May 18 Big Day Count

We’ve calculated the final Big Day Count number of species from May 18:

118

Here is the list:

Common Nighthawk

Great Crested Flycatcher

American Robin

Great Horned Owl

Wood Thrush

Scarlet Tanager

Veery

Gray Catbird

Northern Cardinal

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow Warbler

Indigo Bunting

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

American Redstart

Swamp Sparrow

Black-billed Cuckoo

Mourning Dove

Red-winged Blackbird

Ovenbird

Canada Goose

Trumpeter Swan

Wood Duck

Green Heron

Pied-billed Grebe

Sandhill Crane

Common Grackle

Common Gallinule

Mallard

Hooded Merganser

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Chimney Swift

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Virginia Rail

Sora

American Coot

Killdeer

Ring-billed Gull

Green Heron

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture

Belted Kingfisher

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

American Kestrel

Eastern Wood Pewee

Willow Flycatcher

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Yellow-throated Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

Tree Swallow

Barn Swallow

Brown Creeper

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Marsh Wren

Eastern Bluebird

Cedar Waxwing

American Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

Baltimore Oriole

Brown-headed Cowbird

Blue-winged Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Blue-winged Teal

Gadwall

Greater Scaup

Ruddy Duck

Upland Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Herring Gull

Western Cattle Egret

Great Egret

Turkey Vulture

Fish Crow

Horned Lark

Bank Swallow

Cliff Swallow

European Starling

House Sparrow

House Finch

Grasshopper Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Bobolink

Eastern Meadowlark

Orchard Oriole

Northern Shoveler

Lesser Scaup

Bufflehead

Pectoral Sandpiper

Downy Woodpecker

Lesser Yellowlegs

Red-tailed Hawk

Acadian Flycatcher

Alder Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Eastern Phoebe

House Wren

Field Sparrow

Black-and-white Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Tufted Titmouse

Black-throated Green Warbler

Pileated Woodpecker

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Purple Martin

Swainson’s Thrush

Eastern Towhee

Redhead

Eagle, Bald

May Events

 May 16, 2024

Potluck Picnic

Muskegon State Park

    Our annual potluck picnic supper, meeting, and bird walk will begin at 6:00 p.m. and end before dark on Thursday, May 16, 2024.  Please bring a dish-to-pass, your own tableware, and your own beverage to the usual location (a pavilion to the right of the guard shack at the Snug Harbor parking lot of Muskegon State Park).  Your vehicle should have a Michigan State Parks Recreation Passport license plate.  

    During the brief meeting after the meal we'll have an update on the progress of the George Wickstrom Trail and an election of officers for 2024-2025.  Anyone interested in being next year's president, vice-president, secretary or treasurer should let Beth know.

    We'll conclude our evening with a short bird walk around the area including nearby portions of the Lost Lake Trail.  We hope to see you there!

May 18, 2024

Annual Big Day Count

    Diehards will meet before 5:00 a.m., Saturday, May 18, 2024, at the outer gate of Lane's Landing just beyond where Maple Island Road crosses Mosquito Creek a mile north of the entrance to the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center (MCRRC).  Be careful pulling into and out of this driveway at the bottom of the hill as traffic on Maple Island Road can be fast!

    Shortly after 5:00 the group will drive the mile to the inner gate, stopping occasionally to listen for night birds.  When it's light enough to see, they will walk the mile north to the Muskegon River and back.  Then they will drive north on Maple Island Road less than two miles to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources headquarters (driveway on the left) for birding along the Maple River.

    Lunch as usual will be brown-bag on the porch of the headquarters building.  During the afternoon the group will bird the MCRRC properties by car and perhaps some other locations depending on what bird species are still needed.

    After a quick supper at the North Muskegon McDonald's, they will bird the nearby Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve before driving west to Snug Harbor at Muskegon State Park and concluding their day along the north wall of the Muskegon Channel.

    You are welcome to join or leave this group anytime and anywhere along the way!