Short-eared Owl - 27 Mar 2026

Heavy storms moved through the area last evening, and coupled with radar showing a big migration push from the south, I thought I'd take a ride at Pt. Mouillee to see if anything new might've popped up. The morning arrived with mostly cloudy skies, 28ºF, and light winds. 

I arrived at Mouillee Creek parking lot at 8:30 am and pulled the bike out. Already the air felt cold; I bundled up best as I could, and even took off the glasses as they fogged when I had my face mask up over my nose. The wind was picking up, as well, so I knew I was in for a cold ride. I decided that I'd try carrying the scope in the trunk of the bike as it was a hassle trying to wrestle it off my back and set it up to scope w/ already-cold hands. 

I rode around the west side of the Walpatich Unit to the first (south) dike and headed east toward the Lautenschlager Unit. Blue-winged Teal (5) were a nice find, but otherwise only Canada Geese were on the pond. 

Looping around the north side of the Lautenschlager Unit and back south along its east side I stopped to look for the Greater White-fronted Geese that I reported 2 days ago. The scope was easier to set up after retrieving from the bike trunk, but scans of the west shoreline failed to show any GWFG (they must've left?). There were still good numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, Redhead, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail. Canada Geese were also present by the dozens.

I headed back to the Middle Causeway and rode east toward the Banana Unit. The wind was picking up and making the ride painful but I had to stop to get some photos of the Greater and Lesser Scaup, Canvasback and Redhead that still packed in the Humphries Unit and nicely illuminated by the rising Sun against dark skies to the south and west.

 

American Coot numbers were still very high today. I estimated about 800.

I was also scanning the Humphries Unit for American White Pelicans (I counted 965 just 2 days ago) but they were not readily visible. I suspected that the storm pushed many of them onward to new destinations so I concentrated on more pics of the ducks flushing against dark skies. Canvasback, Redhead, and Greater Scaup.

As I reached the Vermet Unit I could see a colony of about 100 American White Pelicans roosting near the east side of the Humphries Unit.

After getting a few photos of the pelicans I turned my attention to looking for the Short-eared Owl that has been seen in this part of the SGA recently. Sure enough, near the NE corner of the Humphries Unit the Short-eared Owl flushed from the phragmites and flew out over the Humphries Unit and circled back toward me after flying west a couple hundred yards. The morning Sun on it flying against the dark skies made it POP!

Flying back toward me it settled down in the NW corner of the Humphries among the phragmites along the shoreline. 

The new firmware (Ver. 4.0) on the Sony a1 + 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS lens has really improved tracking autofocus. Even when the owl dropped behind phragmites I was still able to track it. But, it finally disappeared from view so I left the bike and hiked into the corner to see if I could re-find it.

Sure enough it lifted up out of the phragmites and again flew west along the shoreline of the Humphries. 

It finally flew far enough to the west that I stopped filling the memory card. Returning to the bike (have I said lately how much I LOVE THIS THING!) I continued to the Banana Unit.

Cell 4 was absent except for a few Lesser Scaup and Bufflehead. They were far out on the water and I was cold enough that I decided to only ride the Lake Erie shoreline down to the beach opposite Cell 3 and back (only a pair of Ring-billed Gulls). Lake Erie was choppy from the North Wind so I continued north to Cell 5.

Engineers have stretched a dredge pipe across the south side of Cell 5 to the barge but buried it, so it was easy enough to ride over. The first Horned Grebes were seen in Cell 4 to my right but too far to photograph. Lake Erie was rough and riding into the teeth of the N wind hurt. But, a few pairs of Mallard and American Black Duck were flushing from the shoreline so I had something to distract from the pain.

When I reached the west side of the Vermet Unit from the North Causeway I took the dike south to the Middle Causeway hoping to see the Short-eared Owl again. It did not show so I headed back to the car. I stopped long enough to document a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls roosting in the Humphries Unit near the Pump House.

As I reached the car I was surprised to hear Western Chorus Frogs singing from the Walpatich Unit. It was still only 28ºF and the wind made it feel even colder. But, the Sun was shining and the water temperature must be warm enough. Respect!

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 31), Monroe, Michigan, US
Mar 27, 2026 8:18 AM - 9:41 AM
Protocol: Traveling
7.682 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, cold, windy (from N at 25mph) w windchill in teens. Storms last night appear to have pushed many birds out of the area.
36 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  220
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  65
Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  5
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)  36
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)  45
American Wigeon (Mareca americana)  65
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  148
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  46
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  12
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  32
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  65
Redhead (Aythya americana)  45
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  66
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  24
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  125
Greater/Lesser Scaup (Aythya marila/affinis)  400
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  45
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  6
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  24
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)  12
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  2
American Coot (Fulica americana)  800
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  8
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  120     Large flock in NW corner of Humphries Unit near Pump House. Pics
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  12
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  8
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  6
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)  120     Humphries Unit east. Numbers down from 965 just 2 days ago.
Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius)  1
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  2
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)  1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  6
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)  12
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  12
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  40
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S313587388

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