June 18 Field Trip Report

Eight of us birded three areas in Allegan County yesterday and lunched at the Crane's Orchard Pie Pantry Restaurant.  Photos taken by Beth Miller.

At the Allegan State Game Area farm unit we found 46 species including a very cooperative Henslow's Sparrow that sang repeatedly and perched on a grass stalk for us.  Other species there included Dickcissel ...

... Sandhill Crane, Red-tailed Hawk, Cedar Waxwing, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Towhee and Indigo Bunting.

Chip led us to a beautiful woods east of Fennville where we heard a few Cerulean Warblers and watched this particularly cooperative one:

Other birds at that location included Acadian, Least and Great Crested Flycatcher; Yellow-throated, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo; Blue-gray Gnatcatcher; Wood Thrush; Ovenbird and American Redstart; Scarlet Tanager; and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

At New Richmond we watched and listened to a Carolina Wren!  Also present was a Prothonotary Warbler ...

... and Cliff Swallow, another Cerulean Warbler, Osprey, and more.

Well over 60 species on this beautiful almost-summer day!

Big Day Count Report

Six Die-hards and a total of 17 people participated in our club's annual Big Day Count on Saturday, May 21, 2022.  They recorded a total of 127 bird species.  See the complete listing on our Recent Sightings page.

April Program and Field Trip Report

April 21 Program

Penny Briscoe from Vicksburg, well-known for her knowledge of Purple Martins, presented a fascinating program at our monthly meeting Thursday.  Besides club members, several "purple martin people" were in the audience as well.  Penny left some brochures and other materials which you may get from Ric.

April 23 Field Trip

Finally, beautiful weather for our monthly field trip, and surprisingly only five people participated.  We walked counterclockwise from the temporary Lincoln Street entrance on the 2.2-mile trail around the lake at the new Dune Harbor County Park (formerly the Nugent Sand property).  

Our efforts produced 40 bird species including Wood Duck, Bufflehead, Redhead, Common Loon, Northern Harrier, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Common Raven, Tree Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, White-throated and Swamp Sparrow, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warbler, and close to 200 Double-crested Cormorants (one carrying nesting material)!

Bluebird Box Monitoring at MCRRC

Once again members of our club will help with the monitoring of bluebird boxes on the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center (Wastewater) properties.  This year the monitoring will take place for 13 weeks from May 16 into August. 

You may sign up for one day on either of two trails at this website ...

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080b49a8aa2da1fb6-bluebird

... or the old-fashioned way by contacting Anita Friend at MCRRC (email friendan@co.muskegon.mi.us or phone 231-724-3457).

That sign-up website includes more information and a helpful video showing how the monitoring is done.  The information you receive from Anita when you arrive also explains the procedure.  Monitoring a bluebird box trail takes about two hours.

March Program and Field Trip Reports

March 19, 2022

March 19 Field Trip at the Wastewater

Charlie DeWitt

    Before the trip I saw a Short-eared Owl.  

    On the trip we counted 31 species: Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Mallard, Gadwall, Bufflehead, Sandhill Crane, Ring-necked Duck, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Bald Eagle, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, European Starling, Common Grackle, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, American Wigeon, Snowy Owl, American Robin, American Goldfinch, Mourning Dove, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Tree Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse and Eastern Meadowlark. 

    We had 13 adults and 3 kids and birded from 8:00-10:30.

March 17 Program: Birding Costa Rica

Dave Dister

       The events in Dave's program occurred in late January through early February of 2019.  He was one of only five U.S. birders led by Johan Fernandez, a local birder who was excellent in helping Dave see and photograph at least 177 Life Birds.  They stayed at various rustic lodges in all of the major eco zones that they explored, from coastal to mountainous.  

Dave also brought copies of his book, Birds of Mason County, Michigan.

New App for Michigan Birders

A new app is being launched in Michigan called "Discord".  Its goal is to create a more consistent way to communicate both rare bird alerts and chat among Michigan birders at both the county and state levels. If you are interested in joining, visit the App Store or Google Play and get the free app.  Then email Ric Pedler or Beth Miller and they will send you an invitation to join:

oakridge35@yahoo.com

glenabeth@gmail.com

February Program and Field Trip Report

On the evening of February 17, Steve Barnard presented a very interesting and informative program about the operations of the Muskegon County Wastewater System.

February 19's field trip was scheduled for the same area.  However, just as last month, bad weather virtually canceled the trip.  The few people who didn't see our posting about the winter weather advisory found blustery conditions at the Wastewater.  We took a brief drive around the properties pointing out places to bird when the weather was good, but then called it a day.  Hopefully March will provide better weather!

Election of Officers for 2022-2023

Because Covid conditions still exist, members who were unable to vote by secret ballot in person at our February 17 meeting may still do so non-secretly by phoning or emailing Ric with their votes from Feb. 18-28, 2022.

No one other than the people below have asked to be candidates, but "write-ins" are acceptable whichever way you vote.

Candidates for 2022-2023

President:         Beth Miller

Vice-president: _________

Secretary:          Ric Pedler

Treasurer:    Greg DeWeerd

No January Events

A peak in local COVID conditions canceled the January 20 meeting.

Weather conditions "canceled" the January 22 field trip.  Charlie and Ric met at 8:00 in the parking lot along Muskegon Lake south of the channel.  They watched several ice fishermen deciding not to fish, observed a few others heading out on the ice despite the conditions (and the partially submerged tent of the guy who was rescued earlier in the week), saw a few Mallards (but no other birds, or birders), and headed for home before 8:30.

November 20 Field Trip Report

Ten of us meandered around Black Lake Park this morning -- a nice cold walk with a few birds scattered here and there; nothing to write home about.

Among the seventeen species were at least one Brown Creeper, five Pied-billed Grebes, and several Dark-eyed Juncos.  Surprisingly, no Northern Cardinals appeared on our walk, but two flew in front of Charlie's truck as he was leaving.

Photos by Carol Cooper:

The sun barely visible at the parking lot.