Two-Hour Birding - 28 Aug 2010

I had to be home by 9 am, so I decided to make a quick blitz of Pt. Mouillee to see what I could do in two hour's time.

I unloaded the bike at 6:30 am at the Siegler Rd. parking lot and headed onto the North Causeway east to the NE corner of the Long Pond Unit. Dozens of dead and dying carp littered the north shoreline of the unit after yesterday's burn of the phragmites by the DNR. A quick scan of the ditch failed to yield the King Rail, so I continued southward on the dike separating Vermet and Long Pond Units. An adult Cooper's Hawk cruised by low to my right and landed in the freshly-burnt field across the ditch.

I rode the Middle Causeway straight to the Banana Unit and Cell 3, not stopping to check out either Vermet or Humphries Units. The NW corner of the cell was drying up, but shorebird numbers were good (several hundred). A quick scan failed to produce any godwits, avocets or other large shorebirds, so I slowed down and scanned the Pectoral, Least, Semipalmated, Stilt and Baird's Sandpipers nearby. Farther out in the water I could see Short-billed Dowitchers, Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes out on the edge of the mudflat, which now extended to the middle of the unit. Several Sanderlings were also seen.

I walked toward the NW corner, stopping to scan the mudflats for Baird's Sandpipers, which numbered a dozen. A pair of Buff-breasted Sandpipers were soon spotted near shore, so I attempted to digiscope them. But, all at once, the entire unit flushed into a mass of flying birds as a Peregrine Falcon made a pass from the east.

I have to admit that I didn't see the falcon as it flushed the birds. I was trying to photograph small flocks of Baird's Sandpipers that were making back and forth passes in front of me. I would later count 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers among the dozens of flying birds in my flight shots.

I walked back to the east corner and found Ohio photographer Matt Studebaker and his buddy Pete (?). They were tracking the Peregrine Falcon that was now flying out over the Humphries Unit. Will Weber arrived a few minutes later and informed me that he saw the Peregrine take a Pied-billed Grebe and was feeding on it near the NE corner of the Vermet Unit.

After scoping the mudflats for a few minutes and picking up Black-bellied Plover, Will and I decided to walk over to the east dike. Both Matt and Pete were photographing something in the middle of the dike so we approached slowly so as not to disturb them. I then picked up a flock of shorebirds in the grass nearby - 6 or so Baird's Sandpipers and at least 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers! We quickly dropped our stuff and attempted to digiscope the Buff-breasted Sandpipers as they calmly picked their way past us. I was too close w/ the scope to get any real digiscoping done, but did manage one keeper. I was better off shooting w/ the Nikon D300 and Sigma 400mm f/5.6 lens. The birds continued past us and down along the dike before disappearing out of site. Cool!

I then headed down to the shoreline to scope the shorebirds, but was too far away to do any decent digiscoping. I was hoping to get at the 5 Red-necked Phalaropes that were feeding together, but they were too far away. So I hiked back up the hill and started back to the car. I stopped just long enough to get a few photos of the Baird's Sandpipers that were still feeding on the dike.

Biking back toward the Vermet Unit I spotted the Peregrine Falcon roosting in one of the dead trees lining Cell 5. I was able to get several portrait shots of the bird before it took off and flew past me to the south. I was hoping to digiscope it, but it took off as I got off the bike.

I ran into birder's Kurt and Terry (?), who had watched the Peregrine feeding on the rocks, and they relayed that they had seen the King Rail this morning. Great! I headed back down the North Causeway toward the Long Pond Unit and stopped next to the large tractor that was parked next to the ditch. Scanning the same spot as last week, I found the young bird feeding in a now-drying puddle. It was too far away to digiscope so I left it and headed to the parking lot. At the west end of the unit the Jackson Audubon was scanning another King Rail juvenile along the north shoreline, so there must be at least 2 birds! That explains why they weren't all that interested that I'd seen one a few moments earlier.

I caught up with David Boon just a few yards from the parking lot and chatted with him as we got back to our cars. Very productive two hours of birding!

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Aug 28, 2010 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
4.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     see: https://birdingthroughglass.blogspot.com/2010/08/two-hour-birding-28-aug-2010.html
13 species

King Rail (Rallus elegans)  1     Continuing. Long Pond Unit next to North Causeway. Young bird feeding in ditch. Jackson Audubon outing was farther west along the road and were scanning a second King Rail.
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)  1
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)  2
Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor)  2
Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus)  5     cell 3; continuing. All feeding together.
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)  2
Buff-breasted Sandpiper (Calidris subruficollis)  4
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)  12     I walked toward the NW corner of Cell 3 stopping to scan the mudflats for Baird's Sandpipers, which numbered a dozen. Six more were found later in the dike at the north end, but may have been part of the dozen from earlier.
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  6
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  3
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  12
Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)  1
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S42351211

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