The Bonies Ate the Hornies - 18 Mar 2026

Yesterday afternoon Justin Labadie reported as many as 400 Horned Grebes on Lake Erie across from Cells 3 - 5 at Pt. Mouillee SGA in s. Monroe Co., MI USA. With high winds finally starting to diminsh here in SE Mich I decided to drive out this morning to look for them. Temperatures were in the low 20's and wind chills would put them in the single digits. Someone was not wrong.

I arrived at the Mouillee Creek parking lot shortly before 8:30 am and rode out the Middle Causeway. The plan was to ride directly to the Banana Unit, south to Cell 2, east to the Lake Erie shoreline, then back north to Cell 5.

Clouds and a partially-obscured sunrise, high winds (still), and low temperatures had put a fresh layer of ice on all inland ponds including the Lautenschlager and Walpatich Units. Small pockets of open water were tightly packed with Gadwall, American Wigeon and Ring-necked Ducks.

Near the Pump House the ducks were closer, but they flushed upon my approach. This Wood Duck was stuck between several Canada Geese that decided. to stay so I was able to get some pics as it swam back and forth trying to decided its next move. 

Yes, the wind was blowing.

Ice on the Humprhies Unit reduced open water roosting spots for the Gadwall, American Wigeon and Northern Shovelers. They were flushing at a distance to the east and reduced my efforts to long-distance photography with the Sony a1 + 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens + 1.4TC.

A pair of Northern Pintail were a nice find in the flock of mostly Gadwall and American Wigeon.

Reaching the Banana Unit I head winds blowing at 30mph or better and it was COLD. I put my head down and throttled my way to the path separating Cells 1 and 2 and rode east to the Lake Erie shoreline. At least the wind (SE) would be at my back as I headed back north along the Lake Erie shoreline. Waves were crashing against the shoreline and ice was forming large shelves or slush.

As I reached Cell 3 I began scanning the lake for Horned Grebes but found none. I finally came upon a single individual 30 yds out and got long-distant photos.

A large shelf of ice was hosting roosting American Herring Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. Among them were this 1st-winter Great Black-backed Gull.

Compare with a 1st-winter American Herring Gull.

Winds were slowing the gulls foraging along the shoreline so I took the opportunity to test the latest Firmware Update (4.0) for the Sony a1. I had also updated the firmware on the 600/4, which was supposed to improve image stabilization.

This Ring-billed Gull still showed some winter streaking in its head, so it hadn't quite finished molting into its all-white head alternate plumage (see above).

Bird-eye AF locked onto its eye and held focus for a good 20-30 images straight!

A scan of the lake still failed to produce Horned Grebes, but a flock of Bonaparte's Gulls were working the shoreline toward me. So I turned my attention (and lens) toward them. Winds were blowing so it was hard to stabilize the camera and lens, but AF did a nice job finding eyeballs and locking on (I was using standard "3" tracking). I found that I could get a burst but would lose the bird against the ice background.

When focus did lock on I could follow the bird as long as I could keep it in the viewfinder. But they were close that tracking w/ the lens was tough. Still, I could get 20-30 frames consistently sharp.

They were picking shrimp or larvae from the ice that was scouring the shoreline (not minnows).

Overhead a flock of 6 American White Pelicans passed low enough that I could only get 1 or 2 birds in my viewfinder at a time.

I started seeing more Horned Grebes but their numbers (46) were well below reported last evening. I suspect that the 400 Bonaparte's Gulls may have eaten them? :)

The Horned Grebes are actively molting into alternate/breeding plumage so I was seeing all sorts of variations in head/body colors. But the white-tipped black bill helped verify ID when I tried to make some into Eared Grebes (not present).

Along the North Causeway small flocks of Lesser and Greater Scaup were congregating in rafts out in the middle of the Huron River and too far to photograph. Small groups of Bufflehead were closer and would flush upon my appearance.

Heading back south along the dike separating Lautenschlager and Bloody Run Units flocks of Northern Shoveler were flushing from the canals. Severely backlit they were a struggle to photograph.

I'd return to the car a bit before 10:30 am and head back home.

The firmware update on the camera worked well. I felt I had better tracking but will try again after setting lock-on AF to setting 1. Stay tuned.

Pte. Mouillee SGA (permit required Sep 1-Dec 31), Monroe, Michigan, US
Mar 18, 2026 8:27 AM - 10:31 AM
Protocol: Traveling
10.634 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Cloudy, sustained 35mph winds SE causing ice along shoreline if Lake Erie and inland ponds to ice over except for small patches of open water holding all the ducks and geese.
33 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  36
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)  80
Wood Duck (Aix sponsa)  6
Northern Shoveler (Spatula clypeata)  65
Gadwall (Mareca strepera)  60
American Wigeon (Mareca americana)  40
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  46
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes)  45
Northern Pintail (Anas acuta)  2
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)  2
Redhead (Aythya americana)  2
Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)  39
Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)  129
Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)  139
Greater/Lesser Scaup (Aythya marila/affinis)  800
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)  40
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)  2
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)  6
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)  36
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)  12
Wilson's Snipe (Gallinago delicata)  1
Bonaparte's Gull (Chroicocephalus philadelphia)  450     Massive flock along Lake Erie shoreline foraging between Cells 5-2.
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  40
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)  1
Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus)  46
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  17
American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)  6
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  8
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)  1
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  4
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  1
American Tree Sparrow (Spizelloides arborea)  16
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  2
Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)  46

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S310298030

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