Godwits! - 11 Aug 2010

At 6 am the skies were still dark, and the air was thick as soup. It was warm, muggy, and soupy.

I unloaded the bike at the foot of Siegler Rd. and headed out onto the North Causeway in search of shorebirds.

The only birds I was able to see in the darkness were Black-crowned Night Herons, and the occasional Lesser Yellowlegs along the near shoreline. The skies were thick were with midges and I had to ride with my mouth closed to keep from inhaling them. As it was, I was covered head-to-toe w/ tiny green bugs.

As I approached the dike separating Vermet (west) from Long Pond (east) Units I spotted a flock of Song Sparrows feeding in the road. To my right in the long canal extending into the Long Pond Unit I found a pair of Wilson's Snipe feeding in the open. Pretty birds in the scope, but too dark to digiscope. I continued south along the dike and found the Long Pond shoreline basically void of birds. Open mudflats were visible, but there was very little water.

I headed up the Middle Causeway toward the Banana and went directly to Cell 3. There I immediately found a pair of godwits feeding near the north shoreline. Lyle Hamilton had reported a Marbled Godwit and a Hudsonian Godwit just yesterday, but both birds appeared to be Marble Godwits. It was still fairly dark, so I digiscoped a short video for posterity and waited for the sun to rise.

As I scoped the pair it became obvious that both birds were Marbled Godwits. But where was the Hudsonian Godwit? A quick scan of the gull/tern flock toward the middle of the unit revealed the Hudsonian Godwit hunkered low and feeding by itself.

I walked toward the eastern shoreline to get a better look, and to see if I could call the Prothonotary Warbler(s) out of the woodlot at the corner. I played the birdJam several times, but only managed to scare up four Yellow Warblers and a Willow Flycatcher.

From the eastern shoreline the Hudsonian Godwit was more visible, but still too far to get decent images, so I headed back to the bike.

Along the way I spotted one of a pair of Wilson's Phalaropes feeding along the near shore, so I waded through the thick vegetation to get closer. The phalarope had been feeding frantically along the shoreline, and digiscoping was a major challenge. I managed a few keepers among dozens of attempts, but in the end decided that video footage would be more appropriate.

Watching these little guys spin, even while on shore, was dizzying. I kept waiting for this one to topple over when it stopped, but it would wander to another puddle and continue its exercise. The question came to mind as to whether they 'all' spin in the same direction (counter-clockwise), but that was soon answered when I found the second bird spinning in a clock-wise direction.

It was starting to get late, and I needed to head into work, so I left to get the bike. The Marbled Godwits were close to shore in the NW corner of Cell 3, so I stopped to digiscope them for a few more minutes.

I then found the second Wilson's Phalarope nearby, so stopped to get a few pics of it.

The godwits, in the meantime, moved even closer and were now nicely illuminated by the rising sun, so I returned to them and took a few final digiscoped images before they moved off. 

I didn't even bother to look for White-rumped or Baird's Sandpipers among the dozens of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers and Killdeer. Even the Short-billed Dowitchers and Stilt Sandpipers didn't get any attention this morning.

As I rode out along the dike toward the North Causeway and Vermet Unit I came upon a large flock of Purple Martins roosting in the tree. I stopped long enough to take a digiscoped video of them in the tree, then fired off a few dozen pics with the D300.

I then reached the north shoreline of the Long Pond Unit and found a Snowy Egret roosting in the shallow water. It took flight as soon as I pulled up, and I could only manage a single keeper flight shot as it flew back behing me toward the Vermet Unit.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Aug 11, 2010 6:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
4.0 mile(s)
11 species

Hudsonian Godwit (Limosa haemastica)  1
Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)  2     cell 3
Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata)  2
Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)  2
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  1
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)  1
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)  1
Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii)  1
Purple Martin (Progne subis)  200
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  1
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  4

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S42350082

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