Saginaw Bay Area Bird Survey - Autumn '06

[Joe Soehnel]

The Saginaw Bay Area Bird Survey for Autumn '06 is in the books and can be viewed at http://www.saginawbaybirding.org.  The summary for this survey is pasted below.  

Good CBC Birding!

Joe Soehnel



A respectable 241 species were reported for the fall period, which is above average for this period.  Waterfowl species included: eighteen Greater White-fronted Geese @ Tawas Bay, IO; five Ross’s Geese @ SNWR, SA, and a Barrow’s Goldeneye (photographed) taken by a duck hunter at the end of Finn Rd. on Saginaw Bay.  A nice assortment of wading birds included fourteen Snowy Egrets @ Karn Plant, BA, along with Little Blue Heron and Cattle Egret at SNWR, SA.  There were also an unprecedented number of Purple Sandpiper reports in three counties including a first Arenac County record.   Other notable shorebirds included fifteen Willets @ Baldwin Twp, IO, and a Hudsonian Godwit at the end of Santiago Rd, AR.

Larids included a Jaeger Sp @ Tawas Pt and numerous Little Gull reports, which some attributed to a bumper crop of Emerald Shiners.  “Out of season” Snowy Owl records continued in the early fall period as one was reported in Hampton Twp, BA on 08/22 and another in Saginaw County on 10/02.  

Topping the passerines was a Loggerhead Shrike in the Frankenmuth area, SA, which hadn’t been previously reported in the SBA since 1991.  A LeConte’s Sparrow was located at Tawas Pt, IO and this species hadn’t been reported in the SBA since 1993.  Other notable passerines included several Olive-sided Flycatcher reports, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Acadian Flycatcher, Prothonotary Warbler, and Louisiana Waterthrush.



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