Haehnle Sanctuary Crane Count 09/16/2024
By Don Henise

We began the 2024 fall season of weekly Sandhill Crane counts on Monday evening, September 16th. Mud Lake Marsh in the Haehnle Sanctuary is a traditional roost and staging area for these cranes in the fall of each year. Sandhill Cranes prefer to roost in shallow water overnight. In the last hour or so, before sunset, they will fly from their daytime feeding locations into a roost sight. Members of Jackson Audubon Society have been monitoring the number of cranes roosting at the sanctuary on a weekly basis each fall for many years. The numbers of cranes using the sanctuary for night roosting starts relatively slow in September and then builds as cranes arrive from their nesting locations in the far north. The numbers typically peak in late October or early November. The weekly crane counts will continue until Mud Lake freezes and the birds are no longer using it for a roosting location.

(Don Henise)

Monday evening at Haehnle Sanctuary was very pleasant after a very warm mid-September day. A walk through the prairie before the count found a few late season butterflies like Eastern Tailed-Blues, American Coppers and Common Buckeyes. At least one Monarch flew past while we were conducting the evening crane count.

(Don Henise)

A total of 31 bird species were seen by the crane counters through the afternoon and evening. As expected for mid-September, crane numbers were low with only 13 remaining in the marsh to roost. Many others were seen flying by the sanctuary without landing. As the sun went down, the moon came up giving us a look that was a precursor to Tuesday night’s super harvest moon. The mosquitoes also came out at dusk and drove us from the lookout hill

Total Cranes Roosting: 13

Counters: Don Henise, Ross Green, Gary Siegrist, Steve Jerant

Compiled by: Don Henise

Complete eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S195524747

We had a perfect day for a ride down to Monroe County for our annual Shorebird trip at Pt. Mouillee State Game Area.   In addition to the great weather, we had the best shorebirds in years, by far.  Ross led our small caravan on the dikes to the best mudflats there had been at Pt. Moo for a long time. 

Not long into the tour we saw lots of American White Pelican and Great Egret.  There had been a report of some Ruddy Shelduck and we were able to find a group of five.  We tallied 11 ducks and allies, 4 species of gulls & terns, nearly 500 herons & egrets, and five species of raptors. 

The habitat at the Vermet unit was perfect and it was there we saw the majority of the 19 shorebirds.  Of note were Red Knot, Stilt Sandpiper, Dunlin, and White-rumped Sandpiper.  And thanks to our friends at Macomb Audubon who alerted us to a sighting of a Hudsonian Godwit.  This was originally spotted by another birder riding on the dike.

Trip checklist on eBird https://ebird.org/checklist/S192617971

Don Henise took some great shots below of some of the birds we saw and, of course, one of his six-legged flying friends.

(American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos))

(Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea))

(Sanderling (Calidris alba))

(Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii))

(Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus))

(Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla))

(Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus))

(Stilt Sandpiper (Calidris himantopus))

(White-rumped Sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis))

(Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia))

Jackson Audubon members walked the western end of the Mike Levine Lakelands Trail SP led by naturalist Joann Ballbach.  At the end of the walk, she shared some teas made by local plants, that some call weeds.

The eBird checklist for the tour is available HERE.

(Brenda Wineman)

Monarch Caterpillar (Brenda Wineman)

Viceroy Adult (Brenda Wineman)

Grey Tree Frog (Brenda Wineman)

Sharing Tea (Gary Siegrist)

Penny came out for the tour. It was thundering and raining.
We decided to cancel

We braved the 'heat dome' to visit  Watkins Lake SP Tuesday morning.  Eight JAS members, including four new members, walked the uplands in search of summer grassland species.  

Storms had just torn through the area the night before and Arnold Rd. was blocked with Consumer's and Jackson County crews working to clear the road and restore power.  Due to the truck & chainsaw noise we started from the southeast entrance and worked the grassland in a clockwise path. 

A brief stop at the lake got us some swallows, including nesting Northern Rough-winged Swallow, as well as Great Blue Heron and Belted Kingfisher.

The walk out of the shade and into the sun was not too bad since we had a constant breeze to cool things down.  The Bobolink was spied a long way off on his special geocache singing post.  

Bobolink (Don Henise)

The Henslow's Sparrow was much more secretive.  We heard a few, but finally were able to get some good views of one in the western grassland at the top of the hill.  Don was able to get a good shot of one perched on a Common Mullein.  

Henslow's Sparrow (Don Henise)

We observed both Orchard & Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Meadowlark,  and of course, lots of Turkey Vultures.  The complete eBird checklist of 36 species is available at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S182676773

After a four-year hiatus, JAS returned to the Oak Openings Metropark in northern Ohio.  The last few tours we had in the late teens were guided by Ohio resident Check Mekbel, who passed away in 2019.  

The carpool stopped on Sager Rd. for a look around the grassland at the end of the Toledo Airport.  We did not get any really great summer prairie species, but we did observe about a dozen species in our quick stop before meeting the rest of the group.

(Brenda Wineman)

A total of eight JAS members drove down to meet a bit before 9 AM.  The Metropark Lodge area had some pretty good activity, including a fruit-loving Red-headed Woodpecker, and several other species enjoying a Serviceberry shrub in season.

Before heading south to the more open areas, we tried a short walk north to the Mallard Lake area.  

(Cedar Waxwing and Field Sparrow-Doug Leffler)

After returning to the car to manage our fluids, we headed south in search of Tanagers.  Well, we didn't get any but we had a nice long walk through some r really great habitat.  There was a Yellow-breasted Chat that was doing the Chat thing-lots of noise but not a lot of good views. Some of the members of the tour got a decent flash look. This species is becoming my Jinx Bird.
We ended the day with a trip list of 42 species.

(Monarch caterpillar on Common Milkweed & Wood  Anemone-Brenda Wineman)

Even when the birds don't show up, there's always lots of other natural features to observe.  I really like plants-not just because they are the foundational set of species that enables us to actually live on this planet,  but also they don't fly.

Checklists:

Sage Rd grassland:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S179647120
Lodge Area:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S179647121
Mallard Lake loop:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S179647122
Evergreen & Horse Trails:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S179647123

JAS members drove down to Ohio for our annual visit to Magee Marsh during the Greatest Week in American Birding celebration.  Four of us carpooled down and met up with other members for a walk on the warbler-rich boardwalk. 

White Pelican (Shikha Singh)

While the weather was good this year, the warblers were not out in great numbers.  We got only 8 of them. Doug was able to get some clos shots of a Prothonotary that was nesting near the boardwalk.

Prothonotary Warblers (Doug Leffler)

After a tailgate lunch, we headed over to the Ottawa NWR and did an 8-mile  drive through the dike roads.  There were lots of egrets & eagles but just a few shorebirds.

Bald Eagle (Shikha Singh)

Lesser Yellowlegs(Shikha Singh)

We finished up the trip with a visit to the Howard Marsh Metropark.  By this time the weather was threatening but we were able to get a good look at Black-necked Stilt which frequent this location.

Black-necked Stilt (Shikha Singh)

eBird Trip Checklist available  https://ebird.org/tripreport/233018 

We've restarted our annual trip to The Nature Conservancy's jewel of Washtenaw County-Nan Weston Preserve.  Joann Ballbach returned as our guide and we scheduled it just in time as the trails were closed this year, but opened a few days before this scheduled event.

Thirteen members came out for the event.  I'll let the pictures speak for the tour.  [Note: Don's Wood Thrush was shot before the tour started so is not on the official list.]  As always, an eBird list follows.

(Group, swamp, May Apples, stream, and ragwort -Doug Leffler)

(Northern Map Turtle, Wood Frog, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Wood Thrush-Don Henise)

(Fern frond, Jack-in-the-pulpit, and Dutchman's Britches-Brenda Wineman)

eBird trip list at https://ebird.org/checklist/S171158565

We had great weather for our tour of the Muskegon Wastewater Treatment System.   Eight JAS members drove over to the facility to drive the ponds.

Our last JAS tour was in 2018 where we recorded 32 species. This year we got 47, including 17 species of wildfowl, 5 gulls, and 2 shorebirds. There were large numbers of Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, and Bufflehead.   Lots of the usual species including Canada Goose.  This one has  made what might look like a safe nest site from predation,  but that's an aerator blade she's picked.

 The facility is a series of ponds processing water at various stages of the treatment program.   Several ponds contain aerators which are just giant blenders that add oxygen to the water, while others are static pools, some very large.

 

While our shorebird count here was a bit skinny, we did get 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Glaucus Gull.  This is a fabulous place to see waterfowl, gulls, and shorebirds.   At times you may find yourself between a landfill and treated wastewater, the birds are so very happy to be there.  And it is know for hosting many, many species-it is rate #5 in Michigan by eBird data.

After the pond tours, we headed down for lunch at Turk's Tavern.  It's a great place to eat and should be a required stop after a hard morning under the sun and against the wind.

The Jackson contingent of the group headed back to the carpool lot but then stopped for a few pond visits in Calhoun county on the way (see shorebird count of 2, above).  We picked up Trumpeter Swan, Dunlin, Yellowlegs (Lesser & Greater) and Pectoral Sandpiper.

Our total stats for the day were 55 species including 19 waterfowl, 6 shorebirds,  & 5 gulls.

Our Trip Report is available at https://ebird.org/tripreport/222639

Well, we had a much better turnout, species count, and weather than last year's waterfowl tour.  Fourteen JAS members and family turned out for a five stop tour of Jackson Counties wonderful lakes.  

We started at Watkins Lake State Park on the eastern border of the county near Manchester.  This was the longest stop, but also the largest and most productive.  

Watkins Lake (Steve Jerant)

We observed 41 taxa including 13 waterfowl species.  Of note were a Merganser hat trick (Common/Hooded/Red-breasted), 2 Canvasback, Wilson's Snipe, and what would be our first Horned Grebe.    The usual suspects were also out in force: Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck, and coming in for  several landings over our head, the Canada Goose. 

(Doug Leffler)

Next, we caravanned over to Little Wolf Lake which was our least active stop of the morning.  Our only Great Blue Heron was spotted here.

Driving north, we next stopped at Grass Lake for a view from the playground park.  Here we tallied a Redhead, Common Goldeneye, and American Wigeon.

Moving on to the Portage Lake County Park, we no longer had the sun in our eyes but had the wind in our face.  It took a lot of squinting and head bobbing with the waves but finally had some decent view of a Common Loon. We also got more Horned Grebe. 

The last stop was the jackpot.  Driving north on Welch Lake Rd. off Seymour is a great wildfowl spot called Cutler & Dunn Rd. wetland.  This is usually a very reliable location for Northern Pintail.  It get 5 stars today with an estimated 300 Pintail joined by scores of Green-wing Teal.  We counted 19 species, of which 12 were waterfowl.  Three Lesser Yellowlegs joined the gang of ducks in the water. 

Cutler & Dunn Rds. wetland (Steve Jerant)

An eBird trip report of the five checklists is available at https://ebird.org/tripreport/218966