but that was only true for Yellow-rumped's.  They were everywhere.  But two Palms and one Yellow were the only other warblers.  My only other Year Bird was Warbling Vireo.

I stopped briefly at Black Lake Park on my way home and found this first-for-my-year Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing atop a tree southwest of where Wood Road crosses the creek.

Black Lake Park Friday

Small flocks of White-throated Sparrows foraged around Black Lake Park this morning.

Many other local and migrating birds also graced the park today.  Notable among the 40 species I found were Bufflehead, Sandhill Crane, Killdeer, Least Flycatcher, Blue-headed Vireo, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House, Winter and Sedge Wrens, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee and Yellow Warbler.

Spring Birds at Lane's Landing

Glen Miller took these beautiful pictures of a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Yellow Warbler at Lane's Landing on Sunday.