Thursday Evening, May 15, 2025
Potluck Picnic Meeting & Bird Walk
Our last meeting of the 2024-2025 season as usual will be combined with a potluck picnic at the Snug Harbor pavilion at Muskegon State Park. Arrive by 6:00 p.m. with a dish-to-pass and whatever beverages, plasticware, napkins, etc. you will be using. (The club will not be providing water, etc.)
After the meal we'll hold a brief meeting which will include election of officers for the 2025-2026 season. Then for those who want to stick around until dusk, we'll take a bird walk around the area.
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Big Day Count
(Bring a lawn chair for lunch.)
This is our annual all-day find-as-many-bird-species-in-the-county-as-we-can field trip. A few die-hards will spend the entire day together, but most will join and leave the group as they wish. Here is a list of where we'll be and approximately when:
Before 5:00 a.m.: Meet Beth Miller and others at the outer gate of Lane's Landing. This is the driveway off Maple Island Road about a mile north of the Wastewater (Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center) entrance at the bottom of the hill where Mosquito Creek goes under Maple Island Road. Be careful here as traffic on Maple Island Road can be fast.
5:00 - 5:30 driving the mile to the inner Lane's Landing gate with a couple of stops along the way to listen for night birds.
5:30 until dawn, in the parking lot by the inner gate.
First half of the morning walking the trail up through the Lane's Landing Marsh and the "Prothonotary Woods" to the Muskegon River and back.
Second half of the morning on the Michigan Depatment of Natural Resources property (entrance about 1.3 mile north up Maple Island Road from Lane's Landing, 7600 Messinger Road) walking from the headquarters buildings along the Maple River west to the "Snipe Field" and back.
Lunch (brown bag) near the field office headquarters building. The porch there no longer exists, so having a lawn or camp chair will be handy, but is not necessary.
First half of the afternoon on the Wastewater (MCRRC) properties, mostly by car. A walkie-talkie tuned to Channel 11, subchannel 0 can be helpful, but is not necessary.
Second half of the afternoon, wherever we drive to find bird species not yet found.
Early evening supper at the McDonald's restaurant in North Muskegon north of the Veterans Memorial Causeway, followed by a walk around the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve.
A brief evening walk near the wesr end of the Snug Harbor parking lot at Muskegon State Park.
Finally, still at Muskegon State Park, a drive to the north side of the Muskegon Channel in hopes of adding a Lake Michigan species or two and likely finding some Purple Martins at the channel.
We hope you can join our group for some or all of this day!
