Northern Shrike - 02 Jan 2024


Skies were dark this morning as the temperature dropped to 28F overnight. I grabbed the bike anyway and headed down to Pt. Mouillee despite winds blowing 10-20 mph. Driving down Haggerman Road toward the Antennae Farm I spotted the first of 3 American Kestrels for the morning. This one would be my first pic of 2025.




The Antennae Farm itself was quiet. No birds were seen in the area. So I continued on toward Port Sunlight Road and Masserant Road where Justin Labadie reported a Northern Shrike yesterday. Sure enough, just south of Port Sunlight on Masserant Road I spotted the Northern Shrike on the wires to my left. I was able to get some pics from inside the car before it flew off a bit to the south and perched on the top wires farther away. 













After a few minutes I headed over to Roberts Road parking lot.

10165–10321 Haggerman Rd, South Rockwood US-MI 42.02707, -83.24429, Monroe, Michigan, US
Jan 2, 2025 8:29 AM - 8:43 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.567 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Overcast, dark, cold, windy 28F
2 species

American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  3
Northern Shrike (Lanius borealis)  1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S207637537

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

Despite the wind at least the dikes were frozen. Winds were blowing from the SW so riding out to the Banana along the South Causeway was easy, as was the ride north along the Lake Erie shoreline. Few ducks were on the lake, which was open except for small hidden bays that held some shore ice. Five Bufflehead were the highlight as I rode Cell 1 toward Cell 3. 


Small (dozen or so) rafts of Mallard and Canada Geese were the only other birds on the lake. To my left in the phragmites I did scare up a couple small flocks of American Tree Sparrows that flew out onto the dike behind me to forage.




Cell 4 was open but only held another small raft of Mallard. Farther north I could see several thousand scaup/canvasback/mallard/goldeneye/mergansers flying over the Huron River but I didn't bother to chase or count. Instead, I headed back to the car along the east side of the Humphries Unit that was still open but choppy and void of ducks. Only a pair of Mute Swans were visible. 

With winds buffeting me I pushed the bike back to the parking lot and headed for home. 

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Jan 2, 2025 8:51 AM - 9:57 AM
Protocol: Traveling
6.885 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Overcast, dark, windy, 15-20 mph, SW winds, 28F, dikes frozen, inland ponds mostly frozen.
11 species

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  28
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  2
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  29
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  7
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  1
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  12
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  39
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  1
Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii)  1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  4
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)  19

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S207649530

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