Note: This page will be updated next on March 12.
March 5: Don Neumann saw the Golden Eagle again this afternoon at the Wastewater and Brian Johnson emailed: "Late this afternoon four northbound Sandhill Cranes passed over Lanes Landing. Over Lake Michigan, I counted 265 migrating Red-breasted Mergansers (241 males, 24 females). I also counted the Long-tailed Ducks foraging off Kruse Park yesterday (March 4). While still numerous, the tally of 2,245 was well below the totals from a month ago."
March 4 Emails: (1): "I counted 42 White-winged Scoters at the Muskegon Lake Channel today." - Brian Johnson ... (2): "I am back in the hunt! Went to the Wastewater today and saw a Glaucous Gull on the ice. Also located one Mike VanderStelt. Although I cannot include him on my Michigan list, he did confirm that the Golden Eagle was not 'in view' at the Wastewater today." - Charlie DeWitt
March 3: "Here are two views of a Red-shouldered Hawk taken last Saturday (Feb.27) northwest of Bridgeton (Newago County, 108th St., 1/2 mile east of Buckner). Too bad it wasn't a little sunnier; they don't pose this close very often." - Ken Saplowski
March 2: Don Neumann took this beautiful photo of the Golden Eagle at the Wastewater this afternoon. Around 3:00 p.m. it was perched off White Road in the first tree island east of Swanson Road.
March 1: "I stopped at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve this evening. A lone, singing Red-winged Blackbird was my first of the year. Two Great Blue Herons were also present, but they likely have been around all winter." - Brian Johnson
February 28: "These Horned Grebes were in the Muskegon channel today." - Mike Boston
February 24: On her way to Grand Rapids Kathy Neff spotted this Red-tailed Hawk perched on a wire near the Crockery Creek bridge at Nunica. On her return, the hawk was still there so she photographed it. It looked small perched, but when it flew showed its large wing-span. It's not too often you see Redtails sitting on wires, but every now and then.
February 23: I swung through the Wastewater this afternoon and saw 5-6 Red-tailed Hawks, 4-5 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 immature Bald Eagle and Horned Larks everywhere, but no Golden Eagle. - Ric
February 23 Email: "I had a customer come in today who lives almost beneath the eagle nest on Fruitport Road and said it is very active with both parents. Last year the birds started, but then only one came back, so they are thinking something happened to one of the parents." - Diane Morton-Pletcher
February 22 Emails: (1) "Ric, here's the Northern Saw-whet Owl Report for last fall." - Brian Johnson . (2) "I did another Eastern Screech Owl survey Saturday night (Feb 20) this time at Lanes Landing. I found at least five birds. I've also attached a map of our owl survey at Muskegon State Park (see Feb. 15 below)." - Brian Johnson ... Thanks for both items, Brian. Click here for a photo essay of one of Brian's banding nights. The map below shows our walk 7:20-11:30 p.m. on Feb. 15th from the fishermen parking lot, southward across Snug Harbor to the "Bay Mills" area, then clockwise up the trails around Lost Lake and back. Though a bit hard to read, notice the indications of owl territories along the way: "EASO" = Eastern Screech-owl and "BADO" = Barred Owl. - Ric
February 21: "Hi Ric, I also saw the Golden Eagle (reported Feb. 20 below) today (Sunday) along the East lagoon road. I first saw it at 2:30 and it was still there at 3:00. Here's a photo." - Mike Boston ... ("It was still there later this afternoon." - Kathryn Mork)
February 21 Email: "I was out birding Thursday (Feb. 18) in the middle of Ottawa County (New Holland Rd. and 124th Ave.), when I spotted an American Kestrel and got some pictures including this one." - Ken Sapkowski
February 20 to Mich-listers: "This afternoon at 4:00 I had an adult Golden Eagle on the north side of the east lagoon at the Muskegon Wastewater System." - Jon Vande Kopple
February 16: "I took this picture in the field at the corner of Shoreline Drive and Terrace Street today. It has both a Horned Lark and a Snow Bunting." - Kathy Neff
February 15: After his owling success Saturday night (see Feb. 13 below) Brian Johnson invited me to owl Muskegon State Park last night (Feb. 14) from Snug Harbor to the old Bay Mills area back to the A-B-C trail post (Warbler Alley), then north past Memorial Drive and east of the Block House to Lost Lake and back to the fishermen parking lot. We had a couple excellent close-up views of two owl species and heard 5 (maybe 6) Eastern Screech Owls and 2 (maybe 4) Barred Owls. It was definitely worth the leg-weariness! - Ric Pedler
February 14 Email: "Hey Ric, some shots from the Wastewater this weekend. Large numbers of Horned Larks all along Swanson Road north and south of Apple. Snow Buntings the same, mostly by the RC field. Bald Eagles everywhere (counted 20 Saturday). Several are hanging around the trees just south of field 34 along Swanson. Across ed from the sign (34) a deer carcass is in the ditch and they like the easy pickins'. The picture titled "eagles 3D" (posted below) is a single shot with a great 3D look. See you Thursday evening at the meeting." - Don Neumann ... Don, thanks for all the photos. Due to getting up late (see Feb. 15 above) I'm only posting three at this time but may post others later. And, yes, that adult eagle's beak against the immature's wing is truly three-dimensional! Don's third photo is a Horned Lark. - Ric
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February 14: "Hi Ric, I saw this Lapland Longspur associating with a flock of Snow Buntings across from the model airplane field at the Wastewater on Sunday. I didn't notice any others." - Mike Boston
February 13: "After dark I headed to the Muskegon State Game Area bottomlands to conduct a census of screech-owls between the Muskegon River and Little Cedar Creek. I had planned to simply follow the available trails and foot paths, but vocal owls and enticing habitat quickly inspired me to bushwack on a long, meandering track. Though the GPS unit and the lights from Muskegon provided continuous reference, the thick brush and forested cover made for haphazard navigation. I encountered at least five Eastern Screech-owls on the foray (a sixth, only 0.12 mile from a previous bird, was considered a repeat; I also inconclusively heard distant birds on the south side of the river). It proved to be a tranquil, successful and fun way to spend the evening." - Brian Johnson
February 13 Email: "Friday afternoon (Feb. 12), I checked Lake Michigan from the north campground overlook at Muskegon State Park and the west end of White Lake. Highlights included 41 White-winged Scoters off the overlook, and 2 Canvasback, 52 Redhead and 1 Surf Scoter on White Lake. Saturday morning (Feb. 13), I revisited the Maple River trails. Again, Northern Flickers, Eastern Bluebirds, and Yellow-rumped Warblers were common. I also had 4 Brown Creepers and a vocal immature Red-shouldered Hawk. Flocks of 8 and 9 Purple Finches were quietly feeding on green ash samaras along the river. A quick check on the infiltration basins at the Wastewater produced a flock of 97 Snow Buntings and 3 territorial Horned Larks." - Brian Johnson
February 10: "I birded the Muskegon Wastewater this afternoon. There were 13 Bald Eagles (8 adults, 5 immatures) resting on the ice of the East Lagoon with some soaring from time to time among the large flock of gulls over the landfill. A couple of the eagles made grabs for a gull from time to time, without success while I was there. Several eagles returned to the ice with a non-gull tidbit in their talons and after some pirating competition, the winner had a meal. A Red-tailed Hawk also joined the landfill scrum. Four light morph Rough-legged Hawks (2 north and 2 south of Apple) were seen. Plumage variations made it possible to distinguish them. A Northern Shrike was perched on the wire just west of the Maintenance Building along Laketon as previously observed." - Carolyn Weng
February 8: Here are four pictures taken over the weekend by Mike VanderStelt (Gulls & Jet, Eastern Bluebird, Three Bald Eagles) and Mike Boston (American Coot). Mike B. found it interesting that coots are still here in February. Mike V. wrote, " ... and they think that plane had it rough on the Hudson River? Ha! look at the size of the Gulls in Muskegon!"
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February 7: "Not much of a shot ( young banded Bald Eagle ) as it was pretty high in the air and I had to zoom it in in processing to send it to you, but even looking at the full size file it looks like an unmarked, plain white band. Anyway, here it is." - Mike VanderStelt
February 6: "This morning on a walk around the Maple River trails west of the D.N.R. State Game Area Headquarters I watched four (and I think there were six) Yellow-rumped Warblers foraging (and often chipping) in the thickets and on the ground near the south river bank about midway between the headquarters bridge and the foot bridges. (See also Brian Johnson's January 18 and January 27 postings below.) Other species this morning were Blue Jay (several around the area, many jaying, giving the red-shouldered hawk call or singing their cherdle-lee song), American Crow, House Sparrow, Mallard (5 flushed from area pictured below), Pileated Woodpecker (1 female north of the river often giving kek-kek-kek call), Northern Flicker (male-female pair foraging in canopy north of the river, later 1 female performing a head-bobbing display south of the river but I don't know for whom), Black-capped Chickadee (1 or 2), American Goldfinch (3 flyover meadows south of the river), American Tree Sparrow (6-8 near the warblers, then a flock of about a dozen more southwest of the parking lot), Dark-eyed Junco (2) and Northern Cardinal (1 female). - Ric Pedler
- Looking west from the headquarters bridge. The warblers were way down there beyond the bend along the left side of the river. -
February 4: Kathy Neff photographed this Barred Owl around noon today outside her living room window and the waterbirds in the east end of the White Lake Channel last Sunday (Jan. 31).
February 2: Last Saturday (Jan. 30) Mike VanderStelt and Felix Perdue were out at the Wastewater on a Bald Eagle Day. Felix snapped the top two pictures and Mike the next five. Notice that Felix's first photo and Mike's last photo seem to be of the same bird. If you look closely at Mike's photo, you'll see why he captioned it "Pass the Salt".
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January 30: Kathy Neff phoned to say that a Pileated Woodpecker is working over a tree near her house and that it spends a lot of time doing that everyday. It's viewable from Kathy's house; anyone wanting to view it for awhile, just contact Kathy.
January 27: "I hiked the Maple River trails by the Muskegon State Game Area headquarters again today. Results were similar to my last vist. This time warm-weather representatives included a flock of 11 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 5 Northern Flickers, 5 Eastern Bluebirds and 1 Song Sparrow. On the way back, I cruised thru the Wastewater. Besides the omnipresent Bald Eagles and Rough-legged Hawks, I had eight species of waterfowl (4 Northern Pintail were the most notable). I also saw one first-winter Iceland Gull and at least one first-winter Glaucous Gull (seen a few times at different spots, so there may have been multiples). I also obtained a read on a neck-collared Canada Goose: J1X7. I first saw this male at the Wastewater in 2002. Banded as an adult near Lake River, Ontario during the summer of 2001, he is now at least 9 and 1/2 years old - the oldest Canada Goose I have noted at the Wastewater." Brian Johnson
January 25 Email: "I saw one of the Western Grebes again on Sunday (January 24) in the same general area along with many Red-breasted Mergansers such as this one." - Mike Boston
January 24: "This morning at 11:00 Jill Goodell and I saw the Western Grebes along with lots of Red-breasted Merganswers and a Redhead. The grebes were in the area described earlier ( see Jan. 18-21 posts below ) east of the submarine. The Redhead was in the channel on the south side about half way to the big lake. The grebes were close enough to recognize them with binoculars and sometimes with just the eye." - Phil Willemstein, Grand Rapids
January 24: "I took this Great Blue Heron on Robert Hunter Drive just north of Sternburg Road today." - Charlie DeWitt
January 23: On our club's January fieldtrip this morning 20 people observed 25-30 bird species, most notable a Northern Shrike on the south Wastewater properties a mile south of Apple along Laketon west of Seba near the maintenance building and a Peregrine Falcon perched on a strobe light on the Cobb Plant smokestack (viewed with optics from the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve). We did not bird far enough west to look for the Western Grebes so the latest report is Jan. 22 below describing the open water at the western end of Muskegon Lake. - Ric
January 22: (1) To Mich-Chat: "The previously reported Western Grebes in Muskegon were seen this morning around 10:00 in the open water of Muskegon Lake near the channel." - Carol Snoek . (2) To Mich-Listers "Today at about 11:30 a.m. the pair of Western Grebes was further up stream rather than by the Silversides submarine. I found them in the open water up by the ice fishing access. Follow the road around a few curves past the submarine and there is a parking area and a snow-fence-lined path for fishing access. They were far enough out to need a scope." - Jim VanAllen
January 21: This evening several MCNC member reported the first-annual presentation of the Ben Franklin Award. Click here.
January 19 Email: "I have a few photos that you may or may not want to post. All were taken at the Muskegon Lake Channel. The Red-throated Loon was from last week. The male White-winged / female Surf Scoter combo was from today, as were the Western Grebes." - Brian Johnson
January 19: Mike VanderStelt took the following Bald Eagle picture at the Wastewater today. Mike says he probably wouldn't have gotten these if he hadn't seen some other guy with a camera parked and honking his horn near the eagle presumably trying to make the bird fly. Mike drove behind the other vehicle partly to let the other guy know he was there and partly to see if it would stop the other guy from honking his horn. The horn-honking stopped, Mike took 73 photos (including this one) of the eagle which eventually did fly off. I agree with Mike that people photographing wild birds should not do anything other than snap their pictures. In other instances (like a bird in breeding season) this could be downright harmful. Ironically after the eagle flew, the other guy chastised Mike for "interrupting his shot". And yet when the eagle flew, it flew right over the other guy's car which is probably what he was trying to make happen in the first place! - Ric
January 18: "Taking advantage of the nice weather, I hiked the Maple River / Lanes Landing bottomlands at the State Game Area today. Landbird diversity exceeded that from the equivalent CBC route last month with 3 Eastern Bluebirds, 42 Cedar Waxwings, and 1 female-type Purple Finch fairly interesting. Yellow-rumped Warblers and Northern Flickers were everywhere (though I never saw more than 3 of the latter at once). One flock of Yellow-rumps numbered 48, another 45. For as frequently as this bird is encountered, it's interesting that prior to 2003, there seems to be not a single winter record for Muskegon County. The only notable miss was Ruffed Grouse - a species that is steadily becoming harder to find south of the Muskegon River." - Brian Johnson
January (not December) 18 Three Grebe Emails: (1) "This may be the same Western Grebe I had at Pere Marquette Park in December." - Chip Francke ... (2) "About 1:30 at the Channel I found a Western Grebe by the boats. It disappeared immediately. A little later I walked out by the Coast Guard station and I saw another one." - Kathryn Mork . (3) "I have sent you a picture of the pair of Western Grebes. You don't have to use it." - Charlie DeWitt ... Thanks, Charlie, but. I want to use it! For the record, Charlie took this photo at approximately 11:30 a.m. near the eastern end of the Muskegon Channel. - Ric
January 18: A female White-winged Scoter (not the bird in Mike's Jan. 17 photo below) was swimming and diving in the Muskegon Channel at 9:30 this morning west of the Silversides, and two Western Grebes were swimming and diving at the far east end of the Channel from 9:45 until at least 10:15 when Carol and I left. Attempted digiscopes of the scoter didn't turn out; here are two digiscopes of the grebes. - Ric Pedler
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January 17: "I saw the Hooded Merganser at the Wastewater on Saturday. I saw the Western Grebe and White-winged Scoter at the Muskegon Channel on Sunday. The Muskegon Channel also held Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Redhead, Common Goldeneye and Scaup. I also saw a Northern Pintail on Sunday at the Wastewater among a large mixed group of Mallards, Gadwall, and American Black Duck but it flew away before I could get a picture." - Mike Boston .. No problem, Mike; we'll just have to settle for the three that you've sent. WOW! and THANKS! - Ric
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January 16: Carolyn Weng was able to use her cell phone to snap this for-the-record snapshot of the Western Grebe she saw in the White Lake Channel yesterday (see her January 15 Mich-chat message below).
January 16: This afternoon Carol and I drove out to Pere Marquette Park to look around. We found no unusual birds unless you count Charlie DeWitt who was also out there with his Carol. He emailed me this photo along with the wonderful poem. (Charlie has so many talents!) :-) - Ric
One Ric
Pedler on the pier
Never a new feather
did appear
Runny nose and frozen
toes
That is just the
way it goes.
January 15 to Mich-Chat: "Chatters, I saw and photographed (not a closeup) a Western Grebe in the White Lake Channel at about 2 pm today. It was swimming and diving, moving toward the Lake Michigan end of the Channel. There were also Greater Scaup, a few Lesser Scaup, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Goldeneye, 1 Ring-necked Duck, and Bufflehead in the area and a couple of thousand Long-tailed Ducks offshore visible with binocs." - Carolyn Weng
January 15: Lake Michigan off Kruse and Pere Marquette Parks was quite placid today, so viewing conditions for waterbirds were very good. Numbers were similar to my totals from the Muskegon CBC last month. Highlights included 7 White-winged Scoter, 5540 Long-tailed Duck (some fairly close to shore), 1 immature Red-throated Loon, 2 Horned Grebe, 1 adult Glaucous Gull and 1 Great Black-backed Gull. - Brian Johnson
January 14 Email: "Hi, Ric. No predatory drama, just an immature Bald Eagle flying overhead at the Wastewater last Sunday (January 10)." - Mike Boston ... Yeh, Mike, just a (yawn) bald eagle. ;-) - Ric
January 9 Emails: (1) I left this (upper left photo below) along Swanson Road along the west side between the two sprinklers and slightly south of the post that has a No. 27 on the base. The feathers are about 1 foot long. I found no head, no feet. It was eaten by a Coyote (tracks) that apparently killed it on the east side of Swanson and carried it to the west side where I found it about 150 feet from the road. If you can't get an I.D. from this, maybe if someone gets out there before the next snow, they can grab it for a complete forensic investigation. You do have the tools for such a thing right? Also, I'll send some 'live shots' in a few minutes. (2): "Ric, could you ID the one hawk (upper right photo below). I was talking to Kathryn Mork and she was looking at this on White Road by the administration entrance. I couldn't ID due to distance, so I shot it and told her I would send it to you to post with an ID, so she'll be looking, and credit her for the sighting. Thanks!" - Mike VanderStelt ... Mike, thanks for all four shots. No, I don't have forensics tools, and as you said later on the phone, the carcass looks eagle-ish so anybody with such tools had better also have a permit! Kathryn's distant bird is an immature Red-tailed Hawk. I'm assuming your other two "live shots" (bottom two photos: Rough-legged Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk) were also taken at Wastewater? Is this the "Year of the Red-shouldered Hawk" or what? - Ric
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January 7 Email:"Hi Ric. I was talking with a gentleman a few weeks ago who told me about the MCNC site. He was from Grand Rapids Audubon Club. Anyway, I took these pictures yesterday (January 6). I was ready to leave, saw lots of Bald Eagles though not close enough for photos, and drove up to the east pond north of the land fill. I was watching several birds out on the ice when the gull flew by with a plastic bag wrapped around its wing. Not far behind came a Bald Eagle tracking every turn. The pictures tell the story. I watched and photographed as 11 Bald Eagles (5 adult, 6 juveniles) all vied for the prize. The biggest, most beautiful eagle finally stepped in and claimed the gull. The whole thing took about 45 minutes and I shot off about 550 photos. Thinking I may have to come out to a meeting and check you guys out on the 21st. Thanks! Enjoy the pictures." - Don Neumann ... Wow! We're enjoying your pictures and your captions! You'll be welcome at any of our meetings or fieldtrips anytime. Thanks for this fantastic sequence! - Ric
Giving Chase!
Gotcha!
Any Last Words?
You Are on the Menu
Find Your Own Lunch!
This Is Mine!
January 5 Email: "Ric, per your posted question (see Jan. 2 banded Peregrine Falcon below) the following comment is from Dr. John Castrale, Indiana DNR, and teammate of Pat Redig's in much of the Midwest records as well as non-game ornithologist for Indiana: 'The black/green color band and the purple federal band indicates this is a wild-produced bird from the Midwest. But without knowing the numbers/letters of the color band, that's about all that can be said.' " - John Will, Grand Rapids
January 4 Email (Subject: Immature): "No Ric, I'm not talking about myself, but this immature Bald Eagle from yesterday at Wastewater." - Mike VanderStelt.
January 4 Email: "Hey, Ric, thanks for the info on this sighting (see Jan. 2 banded Peregrine Falcon below). Quite an impressive collection of bird photos accompanying this one at the site. With the purple USFWS band on the right leg and b/g on the left, but no numbers readable, all I can tell you is that the bird was banded at one of the nearly 200 sites in the midwestern states. If anyone comes up with any numbers, we could tell you the rest of the story. Focus on reading the b/g band. Cheers!" - Dr. Pat Redig, President, Midwest Peregrine Society
January 4: Here is a scan of two photos Bruce Delamarter took on December 2. The Merlin was along Ruddiman Drive in North Muskegon and the Red-shouldered Hawk was near US-31 and Apple Avenue.
January 3 Email: "Hey Ric, another "long distance" shot from one of the wooded islands along White Road (notice the deer's ear on the ground in front of the Coyote). Other sightings today included 7 immature & 3 mature Bald Eagles, a Coopers Hawk, 2 dark Rough-legged Hawks, 2 Red-tailed Hawks chasing a 3rd, 25-30 Snow Buntings, 2 other Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Mike Boston, 1 Charlie Dewitt and his WAY better half wife Carol" - Mike VanderStelt
January 2: On December 17, 2009, Bruce Delamarter photographed an adult Peregrine Falcon at the Wastewater. Bruce does not use a computer, but prints his pictures. He was looking over the images a few days ago and noticed that the falcon was banded. Today he brought us some prints and we've scanned and posted three below in hopes that someone might have more information about this bird. It appears to have four bands: maroon on the right leg and black over green over white on the left with possibly readable (?) white digits on the black band. Thanks for any information! - Ric
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January 2 Email: "Bruce Delamarter and I were at the Wastewater this afternoon and saw 9 Bald Eagles (3 or which were mature), 1 Rough-legged Hawk, 1 Northern Harrier, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Merlin 1 Hooded Merganser, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, American Black Ducks, Gadwalls, Canada Geese and 10 American Tree Sparrows. Bruce had also gotten photos of a Red-shouldered Hawk near the off ramp from southbound US-31 at Apple Ave." - Kathy Neff ...Thanks, Kathy. On New Years Day a group of us including Charlie DeWitt saw a Red-shouldered Hawk near the intersection of Maple Island and Heights-Ravenna Roads. To prove that is not a common sighting, Charlie listed 227 birds in Michigan last year without a Red-shouldered Hawk! - Ric
January 2: I saw this American Kestrel and the Eastern Bluebird on Taft Road in Nunica. It's only about a mile south of the Muskegon county line, so I'm going to count it as in the Muskegon Area. The Bald Eagle was at the Wastewater." - Mike Boston ... Thanks, Mike. We accept Nunica birds! - Ric
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January 1: "Below are just a couple Bald Eagle pictures from the Wastewater today; I thought the first one had a cute composition as if it were hiding from me." - Mike VanderStelt ... And we thought only people hid from you, Mike. :-)
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December 28 Email: "I stood out in the cold and wind at Muskegon south pier for about an hour to see what I could see. There were two Great Black-backed Gulls mixed in with the Ringbills and Herring Gulls. This one looks to be a 3rd winter bird." - Charlie DeWitt
December 20: "I saw four Bald Eagles as well as several Red-Tailed and Rough-legged Hawks at the Wastewater today. No wonder they're disputing the airspace." - Mike Boston ... Thanks for the great photos, Mike! Do you know what the Redtail was after? - Ric ... "Ric, that Redtail wasn't actually after anything. It was just getting tired of me looking at so it jumped off it's perch and flew to a more distant one. It does look like it's closing in for the kill though. You can see the uncropped sequence of photos at my Photobucket: http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd315/bunkerh/ " - Mike
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December 18: "This is a MAJOR crop of a shot at the Wastewater today. They (Bald Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk) were about 1/4 mile away doing battle. There was also an immature eagle in on the mix when I first saw them, but it apparently assumed Mom (by her size) could handle herself, so it didn't enter the photo frame." - Mike VanderStelt
December 13: "I saw these Snow Buntings today at the Wastewater near the model airplane field. I also saw my first two Rough-legged Hawks of this season in the same area." - Mike Boston
