Four Nature Club Events in May

May 3

Grand Haven Field Trip

Ken Sapkowski

May 10

North American Migration Count

Brian Johnson

May 15

Potluck Meeting

Details in May Newsletter

May 17

Big Day Count

Feller DeWitt & Ric Pedler

This annual club event was originally organized by Margaret Drake Elliott and George Wickstrom long ago. Locations have changed over the years, but the basic purpose has remained unchanged: a group of us spends all day trying to find the maximum number of bird species within the confines of Muskegon County.

This year's event will follow the same pattern that we've followed this century. A few hard-core individuals will meet at the outer Lane's Landing yellow gate before 5:00 a.m. to listen for night birds. At 5:00 they will drive the one-mile Lane's Landing road, pausing to listen along the way, and park their cars near the inner yellow gate.

From there they will add additional species by ear until the sky provides enough light to see the birds. As other people gradually arrive, the group will bird the trail north along the marsh and woodlands to the Muskegon River, then back to the cars, and then back to the outer gate.

Sometime mid-morning they'll drive up Maple Island Road to the State Game Area headquarters to bird along the Maple River and eat brown-bag lunches on the porch of the DNR office building.

Early afternoon will find them driving and birding the Wastewater properties. Late afternoon might find them anywhere, searching for species that have eluded them so far.

Supper is usually at the North Muskegon McDonald's followed by a walk around the nearby Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve. Then it's out to Snug Harbor at Muskegon State Park to walk the fringes and trails. In the final light of day they'll drive out to Lake Michigan and south to the Muskegon Channel in hopes of some final species.

Non-die-hards may join and leave this core group anytime throughout the day. Don't forget food and drink if you plan to lunch with us at SGA headquarters and bug repellent if you don't plan to be lunch for mosquitoes at the wetland areas. If you have a walkie-talkie, tune it to Channel 11, Subchannel 00.

We hope to see you for at least part of this annual event!  You do not need to be a club member to participate.

Click here and then scroll down to see last year's Big Day report with photos and the list of 125 bird species recorded.

Sarrett Nature Center and Brown Sanctuary

On Saturday April 19 fifteen of us headed down to Berrien County to bird the Sarrett Nature Center and Brown Sanctuary.  It was a beautiful cool spring morning with plenty of birds.

Highlights of the 42 species included Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Blue-winged Teal, Eastern Towhee, Wood Duck, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, White-throated, Swamp and Field Sparrow, American Coot and three Great Egret north of the nature center.  

Author's Muskegon Program Needs R.S.V.P.

Author Joel Greenberg will be speaking at Muskegon's Lakeshore Museum Center, 430 W. Clay Ave., at 6:00 p.m. May 21, 2014.

His talk "Hope is a Thing with Feathers: Americans and Three Birds" will include information about the Passenger Pigeon, subject of his fourth book A Feathered River Across the Sky; the Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction.

Space is limited so please call 231-722-0278 if you plan to attend.

Wastewater Bluebird Box Monitoring

Anita Friend, a chemist at the Muskegon County Wastewater System and liason person for the birding community, presented details at our March club meeting for monitoring the bluebird boxes along White Road extending east from the headquarters area.  Her instructions and images below describe in detail how that process will work.

Anyone wishing to volunteer on this project should contact Anita at the phone number below.  Bob Wygant will do the monitoring the weeks of April 7 and April 14.

   1.  Contact Anita Friend (231-724-3457) to schedule a day to check the nest boxes.  If no one has called by Wednesday, she will contact Bob Wygant and he will monitor the nest boxes for that week.

   2.  Obtain a Visitor's Pass and Field Data Sheets from the Wastewater Administration Building’s main desk Monday through Friday.  Please note that all header information is already filled in for each nest box.

   3.  Monitor the nest boxes.  Anita will demonstrate how to do this for first-time volunteers.

   4.  Return the Field Data Sheets to the main desk at the Administration Building. 

All field data is entered into the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nestwatch website, and an end-of-season report will be given to the Michigan Bluebird Society.

Thank you for helping with this exciting project!  Please do not hesitate to call Anita with questions, concerns or feedback.

14 People 45 Species This Morning

Feller DeWitt's Ottawa County Field Trip went well this cold cloudy morning.

Beginning at Chinook Pier in downtown Grand Haven we traveled to Harbor Island and then the fisherman's parking lot at the State Park seeing 29 species along the way including White-winged Scoter, Red-necked Grebe, Peregrine Falcon, Common Grackle, Glaucous Gull, Great Black-backed Gull (5 at Harbor Island), Killdeer and Hooded Merganser.

At Pigeon Lake near the Campbell Power Plant we added 5 more species including Pied-billed Grebe.  Along Crosswell Road on our way to Hemlock Crossing were 2 more: Pileated Woodpecker and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Hemlock Crossing gave us 11 more including Downy, Red-bellied and Harry Woodpeckers, Red-tailed Hawk and American Tree Sparrow.

March 20 Meeting & Program

Post-meeting Update:  Thirty people heard from Anita Friend of Muskegon County Wastewater regarding the upcoming project to maintain bluebird boxes along the trails near W.W. headquarters.  Then Zachary DeBruine presented his program regarding eBird and the many new and innovative features there.

More Awards and Brian's Program

At our February 20 meeting Ric Pedler was honored for finishing last in the club's birding contest for the past five years.  The certificate was presented by Feller and Charlie DeWitt, the trophy was created by Dee DeWitt, and somewhere in the background lurked Ken Sapkowski.  Thanks to Carol Cooper for the presentation photograph.

Afterward Brian Johnson presented his program about bird migration and his bird banding project at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve.

January Trip Nets 27 Species Plus Surf Scoter

On Saturday morning ten of us birded the Wastewater and eight of us the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve finding 24 and 13 species respectively.  We had a "merganser trifecta" (common, red-breasted, hooded), snow buntings and owl, lots of goldeneyes, and six bald eagles (three at each location).

Afterward we enjoyed lunch at the Main Street Cafe in North Muskegon.  Ken and his magic bird-finder (Glenda) left the party early to find this male Surf Scoter in the Muskegon Channel.

Twenty-seven total species for the morning, not counting the channel birds, and good companionship made for a great day.

Ken Sapkowski Best Birder of 2013

Muskegon, Jan. 16, 2014 (AP):  Ken Sapkowski reaped numerous awards for his astounding 291 bird species listed in 2013.  That number may have been even higher had he counted Whooping Cranes, Barnacle Geese, Cockatiels, road kill, etc.

After receiving his spiral notebook pencil-engraved certificate from club president Ric Pedler, Ken accepted Charlie DeWitt's three-penny monetary prize (based on 1/100 cent per species rounded to the nearest hundredth) with accompanying plaque

and the prestigious trophy created by Feller and Dee DeWitt.

Parcipants in the 2013 MCNC Listing Contest:  Charlie DeWitt, Feller DeWitt, Ken Sapkowski, Ric Pedler and Carol Cooper.

1,729 Birds, 49 Species on Muskegon CBC

On December 28, 2013, several of us surveyed the North, Central and South Zones on our annual City of Muskegon Christmas Bird Count.  We found 1,729 individual birds among these 49 species:

Mute Swan, Wood Duck, Mallard, Canvasback, Greater Scaup, White-winged & Black Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded & Common & Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Wild Turkey, Horned Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawk, Merlin, Ring-billed & Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Snowy Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Red-headed & Red-bellied & Downy & Hairy & Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Horned Lark, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red- & White- breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Robin, European Starling, American Tree & House Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Northern Cardinal, House Finch and American Goldfinch.