Yellow-billed Loon and More. Chippewa County, Michigan

My friend, Chuck Owens and I, made a whirl-wind trip from SE Michigan to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan with hopes to see and photgraph the state's first Yellow-billed Loon that was located there the previous day.

We met up with our great friends, Scott Jennex, Charlene and Calvin Brennan that night for dinner and set out early in the morning to do some birding. Our first stop was to look for the loon, which was hanging around the power plant. We woke up to an air temp of 3 degrees and a 20 mph north wind. A nice windchill, indeed! It was so cold, I couldn't move my hands (I didn't bring gloves) or feel the shutter button on my camera. Nonetheless, here are a few shots from that great day.






Yellow-billed Loon




Bohemian Waxwing




Pine Grosbeak




Sharp-tailed Grouse

ANCIENT MURRELET, PARASITIC JAEGER, LITTLE GULL, WESTERN GREBE AND MORE. BERRIEN COUNTY, MICHIGAN

Not the greatest pictures of the ANMU, but it does document that I did indeed see this little sea bird. The second photo is an enlarged and cropped image. These photos were taken on the next day (11-22-2009)when I went with scott Jennex and Sherrie Duris, hoping to get photos of the bird, since I was unable to get any on Saturday.


The above range map shows the range of the Ancient Murrelet This bird represents the 7th state record for Ancient Murrelet for Michigan.

Chuck Owens and myself made an early trek to Berrien County (Michigan) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 to try and see and potograph the Ancient Murrelet that has spent the last week at the north end of the pier of Tiscornia Park. The bird in the past, had given incredible views and photographic opportunities. This of course interested me greatly. Also, this would be a life bird for me (and Chuck as well) which gave even greater justification to make the trip.

I woke up at 3:30 am. Ate a small breakfast. Packed up all my needed gear (camera, binoculars, spotting scope, Garmin GPS and a couple of protein shakes. I picked Chuck up at his house at 5:00am.

We arrived at Tiscornia Park just after sunrise to find about five birders who were also looking and waiting for the Murrelet. Unfortunately, the bird wasn't seen yet and hasn't since two days prior.

Several hours past, with many more birders gathering on the pier. Upwards to 30 birders with scopes and binocuars scanning the water. Still no sign of the Murrelet. I had no doubt the critter was still around and would show up eventually. I had all day and was in no hurry.

As time went on, I had to use the rest room. So I walked the 400 plus yards down the pier back to the parking lot to use the porta-john. I was half way back up the pier when iI received a text message from Chuck. It simply read, "Ancient Murrelet now." I sprinted the rest of the way. Parked myself behind my scope and found the bird rather easily. He was out several hundred feet. He wouldn't stay above the surface very long, as he would dive in search for food.

Nonetheless, I had great scope views of this handsome little bird. He was unfortnately too far out to photograph, but seeing him and getting a new life bird was good enough.

Other great birds however were flying around the pier, which made waiting for the Murrelet to show up rather enjoyable. Some of the great birds seen were: Little Gull, Parasitic Jaeger, White-winged Scoters, Surf Scoters, Black Scoters, Red-necked Grebe, Horned Grebe, and Northern Pintail. While scanning the lake, I saw a bird flying in from the north. It was quite a distance away, but I could make out it was a grebe. It landed in the water and realized it was a Western Grebe. Nice!

In all, I picked up the lifer Ancient Murrelet and two additional year birds- Parasitic Jaeger and Western Grebe.Photos of the Parasitic Jaerger can be seen below









Below are two of my favorite photos taken on Sunday


This cooperative common loon was just off of the pier catching fish. Unfortunately, one of the fisherman on the pier ended up hooking him with a lure. It was aweful to watch. The fisherman's line ended up breaking, leaving the loon thrashing, diving and splashing in the water trying to dislodge the hooks. Not only did the loon have this lure attatched to him, but also several yards of fishing line to boot. Obvioulsy, the chances of this bird surviving this ordeal are low. The bird ended up swimming and drifting way out into the lake.


One of many Bonaparte's gulls that were fishing out beyond the pier

White-winged Dove. Washtenaw County, Michigan

The above map shows the typical range of White-winged Dove.

I located a White-winged Dove this morning while making a propane delivery to a customer in Saline, Michigan (Washtenaw, County). The bird was located on Schill Road just off of Austin Road (south of Saline).

The bird was in the company of two Mourning Doves. The three birds were in the road, which is a dirt road in a farming community. Habitat was cultivated corn fields separated by wooded hedgerows.

When I turned onto Schill Road, I noticed three doves sitting in the road. One dove stood out being a bit different than the other two. This dove was slightly larger, chunkier. What stood out most, was the white boarder at the edge of the wing. When the bird took flight, almost bouncing off my windshield, the birds wings had very prominent brilliant white crescents in the wings with darker flight feathers in the tips. The bird's tail was also not pointed like Mourning Dove tails, but was more roundish to almost squarish with a white band near the tip.

The bird was relocated the following day by other birders, but was never seen again after that. I submitted written documentation has been sent to the Michigan Bird Records Committee two days after my initial finding the bird.

Mississippi Kite. Wayne County, Michigan.

NOTE: The following photo is courtesy of Darlene Friedman. Thank you Darlene for so kindly allowing me to use your photo of this awesome raptor for this blog entry.



On Sunday, September 20, 2009, those of of who were at the Detroit River Hawk Watch (formerly Southestern Michigan Raptor Research)was rewarded with a very rare sighting of a fall Mississippi Kite. This is the second record of this species for this hawk watch. I recorded the first one on September 7, 1997.

The day started out fairly slow, which is typical for the morning. Roughly 30+ people were anxiously waiting and hoping for big kettles of Broad-winged Hawks to materialize.

As the morning waged on, small groups of Broad-winged Hawks could be seen rising above the tree tops on the other side of the Detroit River. Sharp-shinned Hawks would pass one at a time. Still, no big groups of hawks could be found and some (including myself) were getting antsy.

Around 11:30am, I had to answer the call of nature...which I dreaded, because once you leave the site, something rare or uncommon is assurendly to pass by and you will miss it! The running joke is, that whoever leaves, is the "sacrificial birder". And it was gonna be my turn--or was it?

As I made my way to the rest room, I ran into my buddy Mike Kielb. We chatted a few moments and I hurried on to my destination--the call of nature was getting much louder. middle age is a pain! As I was almost into the restroom building, some several yards away from the count site, I heard Mike yell out to me in an excited voice,"Jeff, look behind you"

As I looked to my right, I was shocked to see a Mississippi Kite coming straight at me. It stopped a few times to flap and circle...glide a bit more and ended up circling right above me at tree top level! I could have hit the bird with a rock it was so low. This was a good thing, seeing I left my binoculars on the picnic table at the count site. unfortunately, my camera was there as well. Go figure! Nonetheless, I got awesome views of this magnificient raptor. killer looks in fact!

As I said earlier, this is the second ever Mississippi Kite at this hawk watch and I was fortunate to be able to see both of them.

This was a state bid for many of the observers on hand. For many others, it was a lifer! This was my fifth time seeing this species in the state.


Twenty seven days prior to this, I saw my first Swallow-tailed Kite for Michigan. This bird was in Chelsea near the property of the Cassidy Lake Corrections Facility. Not too shabby getting two kite species for the state in the same season!

Thanks again to Darlene for allowing me to use her pictures, since I was unable to photograph the bird myself. That will teach me to carry my camera and bins with me at all times...even on the way to the restroom. Sure, I will probably get strange looks holding a camera in the bathroom, but I'll risk it.