Pt. Mouillee SGA - 18 July 2009


I parked at the Siegler Rd. entrance this morning and headed toward the Long Pond Unit. A handfull of Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Spotted Sandpipers were feeding on the open mud spits at the east side of the Nelson Unit. The west side of the Long Pond Unit held a pair of Semipalmated Sandpipers, a single Shortbilled Dowitcher, and more Killdeer. Carp were numerous, as well, with their backs half out of water.


From the North Causeway I managed a few digiscoped images of a Short-billed Dowitcher feeding just across the canal in the Long Pond Unit. As I headed for the Vermet Unit, however, I dropped my Coolpix P5100. Ughh! It's now dead, and I'm back to shopping for a new digiscoping camera.


The Vermet Unit was loaded with hundreds of Great Egrets, Mallard, Coots, and more shorebirds: mostly Lesser Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitchers. However, I did spot a pair of Pectoral Sandpipers, and was in the process of digiscoping them when I realized my camera was dead...

FOY Spotted Sandpipers were numersous along the east side of the Vermet, as well as Tree and Barn Swallows. As I reached Cell 3 I found hundreds of shorebirds: Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers, several Stilt Sandpipers, and Semipalmated Sandpipers. I was surprised to find an adult Greater Black-backed Gull roosting among several 1st and 2nd-cycle Herring Gulls. A half-dozen Bonaparte's Gulls (1st cycle presumed) were also present in Cell 3.


I met up with Will Weber, who reported seeing a Black-bellied Plover and several Sanderlings still in alternate plumage. As we chatted a Common Tern screamed its "Kiiieeeer" sound overhead. We then saw Todd Palgut and Lyle Hamilton a few minutes later.


As I returned down the Middle Causeway toward the dike between Vermet and Long Pond Units, I scared up a female Bobolink. She landed just a few feet away from me, but I was too slow with the camera to capture her sitting atop a cattail stalk. A few minutes later I found a pair of Least Sandpipers feeding in the mud along the east shore of the Long Pond Unit. A pair of Bald Eagles rounded out the morning's highlights.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Jul 18, 2009 7:00 AM - 9:40 AM
Protocol: Traveling
8.0 mile(s)
19 species

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  36
American Coot (Fulica americana)  6
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  7
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)  16
Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)  6
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  29
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)  4
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  2
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  32
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  6
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)  26
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)  1
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  135
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  14
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  16
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S166087803

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)