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Birding by Bike on the Betsie Valley Trail On September 24 six of us monitored nest boxes along the Betsie Valley trail from Beulah to Pioneer Road (see photo on the Club Activities portion of the Pictures page). Thanks to Bill, John, Nancy and Kim who joined Bryce and me this year, even on a morning that threatened to rain but didn't! Boxes with apparent bluebird success = 12 We monitored 5 more boxes along this stretch of trail than last year. Box 9A was installed this spring. We're not sure why we didn't monitor boxes 15A, 15B, 16 and 17 last year. Were they there in 2010 and we just didn't see them?
For our complete results by box number, see the attached pdf file. Let me know if you have any questions. John and Kim took lots of photos, but I took this one. I joined Bryce to monitor the last few boxes near Pioneer (he did boxes 18 to 25B on foot due to a flat bicycle tire while the rest of us peddled back to Beulah). We found a beautiful Tree Swallow nest with lots of feathers and 5 unhatched eggs. I didn't have my camera, so I carried the nest back to the car to photograph it. Unfortunately, 2 eggs dropped out as I carried it, but I did get this shot.
--Paula Dreeszen Paddle Trip Here are some photos from the July 14 paddle at Pearl Lake. We had a large group of 23 on a calm evening (with only a few sprinkles!).
GTRLC had this event in their last newsletter and on their web site, so many of the participants consisted of conservancy staff and supporters. Since I knew this group was coming, I brought a map showing the land on South Bay that GTRLC helped protect 12 years ago and briefly explained this land purchase and transfer to the state as a public natural area. One man said he attended Carl's dragonfly hike at Pearl Lake during the fundraising campaign and he remembers it as a awesome hike.
Some of the birds we saw: the loon family of 4, eagle perched near the nest on South Bay, and 10 Sandhill Cranes that flew in about 8 pm. Also juvenile Tree Swallows hovering in reeds, a Green Heron along the shore, and kingfishers. In honor of Carl, we also noticed, and passed around for close inspection, the exuvia of dragonfly naiads attached to reeds!
Birding By Ear Six energetic and enthusiastic birders joined me for a great morning of birding by ear Saturday, June 18th at Otter Creek. The birds were very cooperative and by the end of the two hours we had identified nearly 50 species, mostly by songs and call notes. The group started out by finding an active nest of a pair of Baltimore Orioles just off the parking area. Next to bugle in were several Sandhill Cranes, followed quickly by Gray Catbird, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and Red-eyed Vireo. As we walked slowly up the trail we heard and saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler, spotted a Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting at the top of a leafless alder branch, and listened to the songs of Blue-Headed and Warbling Vireo and Alder Flycatcher. I was lucky enough to catch sight of a bird calling that I had not seen in a while as I pointed out a single Golden-winged Warbler next to the trail. The highlight of the morning was finding a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers busy building a nest at the top of a dead birch tree. To make things even more interesting there was a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches clearly taking food to a nest in a crack at the base of the same tree. On the way back to the cars we spotted a group of five Great Blue Herons flying overhead and had a great look at a Scarlet Tanager at eye level. One of our participants reported seeing a Dickcissel at the corner of Esch Road and M-22 on the way in so we drove there to see if we could find it. Unfortunately, the bird was not there, but we did add a few grassland species to our day list, including Clay-colored Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow and Bobolink. After everyone else had moved on to other activities I decided to take one more look for the Dickcissel and was rewarded by finding it a short while later. My thanks to the six sacrificial birders who unselfishly left, thereby giving up their opportunity to see a great bird so that I could find it. --Doug Cook Dune Wildflower Hike
Bryce and I led a dune wildflower hike yesterday at Arcadia Dunes, accompanied by fellow GTRLC volunteers Sue Waltz, Joyce Delamarter, Ben and Sally Lundquist and Carl Freeman. Six others joined this Benzie Audubon/GTRLC-advertised hike. Dune wildflowers were just starting to peak. Yellow blooms included: Balsam Ragwort, Hairy Puccoon, Yellow Ladyslippers (at dune edge) and Sand Coreopsis (4 photos at left below). Red Windflower had already formed woolly fruits, but Wood Lily, Harebell, and Orobanche were just starting to bloom (4 photos at right below). Pitcher's Thistle plants were still in bud and hadn't started to bloom. Dune blooms should continue to peak for the next week or two.
--Paula Dreeszen 2011 Big Day Count
May 21st was slated for this year's version of the Big Day Count. The idea in a big day count is to see as many bird species as possible in one day. No need to count every bird you see; tick off the new bird identified and move on down the road to the next one. This year's event had participants from several states looking for that rare sighting anywhere between the Red Bridge area of extreme southeastern Manistee County to the shores of Otter Lake in northwest Benzie County. By the end of the day the group had reported a total of 151 species. Not a bad total, but some of the old hands remember a couple of past counts in the high 160's. A dearth of waterfowl and shorebirds kept numbers down this year. Highlights for the day included 24 warbler species (including Prairie, Cerulean and Louisiana Waterthrush), Great Egret, a late Common Goldeneye, Upland Sandpiper (see John Ester's photo above), Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Northern Mockingbird and two maniacal Northern Goshawks.. Sighted just a day later was a Broad-winged Hawk, and a couple of days after that 18 White Pelicans were seen flying down the coastline of Lake Michigan. The weather was grand and the camaraderie at the lunch gathering is always something to look forward to. Next year's Big Day Count will be May 20th, so save the date and get in on the action Beginning Birding
If you didn't attend the Beginning Birding field trip Saturday, May 7, you missed a dandy. The weather was picture perfect--mostly sunny, warming, and little wind--and the birds were out in good numbers. The Adams Road spot is ideal for warblers and other migrants, and we weren't disappointed this time. A catbird greeted us loudly as we started down the trail, giving everyone a good look and listen at the same time. Soon we were surrounded by golden-crowned and ruby-crowned kinglets. One ruby-crown was so brightly displayed it looked like the bird was plugged into a turbo-charged electrical source. Other highlights included blue-gray gnatcatcher, great crested flycatcher, and several warblers including black-and-white, black-throated green, palm, American redstart, yellow-rumped, ovenbird, and northern waterthrush. We also added rose-breasted grosbeak, sora, sandhill crane, a flight of three great blue herons, and a couple of bugling sandhill cranes to our trip list. We finished things off with the first Baltimore oriole of the season for most of us. In all we had 53 species for the morning--not bad for a couple of hours of work. One of the “beginning” birders on the trip looked at his watch as we approached the cars and couldn't believe how quickly the time had flown by. That's how it is in the birding game, especially this time of year. Below is a complete list of the birds we tallied:
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