Our group of nine birders had a great trip at the Muskegon County Resource Recovery Center, aka wastewater ponds.  This huge facility just east of the city of Muskegon is a wonderful place for waterfowl during migration as well as other times of the year.  The facility is very birder friendly and visitors are allowed open access to drive the dikes.  A permit is required. Information, including permit application,  is available on their website. 

The predicted weather was a concern, but as you can see from the photo below, we had both blue skies and a rainbow.  The low temperature, high winds, rain, snow, and sleet were a mild inconvenience.

(Steve Jerant)

After a walk around the visitor’s center area where we got Ring-neck Pheasant, Eastern Meadowlark, and Eastern Bluebird, Ross lead us on our dike tour.  There are two main storage lagoons divided by a dike which is closed to visitors.  This road is popular with the gulls (we estimated nearly 5,000) who settle here when they’re not feeding next door at the landfill. Once on the dike we headed west between the west pond and the aeration facility. Several were active and working to add oxygen to the wastewater to aid bacteria in processing the water.  We drove a complete loop around the lagoons.

(Steve Jerant)

The ponds were filled with ducks and coots and some gulls.  We tallied 20 of these wet species including 4 gull and 16 geese, swan, ducks, and other water birds.  The most abundant were Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Shoveler, and Ruddy.  And there was one lonely Horned Grebe.

Of the 4 gull species we saw a few Bonapart’s and several Lesser Black-backed.  Below is a shot looking down the dike between the two main ponds showing the wall of gulls that congregate there.

(Penny Rund)

After looping the main lagoons, were drove a bit around the “rapid infiltration ponds” to the north on our way out. These were slightly productive, getting us more Meadowlark and a American Kestrel.

Lunch was enjoyed at Turk’s Tavern in Nunica before we migrated back south to Jackson.

The complete eBird checklist is available at:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S226034267

We had eleven volunteers come out to the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary for our bi-annual workbee today.   It was a beautiful day!

Our main project was to install new interpretive signs that Michigan Audubon had made for the property.  MA worked with an artist to put a custom look on some of the signs including one honoring the work of Larry Waklinshaw and one showing the crane's-eye view of the overlook area.  We completed the installation of 4 signs but have more that will be staged in the coming weeks.  These signs were made possible through the Barton J. Ingraham and Gail G. Ingraham Foundation.  

In addition to the new signage, we also cleared two trail sections blocked by fallen trees, picked up trash on the roads, continued the removal of Asian Bittersweet in the new savanna area, and picked a wonderfully SMALL amount of garlic mustard in the fenced area near the parking lot.

Gary & Chad installing the savanna restoration sign. 

Lathe & Chad after a job well done.

Our monthly workdays continue the third Thursday of the month and the next one is 04/17. Contact Steve at jacksonaudubon@gmail.com to register.

(all photos-Steve Jerant)

We had a very successful PRESCRIBED BURN at the Sanctuary this afternoon.

(Steve Jerant)

22 acres of the grassland in Unit #3 on Wooster Rd. was burned. A short video is available on the JAS YouTube page at
https://youtu.be/BevgE6EI0q4

 Before it gets too much colder I'd like to get our own Alex Johnson's 2024 nest box report out.  The 2024 Nesting Season Summary is her report for the entire state of Michigan nest box data as collected from the Michigan Bluebird Society nest box monitors.  Alex provides monitoring for the nest boxes at the Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary. 

This year's American woodcock walk was scheduled about 15 days later than in previous years.  It wasn't 15 degrees warmer than past years, but we still had a great time.  Ten birders came out on this cold & overcast evening to witness the annual courtship display of the American woodcock.  

About 1oo years ago, here is how Arthur Cleveland Bent described this woodcock:

This mysterious hermit of the alders, this recluse of the boggy thickets, this wood nymph of crepuscular habits is a common bird,… widely known, but not intimately known.

Well, last night we got to know them a bit better.  And two of our group had their first exposure to this wonderful bird.

The walk started at 7:30 and we heard the first 'peents' at about 8:15.  Within about 10 minutes the flights started.  We had broken into three groups by this time and each group had nearby flights going.  We counted 12 individuals in the grassland.

One of the flyers was landing on the mown path, as they reliably do here.  Don Henise was able to get the bird in his scope so all of us could see it up close.  There was enough light to get a really good look.   Unfortunately we did not get any good pics this year, so I'm calling up one of last year's taken by Nolan.

(Nolan Williams, 2024)

We called it good and started our walk back but we had to wait for the little trail boss to launch one more time.  It was another great Woodcock tour of the Riethmiller grasslands in the Waterloo Recreation Area.  This grassland is a great spot in for Henslow, Savannah, & Grasshopper sparrows but you'll need to come back in about 40 degrees.

eBird checklist available at:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S222382165

Early Waterfowl Tour by Don Henise

We had 10 birders on the JAS Waterfowl Trip this morning. We started at  Watkins Lake State Park walking the road and recording any bird species we saw or heard. Next, we drove to Palmer Road to view the River Raisin, then a short stop at Little Wolf Lake County Park, a scan of Portage Lake up in the Waterloo State Rec. Area and finally ended at the Cutler and Dunn Road Wetlands.

(Don Henise)

A total of 23 waterfowl species were tallied during the trip.  All nine of the regular dabbling duck species were observed with good numbers of most species including over 300 Northern Pintails. An Adult Bald Eagle had flushed the ducks as we arrived at the Cutler and Dunn Wetland and it was an amazing sight to see so many pintails in flight. Other dabblers were Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mallard, American Black Duck and Green-winged Teal.

Most of these species, with the exception of Black Duck, were seen at multiple locations.

(Don Henise)

We saw 8 species of diving ducks: Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Mergansers, Common Mergansers, and Ruddy Ducks. Portage Lake gave us 3 Horned Grebes and a close Common Loon.

(Don Henise)

Other highlights of the trip were an Osprey spotted over Little Wolf Lake, Tree Swallows at several locations and an early Barn Swallow over the River Raisin, several Eastern Phoebes and a Swamp Sparrow singing at Watkins Lake.

(Don Henise)

An eBird trip report that lists all species recorded can be found here:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/345877

Ten members of JAS enjoyed a walk at the nature Conservancy’s Grand River Fen Preserve property in southern Jackson County this morning.  The preserve is a mix of grassland, forest, and wetland habitats.  We heard a Field Sparrow from the parking lot before we got started and had some good birds throughout the walk.  From the parking lot we walked the north trail through grassland then into forest back into wetland and ended at the official headland of the east fork of the Grand River.

(Steve Jerant) 

The return went thought the other end of the prairie past the fen view and through a developing savanna more prairie then back to the lot.

The sunny morning became partly cloudy but still warmed up about ten degrees through our walk.  It was a nice seasonal transition, seeing both  American Tree & Field Sparrows.  We also got a migrating Fox Sparrow that was not very cooperative.

Complete eBird list available at:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S219261608

Members of JAS walked the Hoffman Trail in the Waterloo Recreation Area on Tuesday, March 11.

The eBird checklist is available at : https://ebird.org/checklist/S217933500

Brenda shared some pictures of a garter snake and Wintergreen.

Garter Snake (Thamnophis sp.) (Brenda Wineman)

American Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) (Brenda Wineman)

Whitehouse Nature Center Tour

This tour of the Whitehouse Nature Center had been scheduled for the previous week but was cancelled due to low temperatures.  Well, 7 days and about 35 degrees later, we met to do the tour.   While waiting for everyone to meet, we had a flyover of 2 Trumpeter Swan, doing their trumpet call.  Nearly twenty participants came out and enjoyed a walk led by Albion emeritus professors Dale Kennedy & Doug White.

We toured the nature center, which is open during the day and has a restroom, feeder station viewing area, and lots of turtles.  We started the walk by crossing the bridge over the North Branch of the Kalamazoo River.  The river had open water so a few Mallard were seen and a Belted Kingfisher was heard.  A small group of ducks flew over and we were able to add a Green-winged Teal to our trip list.

A long, flat trail bisects the property. The Rail Trail is on the grade which the interurban service between Albion and Jackson ran in the first half of the 20^th Century.  We headed north shortly after crossing the river and headed out on the Prairie Trail.  This path leads through a variety of habitats including some mature trees.  We also walked along the river and flushed out a Great Blue Heron that was perched near the bank

(Steve Jerant)

Moving south we crossed the Rail Trail again into the Beese Ecology Trail which encircles an old quarry.  From there we Joined the Dale Kennedy and Doug White Wren Trail.  Dale and Doug spent many years in this area doing research, banding, and providing nest boxes for thousands of House Wrens and Eastern Bluebird during their career at Albion.  This trail went through grassland and old pine plantations of White and Jack Pine. 

(Steve Jerant)

We flushed a Ring-necked Pheasant before leaving the grassland area.  Once in the forest we were able to track down a Pileated Woodpecker (pic below) that has been hammering for about the last 10 minutes. 

Looking for a hermit (Steve Jerant)

We rejoined the Beese Ecology Trail through a forest. The tour had a strong finish with Hermit thrush (pics below), Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Brown Creeper.  Then we returned to the Rail Trail for the conclusion of our tour. 

Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) (Don Henise)

Hermit Thrush-side & rear (Catharus guttatus)(Don Henise)

Don's YouTube video of Pileated hammering

Total species:  25

eBird checklist available at:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S215434192

Our winter tour of MacCready went very well.  It was icy but we had no slips, trips or falls to report.  A lone Sandhill Crane flyover was our signal to start the tour, and we went as per usual up the red trail. At the first turn we got a Golden-crowned Kinglet. The trail got a bit icy going into the Scotch Pine area and there was not much activity until we birded the low area to the north. In multiple areas we kept seeing flocks of American Robin and we ended up submitting 100 for the walk.

(Brenda Wineman)

Down a bit on the perimeter trail we got the Eastern Towhee that has been seen at the preserve recently.  The walk through the actively restoring savanna was beautiful. At the top of the hill a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was seen.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)(DHenise)

We totaled 21 species for the morning. 

The eBird checklist available at https://ebird.org/checklist/S212014867