Old Mission Lighthouse - 09 Sep 2009


I drove up to the lighthouse at the tip of the Old Mission Peninsula (Grand Traverse Bay) this morning and found the place uninhabited. Great! A walk through the parking lot yielded a Red-eyed Vireo, several Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, and White-breasted Nuthatch. I had the Better Beamer attached to the D300 but birds were too far to get keeper shots. So I hauled the gear down to the beach to check for shorebirds.

The muddy shallows lining the front of the lighthouse provide great habitat for migrating shorebirds. Semipalmated Plovers were common, as well as numerous juvenile Least Sandpipers. I flushed 3 Wilson's Snipe and was unable to relocate them after they flew out to one of the tiny mud peninsula's extending from the shoreline.





A Greater Yellowlegs provided some nice digiscoping from about 20 feet, as did several Solitary Sandpipers. Blue-winged Teal and Common Mergansers were numerous, as well.













At one point I was drawn to the woods, where a Great-crested Flycatcher, two juvenile Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a Pine Warbler, and Red-breasted Nuthatch were feeding in the open.

A walk along the west side of the peninsula yielded a Green Heron that was feeding in the reeds.



Saffron Meadwohawks were common and mating everywhere. This attached pair rested long enough for a quick photo!



Old Mission Point Park/Lighthouse Park, Grand Traverse, Michigan, US
Sep 9, 2009 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.3 mile(s)
16 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  2
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  6
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)  4
Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata)  3
Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria)  2
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)  1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  6
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)  1
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  1
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)  1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  1
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  3
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)  1
Pine Warbler (Setophaga pinus)  1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S165987675

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