White Wagtail

I finally got out to Pointe Mouillee with Karl Overman yesterday to see the White Wagtail that was found on Saturday by Adam Byrne. Incredibly, this is the third state record for Michigan. On the way in from the Mouillee Creek entrance we were pleased to see a Rough-legged hawk flying over the marshes. We reached Cell 3 at about 10:30 and the wagtail had not yet been seen. Within fifteen minutes, however, a birder from Pennsylvania spotted it feeding at the edge of the mudflat near the west dyke of Cell 3. After getting good scope views, we decided to move closer to try to get some pictures. We managed to get somewhat close and I got a few bad pictures.

Eventually, The Wagtail decided we were too close and flew to the Vermet Unit. After checking the gulls and finding a Glaucous, and several Great and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Karl and I headed over to the Vermit Unit where it flushed again after a little while and appeared to fly back toward Cell 3. As we were biking off, however, we heard a the two note chiz-zick call and the White Wagtail flew back in. I grabbed my brakes and almost went flying over the front of my bike, and we scanned the field for it. Pretty soon, Karl found it in the field and I eventually saw it as well. After a little while it flushed again and appeared to fly back to Cell 3. After biking around the Vermit Unit and finding lots of ducks but nothing unusual, we headed back to the car. A stop at the Erie Gun Club later turned up a Peregrine Falcon and a Northern Harrier along with several Bald Eagles.

On Wednesday, I was able to fit in a trip to Kensington to see the Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler. I got good but rather brief views of this western stray, and was able to get some good pictures.

The White Wagtail and Audubon's Warbler were both great birds and were the third and sixth state records respectively. Especially with the White Wagtail, these were not birds I was expecting to see in Michigan.

January Birding

Today I went up to Port Huron to try to see the Harlequin Duck found by Darlene Freidman a week ago. On my first scan of the ducks I was pleased to see a White-winged Scoter with the Long-tailed Ducks but I did not see the Harlequin. After scanning the ducks for about fifteen minutes I was just starting to walk further down the river when I saw a small duck flying upstream. I assumed it was another Long-tailed Duck but as soon as I saw two spots on its face I knew it was the Harlequin. Fortunately, it landed within sight and I was able to get nice views through my scope and get a few pictures.

After I had been watching it for twenty minutes it flew further north out of sight. After I walked a little further down the river I noticed a Glaucous Gull soaring over Canada. It finally flew briefly over the American side before returning to Canada. An adult Bald Eagle soaring over the bridge was also nice. I then headed down the St. Clair river to look for more waterfowl. Marine City had good numbers of waterfowl including Tundra Swans as well as 4 Great Black-backed Gulls. Driving by Anchor Bay on the way home, I was amazed to see hundreds of cars parked on the ice. I knew a few people drove out to go ice fishing, but not this many.

On Friday, I went to see the Green-tailed Towhee in Bloomfield. After fifteen minutes it came out of the bushes for about five minutes. It was great to see such a rare bird in my home county of Oakland. I took a few very bad pictures.

It has been a surprisingly good week for me with other highlights being Peregrine Falcon and Lapland Longspur.

King Eider

When I saw that a female King Eider was seen about an hour away in Algonac on Saturday I knew where I would go birding on Sunday. I was able to convince my dad to take me down there and we arrived at about 1:30 Sunday afternoon. The birders there informed me that the bird had just disappeared behind some private docks. I found out, however, that if I lay in the snow I could see under the docks and see it. I spent the next fifteen or so minutes lying in the snow trying to get pictures and good looks of it but I wasn't having much luck. The birds finally moved out from the dock a bit so I went back to the car to get my scope and left my camera since I figured I couldn't get any good pictures. Naturally the birds moved closer while I was gone so by the time I came back I didn't need my scope and I wanted my camera. After another trip back to the car I was able to get some better photos. I talked to Alan Ryff while I was watching the bird, and we were leaning toward it being a first year female but weren't 100% sure.

I was happy to get such a great bird for my 300th bird of the year, it was my 353rd lifer as well.

Besides the King Eider I also saw an Iceland Gull fly by with hundreds of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls. It was definitely a worthwhile trip.

Pileated Woodpecker

I went to Lakeshore Park in Novi yesterday hoping to turn up some owls. I spent about an hour searching but came up empty although I did hear a Brown Creeper. As I was about to get to my car, however, a huge Pileated Woodpecker flew into a nearby tree. I was surprised to see it begin to eat Poison Ivy berries since I don't usually think of Woodpeckers (with the exception of the Red-bellied) as fruit eaters. I think a nearby Red-bellied Woodpecker wanted the berries as well because he dove at the Pileated several times and was scolding until it flew across the road. The Pileated was my 190th bird in Oakland County this year, according to the lists published by Scott Jennex this was only done once before this year. This has been an above average year for birds in Oakland, however, and I am the third birder to get over 190 this year.

I stopped by Carpenter Lake today and found four Song Sparrows south of the dam, this was the first time I have seen them there in the winter. There were about ten Dark-eyed juncos in the back as well.

It has been nice to get out the last few days after the terrible weather over the weekend.

Greater White-fronted Goose

I was pretty busy today but I was able to get down to Little Lake just west of Ann Arbor this afternoon to see the Greater White-fronted Goose. I knew it was a good sign when I saw several birders looking at the geese when I pulled up. Sure enough, the Greater White-fronted Goose was there and I was able to get nice views through my binoculars. The pinkish bill really stood out. I was also able to get some pictures although the lighting was less than ideal.

The goose was lifer #352 and was my 299th bird seen this year. Hopefully I'll be able to get to 300 for the year in the next few weeks.

Yellow-throated Warbler in December!

I was pretty surprised when I heard that there was a Yellow-throated Warbler visiting the Eyster's feeder just east of Chelsea a few days ago. Yellow-throated Warblers are extremely rare nesters in southeast Michigan and can only be found regularly in the southwest part of the state. They usually have left the state by the end of September and don't normally winter north of Georgia so a record this late is really unusual. My Mom was going to Ann Arbor today and I was able to persuade her to take me out to see it afterwards. I got there at 3:45 and Mrs. Eyster showed me where the feeders were in the backyard. I spent the next hour freezing in the backyard waiting for the warbler to show up. Just after my Mom had told me we would have to leave in ten minutes, the warbler finally showed up on the feeder! It allowed me to approach relatively closely and I was able to get a few pictures.

I went home very cold but happy that I got great looks at such a beautiful and rare bird. The hour wait was definitely worth it.

Northwest Ohio Birding

I have been pretty busy with school the last few months so I haven't been able to bird as much as I would like. The one exception was when I went to Belle Isle to see the Golden-crowned Sparrow a few weeks ago. I was able to get a few poor pictures of it.

I was finally able to spend almost a whole day birding when I went to northwest Ohio with Karl Overman yesterday. Our first stop was at Metzget Marsh to see the Sabine's Gull that had been seen there since Monday. We got there just after it had showed up and I was able to take this picture.

After checking Ottawa NWR for Cave Swallows with no luck we headed down to Bluffton Ohio to see a Black-bellied Whistling Duck. We were surprised to see it with a bunch of really weird looking Mallards eating the corn a girl was throwing to the ducks. I was able to take lots of pictures and at times it was even too close for the camera to focus on it.

After a brief stop north of Lima where we saw Ross's and Snow Geese we headed west to Paulding County to look for the Brant that had been seen for a week or so. The pond it had been seen in earlier in the day had about 15 Cackling Geese and 2 Snow Geese but no Brant. We decided to check the nearby fields where it had been seen before as well. As we were driving along I noticed a small dark goose sitting all alone in one of the farm fields with its head tucked under its wing. When we got out of the car it looked up showing the all black head and neck of a juvenile Brant. I took tons of pictures but none of them turned out super well because of the lighting. Here are a few of the better ones.

While we were watching the Brant a Snow Bunting landed along the side of the road.

A little more driving back roads turned up a flock of about 200 Lapland Longspurs as well. After a brief stop at a sewage lagoon we headed home. It was quite a successful day, I had three lifers and fifteen state lifers.