A Few Sightings - 29 Jul 2010


I just got the bike back from the shop and was anxious to try out the new tire and seat. So I headed down to Pt. Mouillee this late Thursday afternoon and parked at Mouillee Creek. My intention was just to bike the Long Pond Unit and see if any shorebirds were around. They weren't.

A Northern Harrier was patrolling the Nelson Unit while I rode the Middle Causeway. Border Patrol was at the junction of Long Pond, Vermet and Humphries Units, so I had to take care not to scratch the vehicle when I rode by. Scanning the east edge of the Long Pond Unit I counted 5 Great Egrets and 2 Great Blue Herons, but no shorebirds.

As I walked the bike, though, I heard the bugling of Sandhill Cranes and looked up to see 2 birds flying overhead. They landed somewhere in the Nelson Unit to the west. 


A Lesser Yellowlegs then flew in and provided some digiscoping attempts, but was severely backlit. Too bad, because I then found 6 Least Sandpipers, both worn adults and fresh juveniles. I wanted to document the juvies since their feathering was so fresh, with orange-tipped dark feathers and the diagnostic white racing stripes down their back. Backlighting prevented any decent digiscoping. No other shorebirds were seen.

Up a ways a family of Pied-billed Grebes were swimming about 70' away in the Vermet Unit. Mom and Pop w/ little ones was very cute, and I spent several minutes digiscoping them from a distance. But distance did generate enough distortion to prevent clean imaging. Still, they were a joy to watch.


A flock of Blue-winged Teal whistled by to my right, and provided some nice flight shots with the sun setting at my back. Its always nice to catch that bit of green in their feathers and the cyan blue of their wings.


Returning along the west shore of the Long Pond Unit I stopped to pish Common Yellowthroats and Marsh Wrens, but neither would pop into the open. I did run into a small flock of Bobolinks, and enjoyed several minutes of digiscoping two birds. The first remained while the others flew, and perched atop a phragmite for me to get numerous sharp images from about 30'.


At the end of the phragmites patch, a second bird was perched lower, and the surrounding cattails provided a much nicer background for digiscoping. These are the prettiest of the late summer sparrows!


Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Jul 29, 2010 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 mile(s)
11 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  7
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)  5     2 adults and 3 hatchlings
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)  2
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  6
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  5
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  2
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)  1
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)  2
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus)  6
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S165228462

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

I returned to the car and headed south along US-Turnpike to Haagermann Rd. and the antennae farm. As I drove south I found a Spotted Sandpiper sitting atop the barb-wire fence to my left! Looked like an Upland Sandpiper for a moment. Haagermann Rd. was quiet, with no birds along the fenceline. I did see several Horned Larks on the road ahead of me, including several juvenile birds with their spotted heads and spotted backs - very pretty. Inside the farm itself a couple of Eastern Kingbirds and Eastern Meadowlarks were flying around, and I may have heard a distant Dickcissel.

Antenna Farm, Monroe, Michigan, US
Jul 29, 2010 7:00 PM - 7:20 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
4 species

Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularius)  1
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  2
Horned Lark (Eremophila alpestris)  3
Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S165229590

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

The bike felt 'slower' for some reason. I don't know if it was the new tire, or if the tires were tightened, or the seat position, but I woke the next morning with a serious lower-back ache, and as I write this two days later my back is still tender. But, its off to Windsor to get my eyes checked for possible lasik...