37th Monroe, MI CBC - 17 Dec 2006
0300 Hrs. Today marks the 107th Audubon Christmas Bird Count and the 37th Monroe, MI CBC. I’m here in Monroe and am driving around town looking/listening for owls. Its mild for December, with temps near 40ºC and skies cloudy and threatening light rain. No luck with the owls this morning.
0700-0900 Hrs. I arrived at the Whiting Plant in southern Monroe Co. Will Weber had just arrived, and we were waiting for Allen Chartier, Ken Willard, and Neil Gilbert. They arrived and we checked in with the security guard before heading off for the lake. It was still dark at 7am so we walked north to listen for owls.
As the light of dawn approached, we began to see some of the bird action on Lake Erie, which was free of ice and relatively calm. Without ice cover, the gulls and ducks were widely scattered. Only a few Herring Gulls and Common Mergansers were about.
We then headed southward along the shoreline and began to pick up Great Black-backed Gulls and our first Lesser Black-backed Gull (an adult).
A few American Tree Sparrows greeted us along with the first of several Swamp Sparrows and Song Sparrows. As we walked we heard a Snow Bunting fly overhead along the shoreline.
0900-1100 Hrs. Walking along the service road that wraps around the perimeter of the power plant, we flushed several American Tree Sparrows from the field. A walk through the field along a phragmite-filled canal yielded a couple dozen more American Tree Sparrows and a pair of Horned Larks. A bit farther down the road, we got a fly-over of a dozen Bonaparte’s Gulls.
In the large pond adjacent to the Erie Marsh Neil spotted numerous Gadwall along the far shore. Ken spotted several Great Blue Herons roosting in trees along the northern edge of the marsh. A Pied-billed Grebe and Belted Kingfisher got our attention at the outfall of the plant’s warm-water dishcharge.
As we walked back toward our cars, a pair of Carolina Wrens and several Northern Cardinals were chattering noisily just out of view. I took my leave of the group and headed northward toward the Monroe Power Plant.
1100-1700 Hrs. A stop at the drive-thru of McDonald’s yielded a screaming American Kestrel atop the golden arches.
A Bald Eagle was perched in the trees just west of the expressway at Dunbar Rd. As I arrived at noon at the power plant I was greeted by Tim Walsh, and shortly thereafter by Matt Shackelford. Craig Tylenda soon arrived with his parents Doug and Sharon. No sooner did we begin to drive along the warm-water discharge that the skies opened up and a cold rain pelted us. This made it difficult to count the numerous Ring-billed and Herring Gulls in the canal. The gizzard shad in the canal were extremely jumpy today, literally leaping out of the water everywhere. We soon saw the first of 25 Bald Eagles for the day, as well as a dozen Great Blue Herons along the far shore.
The rain soon subsided, and the skies lightened a bit, making for a somewhat pleasant rest of the day. As we headed back toward the Raisin River we spotted 7 Bald Eagles roosting along the far shore in a single tree. At the mouth of the river a beautiful male White-winged Scoter drifted lazily out from the shore and gave everyone good looks through the spotting scope. Thousands of gulls were scattered along the shore and on the coal piles, but no white-winged gulls could be found.
We drove over to the fly-ash on-site and saw notable birds such as Red-winged Blackbirds, Red-tail Hawks, and four Trumpeter Swans. The first Canada Geese of the day were also found, along with Hooded Mergansers and Bufflehead.
DTE Energy Monroe Power Plant, Monroe, Michigan, US
Dec 17, 2006 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Monroe PP portion of the 107th NAS Christmas Bird Count
25 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 56
Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator) 4 On pond over at fly ash onsite. Large swans with black bills the form a "V" at the forehead.
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 80
White-winged Scoter (Melanitta deglandi) 1 Lake Erie out from mouth of Raisin River. Black duck with distinct white wing patches and white teardrop under eye.
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 8
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) 191
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 278
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 105
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 622
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 2200
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 19
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) 111
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 93 canal of discharge canal is historic roost for wintering GBH.
Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter striatus/cooperii) 3 ID'd as Sharp-shinned due to small size and buggy eyes,
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 25
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 4
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 4
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) 1
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 4
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 51
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 1
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 55
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 3
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 120
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 10
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S4
1700 Hrs. At the Michigan Bar and Grill in Monroe we tallied up results and I entered numbers into the computer. Among the notable sightings for the day include our first-ever Sandhill Cranes seen by Tom Lakin and Ann Smith. Neil Gilbert saw a Marsh Wren and Common Yellowthroat. Several more Snow Buntings were seen, as well as a Great Egret seen at Sterling State Park by Dan Schwab. Allen, Will, Ken and Neil got to witness the 5pm migration of 290,000 European Starlings and 50,000 Common Grackles into the Erie Marsh. For the day we ended with 82 species and almost 395,000 Total birds. Considering the lack of ice cover that usually concentrates birds, and the mild weather these numbers are extemely impressive.
Side-note: Allen Chartier had asked for permission to use my digiscoped Snowy Owl picture for an upcoming cover of Michigan Breeding Birds and Natural History Magazine. I was able to give him permission once I verified from Swarovski that I still had copyright on my image.
