Sibley Prairie Birding - 11 Apr 2020

After coming back from Willow Metropark I decided to grab a couple of garbage bags and pick up some roadside refuse and check out the Sibley Prairie Conservancy at the end of Arsenal and West Rd. Finding garbage was not a problem. The ditches along Arsenal and West Rds. are full of everything from plastic cups, beer cans, whiskey bottles, and plastic bags. I filled one bag just walking down one side of the street and didn't even get 100 yards north of the Bridgewater complex. I filled the other bag just walking in front of the conservancy, and my back was cramping. But, I was here and I'd check it out.

The Sibley Prairie site has a parking lot but no marked trails, so its pretty much walk in and look for a path. The area is flooded after spring rains, so the ground is saturated. I finally did find the trail, but it was underwater for practically its entire length. But, the area is pretty, and worth getting wet in. In two weeks the mosquitos will be out and it will be reclaimed by nature.

I navigated the flooded trail that disintegrated into a large expanse of flooded lowland, and had to make use of navigation skills to make a path and find where the path continues. In the meantime I enjoyed seeing pairs of Eastern Bluebirds, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, American Crows, and heard White-breasted Nuthatches.

Birds to photograph were hard to come by, so I concentrated on photographing fungi.

I did come upon a white cat that was curled up at the base of a tree. I noticed that it was breathing, so walked quietly enough around it to not disturb it.

I finally found my way out of the muck and decided that I would not need to come back to the place for a while. If bugs aren't too bad I'd like to survey birds during the first two weeks in May.

Sibley Prairie Nature Preserve--Beech-Daly Rd. site, Wayne, Michigan, US
Apr 11, 2020 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
4 species

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)  2
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  2
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  2
Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S160290919

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