High Winds Downriver - 06 Nov 2005
1300 Hrs. Overcast, heavy winds (50mph) were blowing after a storm front yesterday. Robin and I drove to Campau Rd. and parked at the end of the HQ parking lot near the viewing tower. Winds had blown the water out to the east, leaving large expanses of exposed mudflats.
About 100 Bonaparte's Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls were fighting the wind and feeding about a 100 yards out when they were spooked by a Peregrine Falcon flying through. It was neat to watch it fly against the wind as it flew past us.
Shortly after, about 400 Rusty Blackbirds, Starlings and Grackles fed on the mudflats below us. Six Forster's Terns were also still seen feeding toward the mouth of the Huron River.
Pte. Mouillee SGA--HQ (Wayne County), Wayne, Michigan, USNov 6, 2005 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Overcast, heavy winds (50mph) were blowing after a storm front yesterday. Robin and I drove to Campau Rd. and parked at the end of the HQ parking lot near the viewing tower. Winds had blown the water out to the east, leaving large expanses of exposed mudflats.
9 species
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) 50 fighting wind and feeding about 100 yards out before Peregrine flushed them.
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 50
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) 1 terns with black eye patches. Pale wingtips, orange bills, but patch over eye differentiates from Common Tern
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) 1
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 50
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 50
Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) 50
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 50
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S4
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
About a 1000 gulls were out near Riverside Park - mostly RB, Herring and Bonaparte's.
On the way home a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew right over the windshield as it fed alongside the road near the Trenton PP.
