Fawn at Lane's Landing on Monday

Chip Francke photographed this fawn at Lane's Landing yesterday

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Saturday's Big Day Count

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.

Here are the results in the order in which species were recorded:

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!

Sunday Woodpecker Update

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:

Update 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)

Lewis's Woodpecker Thursday

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.)

Lewis's Woodpecker Wednesday

The Lewis's Woodpecker is still here this morning.  

Thanks to Ruth Achterhoff Aust for sending us these pictures she took yesterday:

Lewis's Woodpecker All Day Tuesday

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

Lewis's Woodpecker !

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.

Muskegon Kite and Chat, Etc.

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

Black Lake Birding

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.

Cinnamon Teal Still at MCRRC

This morning Mike Boston took this photo of the previously-reported Cinnamon Teal on the east end of the east lagoon at the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center (the Wastewater).

Henslow's Sparrow on Neighborhood Walk

Today on a neighborhood walk Beth Miller photographed this Henslow's Sparrow eating seeds right by the road.

Monday and Tuesday Birding

Carol and I had some things to do in Muskegon and drove along Wood Rd. between Wilson and Pontaluna Rd. to check for birds.  Carol shot this picture of a Hermit Thrush by Black Lake Park.

We decided to go to the Sternburg Rd. McDonalds for lunch.  I had just started to eat my fries when Carol said, "What is that?".  There was a Red-tailed Hawk standing near the road eating something. Cars going by didn't bother it.  After it flew, I checked to see what it had been eating.  There weren't any feathers, but it looked like a duck bill on the ground.  

After that we went up to Messinger Rd to check on some wildflowers.  I spotted this Ruffed Grouse on the side of the road before the HQ building.

On the way back out from the yellow gate we spotted this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Carol got a picture of it drinking sap.

We also saw about 10 Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Tuesday morning I went to Black Lake Park to take some night sky pictures.  I got there about 5:20 a.m.  While I was setting up the camera, I could hear a Great Horned Owl calling in the distance.

- Charlie and Carol DeWtt

Dune Harbor County Park

I made my first visit to Dune Harbor County Park this morning, sort of previewing our April 23 field trip.  Despite the cold, somewhat windy conditions, birds were plentiful.  Many of them were gulls and Double-crested Cormorants resting on the island and flying here and there.  

Notable were a Great Black-backed Gull and this Common Loon which called three times during the morning.

I also saw Wood Duck, Canvasback, Redhead, Greater Scaup, Red-breasted and Common Merganser, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Eastern Bluebird among the 32 total species.

This new park is similar to Ottawa Dunes County Park in that both use back-dune property decimated by sand mining and allow nature back in.  There's only the one trail 2.2 miles around the lake.  Walking is a bit easier because the trail is firm virtually everywhere (some at ODCP is beach sand).  There are no hard climbs at either park.

Although access is from Lincoln Street along the park's eastern border, the best birding habitat is on the west and south sides of the lake through wooded areas (unlike the eastern side which is more open).  For the same reason there should be fewer people walking themselves and/or their dogs along the west side.

Golden Eagle, Both Teals and an Osprey

 March 31 Email:

... the golden eagle is still around the wastewater as of today (3/31), also blue and green winged teal, and an osprey from Newaygo. 

- Kevin Feenstra