So Many Pelicans! - 24 Mar 2026

Temperatures were to reach 60ºF this afternoon with high winds, so I decided to take an early morning ride at Pt. Mouillee while the air was still calm. Temperature at 8:30 am was 32ºF so it was a bit chilly.

Parking at Mouillee Creek I rode around to the west side of the Walpatich Unit and immediately scared up a small flock of Northern Shovelers from the flooded shoreline.

 

A small flock of Blue-winged Teal also flushed from the corner of the first dike but several pair remained long enough for a photo or two.

My plan was to ride around to the east side of the Lautenschlager Unit to look for the Greater White-fronted Geese (from last week) before heading back to the Middle Causeway. As I reached the Lautenschlager Unit the calls of 80 Tundra Swan directed my attention overhead. They were moving south along the Lake Erie shoreline.

The Lautenschlager Unit still held a good number of Ring-necked Ducks, Gadwall, American Wigeon and Lesser Scaup while the west shoreline held good numbers of Green-winged Teal and Northern Pintail. As I scanned the flocks of Canada Geese I found 1, then two more, and 10 more Greater White-fronted Geese still hanging out in the same location as last week. There were now 12 instead of 10.

After 10 minutes or so I headed back to the Middle Causeway and rode east toward the Banana Unit. Along the way I was surprised to see the number of American Coot growing in the Humphries Unit. 

Canvasback were also numerous here.

And, the first of hundreds of American White Pelicans swimming among them.

In the NW corner of the unit one small raft numbered near 100.

As I approached the Vermet Unit I spotted a Short-eared Owl flying east along the south shoreline before crossing the causeway and disappearing into the Humphries Unit. I took chase and saw it reappear and head north along the Vermet Unit.

It then circled back to the west behind me and head for the dike separating Long Pond and Vermet Units. I decided to turn around and look for it (I'd then ride to the North Causeway and work south along the Banana Unit).

I saw it flying west over the Long Pond Unit so I turned to head north to the North Causeway. As I rode the Short-eared Owl appeared ahead of me along the dike but was flying faster than I could ride and finally disappeared in the Long Pond next to the North Causeway.

As I rode east along the North Causeway small rafts of Lesser and Greater Scaup were flushing from the shoreline. That's when I spotted this Common Loon 50 yds from shore.

Surprisingly, the Huron River and mouth to Lake Erie were sparse in terms of duck numbers. Bufflehead numbers were still in the hundreds but they were far out from shore or far out on the lake. I found no need to stop as I rode around Cell 5 to Lake Erie and back to the north end of Cell 4. 

As I rode west along the north end of Cell 4 I spotted a single Redhead female swimming from shore. She looked to have fishing line stuck in her bill.

Horned Grebes are thinning out fast. I spotted only 1 on Lake Erie but 3 more in Cell 4. This one was close enough to photograph with the 600/4.

Construction crews were starting to string out dredge pipe in the NW corner of Cell 4. One pipe was laying across the path ahead of me, and I needed to get permission from a contract engineer to walk the bike past the pipe while it was being hoisted by a forklift and cut by an engineer. I was able to squeeze by; I would've had to turn around and ride back around to the North Causeway to get past...

The ride around to the NE corner of Cell 3 and south along Lake Erie was uneventful. I rode down to the dike separating Cells 1 and 2 (I did flush 5 Sandhill Cranes from the pond in the NW corner of Cell 1) and headed back north along the east side of the Humphries Unit.

As I rode north I could see huge numbers of American White Pelicans in the Humphries Unit. At the SE corner of the Humphries I found another raft of 100 birds with a few roosting on the small islands along the east shoreline.

Heading west along the Middle Causeway I stopped to take a video of a massive raft of pelicans along the north end of the Humphries Unit. I spent an hour counting pelicans FOV-by-FOV and came up with 753 birds. Add the 200 plus another 12 in the Vermet Unit and tallied 965 American White Pelicans!

Despite the temperature being near freezing the morning was surprisingly pleasant. I was warm enough and the Sun was starting to diffuse through the clouds so I decided to ride south of the Pump House down along the Bad Creek Unit to see if there was any activity.

American Tree Sparrows and Song Sparrows were the only birds I'd see as I rode the grassy dike south toward the Roberts Road parking lot. 

An Eastern Phoebe popped into view; I was hoping to find one this morning. 

As I reached the Bad Creek parking lot (between Rheaume Rd and the turn to the Roberts Road parking lot) I noticed that Roberts Road was barricaded, so I wouldn't be able to ride back to the Mouillee Creek parking lot. I had to turn around and ride back to the Pump House and the Middle Causeway.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 31), Monroe, Michigan, US
Mar 25, 2026 8:15 AM - 10:29 AM
Protocol: Traveling
11.918 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, 36F, calm.
48 species (+1 other taxa)

Greater White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons)  12     Continuing in Lautenschlager Unit along west side of shoreline. Photos. Brown greese w/ orange bills, white 'fronts' and black belly marks. Pics.Two additional birds seen from last week's count.
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  38
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  64
Tundra Swan (Cygnus columbianus)  86
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)  6
Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  5
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)  65
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)  220
American Wigeon (Mareca americana)  140
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  220
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  6
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  8
Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca)  32
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  40
Redhead (Aythya americana)  24
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  64
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  24
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  240
Greater/Lesser Scaup (Aythya marila/affinis)  900
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  220
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  8
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  16
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator)  14
Ruddy Duck (Oxyura jamaicensis)  2
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  2
American Coot (Fulica americana)  450
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)  7
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  8
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  6
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  7
American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus)  4
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)  6
Common Loon (Gavia immer)  1
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  14
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  2
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  2
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)  965     Humphries Unit. Rafts of 100+100+12 + 753 counted from 4K/120p video of massive raft (3     15      45      61      81      75      50      30      39      73      96      76      49      42      18      =753) counted FOV by FOV.
Cooper's Hawk (Astur cooperii)  1
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)  1
Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)  1
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  1
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  4
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  8
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)  6
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  10
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  65
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)  32
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S312979247

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