What began as a wash-out ended with an excellent total of bird species yesterday. At least eleven people participated in our annual Big Day Count and recorded 134 species! Birds listed below are in the order recorded. (Common Nighthawks were our first and last species!)
From 4:45 - 5:30 at the outer gate of Lane's Landing rain drummed our cars in the darkness. A few spring peepers peeped. By 5:35 the rain had stopped, the nighthawks flew and the robins sang. We drove the puddly mile to the inner gate, woodcocks peenting and Wood Thrushes singing along the way.
Waiting for gray light by the inner gate we added catbird, yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, chickadee, goldfinch, Mourning Dove, cardinal, thrasher, goose, Great-crested Flycatcher, killdeer, Blue-winged Warbler and Sandhill Crane.
Walking the road north through the marsh we recorded grackle, mallard, Tree Swallow, Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, Marsh Wren, Sora, cormorant, shoveler, grosbeak, Black-billed Cuckoo, Pied-billed Grebe, eagle, Willow Flycatcher, Great Blue Heron, crow, flicker, Blue-winged Teal, Trumpeter Swan (3 flying around us blowing their trombone mouthpieces!), kingbird, Ring-billed Gull and Barred Owl (first calling Who-cooks-for-you'all, then flying off pursued by a blackbird).
The "Prothonotary Woods" produced no Prothonotary Warblers. Instead we recorded Indigo Bunting, Yellow-throated Vireo, redstart, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, cowbird, Veery, Ovenbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Baltimore Oriole, Northern Waterthrush, Tennessee Warbler, Green Heron, Wilson's Warbler and hummingbird.
Birding the Prothonotary Woods, photo by Charlie DeWitt
Returning south from the woods to our cars we added Barn Swallow, Alder Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing and Blue Jay.
On the way out our main group observed Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, White-breasted Nuthatch, tanager, Chipping Sparrow and Least Flycatcher. A few stragglers found a previously-reported Brewster's Warbler (Blue-winged x Golden-winged hybrid)!
Late morning until early afternoon we birded the State Game Area properties from DNR headquarters west along the Maple River to the northeast edge of the Lane's Landing marsh. New birds were House Wren, towhee, House Sparrow, Pileated Woodpecker, White-crowned and Field Sparrows, Black-and-White Warbler, Swainson's Thrush, Chestnut-sided and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Purple Finch (female), Cape May Warbler, parula, kingfisher, Nashville Warbler, Warbling Vireo, phoebe and bluebird.
After lunch on our way to the Wastewater most of us drove back into the Lane's Landing road hoping to see the Brewster's hybrid. We had fleeting glimpses of it and heard it repeatedly singing the three-bzzz Golden-winged song. So we counted this "half a species" as a full species (Golden-winged Warbler). If you have a complaint, contact the bird police! ;-)
Among the gulls at the Wastewater, photo by Charlie DeWitt
The Wastewater properties gave us 35 new species: meadowlark, Grasshopper Sparrow, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, black duck, Brewer's Blackbird, Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, harrier, turkey, Red-tailed Hawk, Savannah Sparrow, Herring Gull, Horned Lark, Wilson's Phalarope (female in rapid-filtration cell!), pewee, starling, Cliff and Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Bonaparte's Gull, Canvasback, Lesser Scaup, Horned Grebe, Upland Sandpiper, Ring-necked Duck, Sedge Wren, Vesper Sparrow and Bank Swallow.
We found an amazingly high 10-species at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve! Usually we've already seen most of the species it has to offer by the evening of Big Day, but last evening (especially after the wind died down) warblers invaded the trees. MLNP gave us Mute Swan, Magnolia Warbler, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Palm Warbler, Great Egret, Blackpoll (several!) and Blackburnian Warblers, White-throated Sparrow, Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Bay-breasted Warbler! No pigeons, no titmice, no House Finches.
A quick walk at Snug Harbor up the Lost Lake Trail to the hemlocks and back to the parking lot was a bust! No pigeons, no titmice, no House Finches.
Daylight was almost gone as we quickly panned the beach of Muskegon State Park south to the Muskegon Channel. Nothing new! At the channel we added Chimney Swift and our traditional final species: Purple Martin. While saying our good-byes we enjoyed a few nighthawks flying overhead in the last light of the day.
May 19 Email:
Glenda and I went back to MCWS yesterday (5/18) around 6:45 in the evening to look for the Wilson's Phalarope that had been spotted earlier. As we watched a large group of Short-billed Dowitchers (17) and Dunlin (40), a flock of Black-bellied Plovers (11) arrived and a minute later a flock of Ruddy Turnstones (7) came in. The new guys proceeded to bathe (and even enticed an Upland Sandpiper to join them). No phalarope but we watched and counted this flock for a long time. We stayed in the car the entire time and I would recommend this for these wet cells. - Ken Sapkowski
Greg DeWeerd phoned today. Yesterday in his yard among other species he had Black-throated Blue Warbler and Mourning Warbler.
So even without House Finch, titmouse and pigeon, adding Ken's 2 and Greg's 2 to the group's 134 means at least 138 kinds of birds were observed in Muskegon County yesterday by members of our club. Not bad! - Ric
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