Shorebirds Moved Out? - 14 Aug 2025

A couple of storm fronts the past day and a half appears to have thinned out the shorebird population at Pt. Mouillee SGA. Clear skies, little humidity, and a light north breeze prompted a ride from the Mouillee Creek parking lot. 

Riding directly to Cell 3 I walked through the heavy smartweed growth to the open mudflats now starting to show vegetation growth. The mud was still firm despite the recent rains and water filling the cracks. 

Amber Piotter was already out beyond the pier post and scoping the mudflats that were surprisingly devoid of shorebirds!

A young Common Gallinule was foraging near the SE corner of the cell, but a sweep of the mudlflats only yielded a half-dozen Lesser Yellowlegs

So we had to settle for views of the Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, Ring-billed Gulls, and Caspian Terns

A half-dozen Bonaparte's Gulls were also present. Most were juveniles already showing basic plumage

but this one showed darker orange legs and a distinct eye-ring that had me guessing possible Black-headed Gull. It was just a Bonaparte's in partial molt...


Amber left and I continued to scan the mudflats for anything interesting. A group of 2 Long-billed Dowitchers and 4 Short-billed Dowitchers appeared in SE corner of the cell but that was it. So I packed up and headed back to the bike.

I rode back down the Middle Causeway west toward the Lautenschlager Unit and found Amber scanning the Vermet Unit; she refound the Snowy Egret that reported the past couple of days. It was far out in the middle of the open pond near Pelican Island and in scope-view, only.

We continued toward the Lautenschlager and ran into Mark Dettling who was scoping a Baird's Sandpiper in the channel separating the Middle Causeway and Long Pond. I managed some photos of it next to a Semipalmated Sandpiper.


The juvenile Baird's Sandpiper was showing clean white fringes on black and brown back feathers, and an overall brown appearance hilighted by straight bill, black legs and wings that project past the tail.





While Amber headed off to Roberts Road to look for warblers I headed to the Lautenschlager Unit where I spotted a young Coyote pup foraging near a pair of Black-necked Stilts (1 ad + 1 juv). Alerted to my presence it did not run away but looked inquisitively in my direction before continuing on its way.








Mark had reported 8 Black-necked Stilts (4 ad + 4 juv) and sure enough, I found four of them at the tip of the mudlflats. Two adults were foraging in open water while this pair of juveniles snuggled together near shore.


Nearby a Semipalmated Sandpiper and Least Sandpiper were foraging together and allowed some comparison shots with the Baird's Sandpiper. The Least Sandpiper shows more orange on the back to go with its yellow legs while the Semipalm is more brown-black on top and whiter below.




Several dozen Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers were foraging near the north shore of the unit while scattered Short-billed Dowitchers and Stilt Sandpipers continued. As I was heading out I passed the last two Black-necked Stilts foraging near shore. The juvenile



and vocal adult!


I'd drop the scope off at the car and rode over to Roberts Road and made a half-hearted attempt at finding the Red-headed Woodpeckers that Mark had reported yesterday. Nope. And no warblers, either. So I took a quick few pics of an Indigo Bunting overhead before heading back to the car and home.


Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 15), Monroe, Michigan, US
Aug 14, 2025 7:43 AM - 10:09 AM
Protocol: Traveling
6.406 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Clear, less humid, 70F, light breeze. Shorebirds appear to have moved out w the storms. Cell 3 very quiet. Lautenschlager better w 9 Black-necked Stilts among dozens of peeps.
43 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  4
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  5
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  1
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  2
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)  9     Cell 3 adult, 8 in Lautenschlager includes 4 juvies.
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)  6
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)  4
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)  2     Continue in Cell 3
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  36
Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus)  4
Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii)  1
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  12
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos)  14
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla)  33
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  8
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  16
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  2
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)  26
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)  1
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  18
Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)  2
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)  1
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  4
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  4
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)  1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  1
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)  1
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  2
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)  2
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  2
Purple Martin (Progne subis)  6
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris)  1
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  68
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  1
Swamp Sparrow (Melospiza georgiana)  1
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  145
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  1
Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea)  3

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S267181503

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