September 7: Three Emails + Pictures: (1) "I went to the Wastewater again this morning. Boy have the shorebirds thinned out in the last 48 hours! Probably fewer than 20 peeps in the entire place, most of which were so flighty. I never got an identifying look. But a handful of Baird's Sandpipers are still present. The American Avocet is also still there (a wastewater bird for me!), as were Sanderling, a single Lesser Yellowlegs, and 2 Eared Grebes, but there was little else (other than ducks and swallows). So I cut early and went to Pere Marquette Park (south jetty) and had 1 Buff-breasted Sandpiper on the beach at the base of the jetty, 2 Baird's Sandpipers, Bonaparte's Gulls, and Forster's and Common Terns. So, no storm waifs to speak of, but a pleasant morning out any way. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled on Hurricane Ike over the next 4-5 days in case it comes our way too. Good Birding." - Caleb Putnam (2) Follow-up to Sept 6 Email Below: "... the Peregrine Falcon photo is pretty grainy, but as I recall the band on the right leg is a metallic purple and on the left a metallic green ... I continue to enjoy the site. Keep up the good work. - Mike Overway (Mike Overway also sent 2nd and 3rd photos below, American Avocet and Buff-breasted Sandpiper). (3) "Hi Ric, the American Avocet at the Wastewater was also a lifer for me. - Mike Boston (4th photo below is Mike Boston's of the American Avocet.)
September 6 Email: "Greetings, Ric. In light of Carolyn's report (Sept. 5 below), I went to the Wastewater today in search of the American Avocet and Buff-breasted Sandpipers. The Avocet was in the northwest corner of the eastern airator cell; a lifer Thanx, Carolyn! I was unable to locate any Buff-breasted Sandpipers in spite of two slow trips down the dike and a full circle around the lagoons. Overall the shorebirds were extremely low in number; a handful of peeps, Solitary and Spotted pipers, a couple dozen yellowlegs of both persuasions, a Black-bellied Plover and 17 Red-necked Phalaropes. While watching the Avocet, it and the yellowlegs flushed. I got to watch it in flight before checking out why they all flushed; Peregrine Falcon. The dive was unsuccesful and it lit on one of the airator towers. Later in the afternoon it buzzed the ducks and phalaropes on the east lagoon and lit on some equipment half way down the center dike. I watched it from the car as it flew down to the two- track and grabbed a wing of deceased gull. It proceeded to peck at it, dance/hop on it, and fly a few feet with it before repeating it all again. This carried on for a couple of minutes before it meandered to the south and out of sight. Interesting to watch. I have a few reasonably decent photos of all that I ... won't be able to pass along until tomorrow late morning. One photo shows a purple band on the right leg and a green band on the left leg of the falcon. However, I never got a chance to read any numbers. I swear I heard a Henslow's Sparrow make one call on the dike but could never locate it. A Wood Duck hanging with a female Ruddy Duck seemed odd and 14 or so Sandhill Cranes were down Swanson. Everything else was pretty quiet. Thanx for your time." - Mike Overway ( Mike, "thanx" for your time in writing us this report! When you send a couple pictures, I'll post them here. Meanwhile, here's a digiscope image I took at the Ovals today before hawkwatching. It's an immature and adult Caspian Tern. Thanks to Feller DeWitt for his heads-up about some of these odd-plumaged terns hanging around Pere Marquette Park yesterday . - Ric )
September 5: I went out to the Big Lake this morning to check for "strays". I saw the usual gulls and pier sandpipers. The one new bird for my pier list was a Black-bellied Plover flying low over the water at the pier head. I did see a Buff-breasted sandpiper on the shore, but it was too foggy to get good pictures. In the afternoon I went back and found 6 Caspian Terns and 50 small terns. My guess is Forster's Terns. (See picture)." - Charlie DeWitt ( We'll stick with Forster's until somebody changes our minds! - Ric )
September 5 to Mich-Chat: "Birders, Brian Johnson and I saw a flock of 6 Buff-breasted Sandpipers along the center dike between the two lagoons at Muskegon Wastewater today. They were very nervous, flushed from the grass and did several flybys waiting for us to leave, so we did. Two of four very large aerator cells north of the west lagoon are empty except for shallow water. Both had shorebirds, but again the eastern cell of the two had the larger numbers: 1 American Avocet, Baird's sandpipers, 1 Stilt Sandpiper, 2 Short-billed Dowitchers, Least, Solitary and Pectoral Sandpipers, and Yellowlegs. Black-bellied Plover in east lagoon along center dike. Semipalmated Plover in east lagoon, westernmost cell." - Carolyn Weng
September 4: Caleb Putnam phoned this afternoon to recommend we keep our eyes open for far-out-of-range birds the next few days as the former Hurricane Gustav moves over us. There was a Magnificent Frigatebird in Vermillion County, IL. yesterday (about 150 miles south of Michigan near the Illinois-Indiana border) and things like a Cory's Shearwater, a Royal Tern, 10 Sooty Terns and 3 Sabine's Gulls in Oklahoma, all brought north by Gustav. Caleb thinks that our shoreline and/or the Wastewater system just might attract something like those to us despite the fact that most birds picked up by hurricanes drop out before they get as far north as Muskegon. It's a heads-up to stay attentive! - Ric
Email from Caleb later: "Ric- Couldn't resist checking the wastewater this evening prior to dusk in hopes of pelagic birds brought in by Gustav. I had none, but I would certainly recommend that anyone with time check again first thing tomorrow and throughout the next few days. Despite missing on my "target" species, the shorebirding this evening was impressive: Buff-breasted Sandpiper: (5!) all or mostly juvs, on center dike. White-rumped Sandpiper: 3 ads in west aerator. Stilt Sandpiper: 3 juvs in 2nd to east aerator. Short-billed Dowitcher: 2 juvs in east aerator. Poor quality pics are attached (terrible conditions!) Good Birding. - Caleb"
Four Buff-breasted Sandpipers on the center dike as ex-hurricane Gustav adds more water to the system ...
... and a White-rumped Sandpiper. Both photos by Caleb Putnam.
September 4: Ted Ogren phoned today to report earlier this week at his place near Black Lake he saw what at first looked like a Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Upon reading about the Golden-fronted (Kaufman (pg. 204, also big Sibley pg. 309) Ted realized he was seeing the rare color-variant of the Red-bellied Woodpecker. It has yellow where the red should be. Ted also saw an immature Northern Goshawk perched in one of his trees this week.
September 3: In May and again today the Muskegon Chronicle gave photo credits to me for pictures taken by Charlie DeWitt despite explicit instructions saying "All Photos by Charlie DeWitt.". Charlie assures me this doesn't bother him, but it would bother me if I took all those beautiful pictures and then didn't get the credit. For those unfamiliar with this website, please take the time to enjoy the many Charlie DeWitt photographs posted here, one of the finest being his image of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Aug 29 below) which is worthy of publication in National Geographic magazine. - Ric Pedler
September 2 Email: "I checked my passport and found out it was still good, so I decided to do some birding at the Muskegon Ovals. I had two of these (Semipalmated Sandpipers) and two Sanderlings. This morning the Grand Haven north pier was much better. I had Spotted Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover and Sanderling. I also had an American Coot and some terns; I'm not sure if they were Common or Forster's." - Charlie DeWitt
September 1 Email: "I spent a few hours from dawn until 10:30 a.m. kayaking the Muskegon River from Mill Iron Road upstream about one mile and back today. I paddled upstream in the main channel and returned on the south side channel with a small amount of time spent on the back channel heading east from the junction one mile in. The most amazing find of the day was my latest ever Cerulean Warbler for Michigan, a silent bird which came into a Black-capped Chickadee mob at the exact location of one of the territorial birds we GPS'd in June 2007. I feel strongly that this bird is likely lingering on its territory rather than a roving migrant although a larger sample size would be nice. The bird was an adult male in full blue regalia, and I've attached (below) one very poor photo of it (it never came lower than 60 feet!). Chartier and Ziarno have this species present in the southern lower peninsula into mid-September and Birds of Michigan claims that a few linger into September with 2 Oct 1962 (Kalamazoo Co.) constituting the latest report on record. I also had a few songbird migrants including Chestnut-sided and Wilson's Warblers, as well as quite a number of local breeders still letting out bits of song: Eastern Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling, Red-eyed, and Yellow-throated Vireos, and some not-singing: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, American Redstart, Willow Flycatcher, etc. There were at least 3 singing Great Horned Owls in this area and 1 singing Eastern Screech-Owl as well. On the way home I swung by the Wastewater and had at least 20 Baird's Sandpipers, 1 Sanderling, 1 Stilt Sandpiper, a few Least Sandpipers, 40-50 Lesser Yellowlegs, and 1 Greater Yellowlegs in addition to the regular suspects. A Peregrine Falcon was busily attacking the shorebirds in the second-to-east aerator. Overall the shorebird habitat has diminished a lot and not surprisingly so have the numbers. Good Birding!" - Caleb Putnam
August 31 Email: "Hi, I am a member of the African Bird Club, normally living in West Africa, but right now I am vacationing in Holland MI. I have really appreciated the Muskegon County Nature Club site for tips on birding while I am here for two weeks (before and after Labor Day.) I went out to the Muskegon Wastewater System on August 27 using the directions on your website. Although unfortunately my scope is back in Mali, I was able to ID the following: A pair of Sandhill Cranes, an Eared Grebe; two Pied Billed Grebes; a large number of Ruddy, Mallard, and Shoveler ducks, a few Lesser Scaup mixed in with them, Wood Ducks, a Coot, lots of Kildeer, thousands of Tree Swallows, hundreds of Starlings, Herring and Ring Billed Gulls on the center dike; lots of Kildeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpiper, a number of Spotted Sandpiper, a Semipalmated Plover, a Wilson's Phalarope, and among the mass of peeps which seemed to be majority Least Sandpiper, I was able to find Semipalmated Sandpiper and Baird's Sandpiper. -Mary Crickmore ( Mary, thank you for the message. Fascinating! West Africa and Mali. I hope when you return to your friends in the African Bird Club that you can wow them with stuff like European Starling and Ring-billed Gull. - Ric )
August 29: "Carol and I took a ride around the north side of the Wastewater today and saw 30 flycatchers (see photo). They were in the large oak trees that are along the road starting at about Field 4 and going all the way to Swanson Road. They would be in groups of 4 to 6. I drove real slow and when I saw a flycatcher, I would stop and wait to see how many more I could find. I also had 4 vireos (species unknown), 6 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, plus Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker and American Robin. It is the most birds I have ever seen on this road." - Charlie DeWitt
August 29: "I took took this photo of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper around 8:00 this morning on the north pier at Grand Haven." - Charlie DeWitt ( Notice that Charlie used flash-fill on this picture unlike the image on our homepage. - Ric )
August 27 Emails: (1) Here is the "Final Word" on the three birds in the August 24 photo below: "The birds at the Wastewater are European Starlings." - Chip Francke (2) "Ric, I went to the north pier at Grand Haven this morning and spotted this juvenile Red Knot. It was still there at 10:30 a.m. when I left. I also saw Baird's Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Sanderling and Least Sandpiper." - Charlie DeWitt
August 26 Email: "Ric, here is a picture Carol took on June 29, 2007. It is two young Northern Flickers in our front yard. I will place my bet on the Wastewater picture (see Aug 24 below) as European Starlings. I think you would be able to see the red on the head and some yellow on the feather shafts if they were Flickers. Just my humble opinion." - Charlie DeWitt (Your opinion may be humble, but I'm buying it. My first impression was black spots on light feathers, but you folks have convinced me that it's light spots on dark feathers. - Ric)
August 26: Regarding Mike VanderStelt's three birds on the post (see Aug 24 photo below), both Mike Overway and Hank Veldman are guessing starlings. Anyone else care to guess -- or tell us definitively? Meanwhile yesterday at Wastewater Hank saw a Wilson's Snipe in the northeast corner of the east cell hiding in the grass and two Short-billed Dowitchers elsewhere. On Sunday Mike saw the Red-necked Phalarope, Stilt Sandpipers, Eared Grebe, Short-billed Dowitchers, Pectoral Sandpiper and both yellowleg species plus hundreds of European Starlings in various stages of molt.
August 25 to Mich-Listers:"Yesterday, Aug 24, Pat and Jerry Calvert and I spotted a Willet in the (empty) easternmost cell at Muskegon Wastewater. The solitary bird was in the northwest corner of the cell. In the next cell to the west two molting Sanderlings and a number of Baird's Sandpipers were feeding on surface material. The previously reported Eared Grebe and 14 Red-necked Phalaropes were easily seen in the east pond from the north end of the middle causeway. Stilt Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers were still present in the east cell, but we dipped on the Golden and Black-bellied Plovers noted in the past. - Ed Smith
August 24 Email: "Ric, I didn't quite attain missile lock (focus) but in the high stress moments of air warfare, you sometimes have to just 'take the shot' and hope for a kill (usable shot). Also, what are the birds on the posts?" - Mike VanderStelt (Wow, Mike, not to worry about missile lock. Great shot of Red-tailed Hawk under attack by American Kestrel. I'm guessing that the birds on the posts are young Northern Flickers, but I don't know for sure either. Can anybody positively ID them? - Ric Pedler)
August 24: I photographed these Red-headed Woodpeckers (adult and immature) at the Wastewater today. - Mike Boston
August 23 Email: I counted 18 species of birds during a couple hours at Hoffmaster this morning. Of note were a migrating Sharp-shinned Hawk over the Dune Climb platform and a few female Wilson's Warblers fluttering around the Bob Moblo pond behind the Gillette Nature Center. - Ric Pedler
August 22: "This morning Dan Peak and I found 7 Baird's Sandpipers on the south jetty at Ludington among mostly common shorebirds. There's a good chance they were heading 'our way', so this is an alert for Muskegon birders!" - John Will
August 21 Email: "I had a Rough-legged Hawk at Harbor Island Wednesday morning. I, too (see below), thought it was early. Also had a Louisiana Waterthrush, Warbling Vireos, many Swamp and Song Sparrows, Yellow Warbler, female American Redstart, Blue-Gray Gnatchers and a Green Heron near the boat launch." - Pat Bazany
August 20: Mike Moran saw a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk on the south Wastewater properties this evening! This is remarkably early in the season for this species to be in the Muskegon area!
August 20: Elizabeth Brockwell-Tillman reports at least six Evening Grosbeaks at the feeders near the Bob Moblo Memorial Pond behind the Gillette Visitor Center at Hoffmaster State Park this morning.
August 18 to Mich-Listers: "Hello, this morning there was a flock of 15 Red-necked Phalaropes in the east lagoon off of the center dike at Muskegon Wastewater. They all appeared to be juveniles. Otherwise nothing especially surprising. Baird's and Stilt Sandpipers are around in decent numbers and an Eared Grebe was in the east lagoon. Good birding." - Erik Enbody
August 18 Email: "Ric, I haven't been checking your website lately since we've been out of town but wanted to pass along that we had a Great Egret stop by the pond (old celery along Witham Drive near Dykstra in North Muskegon) this morning. I got close enough to get a good look at the field marks. On the way around the pond to get a better view, I spotted two Belted Kingfishers and flushed out 4 or 5 Green Herons along with a Great Blue Heron. Old Hat for most, but exciting for us." - Jerry Lang (Jerry, when that becomes "Old Hat" to anybody, they should quit birding! And I'm just updating the website for the first time in a week after returning from Idaho. - Ric)
August 17 to Mich-Listers: "Hello, John Will and I birded Muskegon today. Highlights at the Wastewater were 1 Black-bellied Plover, 3 American Golden Plover and 11 Stilt Sandpiper all juveniles. These were all in the second cell west from the center dike north of the west lagoon. With them were a large number of Lesser Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Off the center dike in the east lagoon was an Eared Grebe. Over at Muskegon State Park we ran into a good group of warblers off the "A" trail from the Snug Harbor parking lot. These included a Connecticut Warbler and a Brewster's Warbler.* In this same area was an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Good birding" - Steve Minard, Grand Rapids * ( A "Brewster's Warbler" is the result of a pairing of Blue-winged Warbler with Golden-winged Warbler; the other possibility of this pairing is a "Lawrence's Warbler.")
August 17 Email: "Hey Ric, I stopped by the Wastewater on my way back from a worship team retreat at Silver Lake. 57 species, and some real gems. Grasshopper Sparrow (2 in the fields by the Maple Island entrance). These two were moving together and were almost silent, just letting out small chips. Blue and Green-winged Teal (the Green-wings were hiding in the little drainage area north of the north dike), Spotted Sandpiper (20, all along the dikes), American Kestrel (4 on the lines to the north of the north dike..west side), Also, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Pectoral Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. 1 Wilson's Phalarope! (swimming where many of the shorebirds were congregated in one of the aeration cells from the north dike). The center dike had great joys: Lesser Scaup! (2 individuals, 13 swimming together), Eared and Horned Grebe, 2 Red-breasted Merganser. All I added in the Swanson/Laketon fields were 2 Savannah Sparrows and yet another Red-tailed Hawk. Ended the day at the Clay Ponds where the 4 Sandhill Cranes had moved to, and ended the day with Great Egret and the last (and fitting) bird of the day: Vesper Sparrow. Bad pics (I really should fix my tripod at least...) of Sandhills, Lesser Scaup, Great Egret, and Eared Grebe are on another xanga site of mine: http://photo.xanga.com/s33d3at3er At least you can mostly make out what birds they are...if you look careful, you can see the upturned bill of the Eared (compared to Horned, also more clean-cut). Best birding be with you!" - Phil Vreeman
August 17 Email: " North on Seba to the woods and west on the short two-track I saw 4 Giant Swallowtails Saturday afternoon. Also, Carolyn Weng and I saw a Golden Plover on the north side of the west lagoon." - Kathryn Mork
August 11: Sue Nicholson brought us this photo of an albino House Finch (presumably, since House Finches feed it) that has been coming to a Fruitport Township feeder regularly this summer ...
... and in the "bird brain" department, here's a snapshot out my back window this evening of an American Goldfinch that continued to look for bird seed on the top of my bird seed pole after I'd removed the feeder temporarily to sprinkle my backyard. His friends were busily eating seed from the feeder which was on the sidewalk within easy view, but this guy apparently didn't notice! - Ric
August 10 Email: "Howdy Ric. I had a pleasant afternoon birding with Joseph Lautenbach today. While not a lot of rareties, still a day filled with good birds. Kenn Kaufman's latest book talks about the neglected beauty of the Northern Cardinal (and reminds us that if it were a rare bird, we would climb mountains and cross oceans to see the beautiful flaming red bird that sings year-round). Joseph is one of those birders who teaches you to appreciate each and every bird. I had 61 species between Wastewater and Lane's Landing (he had a couple more). Highlights were 2 Bobolinks (I believe these are my first of summer!), 4-5 species of Swallow, 2 beautiful Baltimore Orioles at the adminstration building, Blue-winged and Green-winged (2) Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, several flocks of Horned Lark; but the shorebirds definitely stole the show. Joseph has better numbers...but Sandpipers: Semipalmated (2), Pectoral (3-4), Least (several), Spotted Sandpiper (2), Lesser Yellowlegs (many), Semipalmated Plover (4-5?). Lane's Landing provided: Scarlet Tanager, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher and Swamp Sparrow (looked like all the Willow Flycathers may have cleared out). Blessed birding be with you!" - Phil Vreeman
August 5: "There was an Eared Grebe in the Wastewater East Lagoon near the Southwest corner this afternoon." - Hank Veldman, Grand Rapids
August 3: "At 5:00 pm today a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was in the most westerly cell in the NW tier of cells -- on an arid surface patch about 100' west of concrete pillars #13. Best view was from the south side. There was also a good variety of other shorebirds -- some additional 9 species. Also, along the northern edge of the large west pond -- fairly near the main dike, were an adult and a juvenile Boneparte's Gull. Not sure how noteworthy that is but had not expected to see the juvenile." - John Will
August 3 Email: "I spent the morning at the Wastewater for the first time in ages today ... Swallow numbers are building already with a bare minimum estimate of 4,000 birds, dominated by Tree Swallows but with much smaller numbers of all the other species except Purple Martin. Ducks are also building with hundreds of Mallards and Ruddy Ducks but much smaller numbers of Gadwall, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, and Northern Shovelers. But the real target of my visit were the shorebirds. They are also building in numbers and diversity with at least 260 individuals of 12 species counted. Most are in Aerator Pond #4 (2nd to east of the 5 aerators), but there are smaller numbers in Aerator #1 (westernmost) and East Lagoon (northeast quadrant) respectively. Here are my highlights: Stilt Sandpiper- 1 juvenile (photo attached) Solitary Sandpiper- 2 adults (photo attached), Short-billed Dowitcher- 1 unaged- heard/seen in flight only, Semipalmated Plover- 4 (photo attached), Sanderling- 3 adults, Least Sandpipier- 53 (at least 1 adult, most or all of remainder juveniles), Semipalmated Sandpiper- 35 (all adults), Pectoral Sandpiper- 27 (all adults), Lesser Yellowlegs- 36 (hodgepodge of adults and juveniles), Spotted Sandpiper- 26 Wilson's Snipe- 1, Killdeer- 71. Good Birding!" - Caleb Putnam
August 1: Feller DeWitt heard a reliable report today that there were 7 American White Pelicans at the east end of Muskegon Lake this summer. The pelicans were on the sand islands off of the Conservation Club. If anyone else has information about these birds, please let us know. Thanks! - Ric Pedler