Scary moments! - 13 Sep 2009


For both photographer and subject! Today would be the final act of the Pt. Mouillee Birding Season (for me) so I had to get down there to look for the scores of shorebirds reported by Will Weber (and others) yesterday.

I biked the Middle Causeway toward Cell 3 hoping to catch the Hudsonian Godwit reported by Will yesterday. Along the way I ran into Mary Trombley and Scott Jennex, who were walking up ahead. After an exchange of 'pleasantries' I continued on ahead with the hopes of being able to report back w/ good news. Alas, the old adage, "You should've been here yesterday!" would echo throughout the SGA today.

I arrived at Cell 3 only to find a couple of Lesser Yellow legs far off in the distance. Will appeared and reported that the Hudsonian Godwit, White Pelicans, and Red Knots were nowhere to be found. Only a handful of birds were present in Cell 3, so we took a quick ride south along the dike to check the Lead Unit. While Will scoped the unit looking for anything remotely interesting, I attempted to photograph a pair of flyby Caspian Terns. When I raised my camera all I got was a 'groan' from the Sigma 400 mm f/5.6. The dern lens would not focus! I attempted to switch to manual focus, but it wouldn't work either. After fiddling w/ both the lens and camera for several minutes I resigned myself to having a broken camera. Rats!



After riding back to report the lack of birds to Scott and Mary we headed toward the Vermet Unit where we scoped the distant shorebirds. Will managed to relocate one of the Marbled Godwits, several Stilt Sandpipers and Long-billed Dowitchers. Pectoral, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers (and Plovers) were also present in lesser numbers. No Wilson's Phalarope.

We then headed to the northeast corner of the Vermet Unit to look for the Red-necked Phalarope, and succeeded in relocating it. 

As I was fixing to digiscope the bird a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers suddenly flushed. A juvenile Peregrine Falcon bulleted in from the south end of the dike and commenced to hunt for prey. Luckily, I had just gotten the camera to work again, so I was able to focus and fire away at the falcon as it made several passes back and forth in front of us.



This sequence was captured as the Peregrine Falcon attempted to catch a Lesser Yellowlegs still in the water. At 8 fps I captured four consecutive frames as the yellowlegs 1) first sprinted to the right, 2) suddenly stopped and dove, then 3) cut back left to 4) finally elude capture. The Peregrine continued on past several groups of unwary or uncaring Blue-winged Teal and flew by a couple more times.







I was able to capture evidence of bands on its legs. The right tarsus has a bright magenta band, while the left tarsus has a black band atop a red band. Hopefully I'll be able to track down this bird's origin with the information.



The Red-necked Phalarope was soon relocated, and I managed a couple of long-distance digiscoped images. 



We also saw four Red Knots nearby, and managed a photo of them.


With time once again running short I bed adieu to the folks birding with us and headed back to the car. The last notable bird I would see before packing up the bike would be an Eastern Phoebe in the Walpatich Unit.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Sep 13, 2009 7:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
6.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Will Weber and I
13 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  6
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)  1     Continuing in Vermet Unit. Godait with light orange marbling (not a darker/gray Hudsonian godwits)
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)  3     Continuing in Vermet Unit
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)  1     NE corner of Vermet Unit. Basic plumage w/ black eye patch.
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  2
Red Knot (Calidris canutus)  4     Continuing in Vermet Unit
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)  2
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  3
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  2
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  3
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)  1
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)  1     juvenile attacking a Lesser Yellowlegs in NE corner of Vermet Unit right in front of us!
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S42235316

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