Seven of us enjoyed a walk around the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve this morning. Temperatures rose from the 40’s to the 60’s this lovely fall day.
Along our way we encountered 38 bird species including Trumpeter Swan, Green-winged Teal, grebe, coot, snipe, egret, kingfisher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Marsh Wren, White-throated Sparrow and Orange-crowned Warbler.
Thanks to Glen Miller for these photos of Belted Kingfisher, White-throated Sparrow, Great Blue Heron, House Finch and Trumpeter Swan:
October 15 Program
"There and Back Again"
Avian Navigation and Migration
Michael Lombardo
Many species of birds in the temperate zone are long-distance travelers that make twice yearly journeys between their breeding and wintering grounds. This program will review the costs and benefits to birds of migration, some of the spectacular journeys made by some birds, and the various ways that birds find their way during migration including following other birds, using land features and coastlines as guides, using the position of the sun if they travel by day or the stars if they travel at night, the geomagnetic field of the earth, odors, and inherited navigation.
Michael P. Lombardo is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Grand Valley State University. He earned his B.S. in Zoology at The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Zoology and a Ph.D. in Ecology at Rutgers University and was a Junior Fellow in the Michigan Society of Fellows at the University of Michigan. During his 30-year career at GVSU he taught classes in Evolution, General Biology, Human Evolution, Human Sexuality, Ornithology, Vertebrate Natural History, and Wildlife Management. He is Fellow of the American Ornithological Society. Among his over 60 publications in peer-reviewed science journals are papers on various aspects of the biology of Tree Swallows, Eastern and Mountain Bluebirds, European Starlings, and House Sparrows.
October 19 Field Trip
Two Northside Locations
Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve (on Lake Ave. in North Muskegon just west of the traffic light at Lake and M-120). We will bird the trails of the preserve south to the Muskegon River and back.
Then we will drive a few miles west on Ruddiman (Memorial) Drive to the Snug Harbor parking lot of Muskegon State Park (around the left curve after the Peterson Road intersection). Depending on time and conditions, we will bird the Snug Harbor area and perhaps part of the Lost Lake Trail.
This trip will end around noon. We hope to see you there!