Farewell, Magnificent Owl - 19 Dec 2024
While we were in Cleveland, OH yesterday visiting Picasso On Paper at the Cleveland Museum of Art with Robin's friend Paula reports came of a Snowy Owl hanging out all morning at the Roberts Road parking lot of Pt. Mouillee SGA. This morning I decided to ride the bike and see if I could relocate it.
Parking at Roberts Road at 8 am skies were dark and overcast, but calm and 34F. I biked out onto the south causeway and headed to the Banana Unit and Cell 1 where I rode the Lake Erie shoreline up to Cell 4. Lake Erie was calm and there was a nice mix of Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls floating out from the causeway.
On the Cell 1 side a few small rafts of Bufflehead were floating out from shore, and that was about all until a single Snow Bunting popped out of the rocks and flew off ahead of me. I couldn't relocate it
Some fly-by Red-breasted Mergansers were followed by small flocks of Common Goldeneye.
As they all scattered a single young Long-tailed Duck was seen drifting out from shore. It was diving near shore up ahead so I left the bike and ran to catch it when it resurfaced.
I then continued on toward Cell 3. Another biker approached and I asked if there were anything of interest from his ride. He informed that the DNR was right now picking up a dead Snowy Owl from the Middle Causeway. He didn't have any other information than to say that it appeared to be an adult. Bummer.
I continued riding hoping that there might be a second bird but would not see anything. At the south end of Cell 4 I found a few ducks floating inside the harbor that included an American Coot among several more Red-breasted Mergansers. A Northern Harrier was working the dike up ahead but too far away for pics.
Choosing not to push things I headed back to the parking lot along the east side of the Humphries Unit along the now-thawing dike. American Tree Sparrows were about the only birds making their presence known. Most of the unit was frozen except for a small patch of open water that held dozens of Mallard and a single Northern Shoveler.
Back at the parking lot I ran into Josh, a local hunter who showed me photos of a Snowy Owl he saw yesterday along the Banana Unit that was tame enough to walk up to. It was standing in a puddle of blood and appeared to be "pooping blood". He wasn't sure if it got into a fight but he didn't think that anyone harmed it. It may have been the bird found this morning....
Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Dec 19, 2024 8:03 AM - 9:36 AM
Protocol: Traveling
8.725 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Cloudy, calm, 34F. Got word that the DNR picked up a dead Snowy Owl this morning. Adult. May be the same one hanging around Roberts Rd parking lot yesterday morning.
19 species
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 26
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) 2
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus) 4
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) 1
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 38
Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) 1
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 23
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 77
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) 2
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) 24
American Coot (Fulica americana) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 12
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 2
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) 2
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 6
Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) 1
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea) 34
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 5
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S2
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
I made a quick pass through the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge on the way home. Only this Northern Flicker was seen.
