Migrants, etc.

[Dmcwhir513 at aol.com]

<On Tuesday this week a Rusty Blackbird showed up in our "yard" in 
<Benzie Co., coming to seed on the ground, and was here again today. 
<Considering it stills seems like the dead of winter and I have not 
<even seen red-wings yet, it seems an early arrival to me. I believe 
<it is the first bird that I consider a spring migrant.  Carl Freeman

Folks -

We are doing a compilation for the birding year in the Lansing area - CABY 08 
(Capital Area Birding Year).  That would be Ingham, Eaton, and Clinton 
counties plus the Maple River SGA.  We are collecting first of season, last of 
season, maximum number, breeding info, and so on for each of those 4 areas.

We don't often have the first migrants for any species, but it's interesting 
to see how the seasons go.  We had our first Sandhills and Redwings in the 
first two days of the month.  This week we have added the first Wood Duck, Turkey 
Vulture, Common Grackle, and Yellow-rumped Warbler for the area.  

We also had our first good-sized flocks of redwings and robins.  American 
Tree Sparrow numbers spiked at several feeders and Horned Larks continue to be 
common along country roads.

Common Redpolls are still at feeders, but we had no reports of Snow Bunting 
or Rough-legged Hawk in the last week. We had very few siskins or shrikes in 
the area at all this winter, so determining last of season dates for them will 
be problematic.

Here is a sample entry for one species:

SANDHILL CRANE - Breeding resident, has rarely wintered in Michigan before, 
one of the early migrants.
   INGHAM - group of 7 overhead on 04 MAR, PD
   EATON - 12 overhead at Mt.Hope/M100 on 02 MAR, SC
   CLINTON - 1 seen along State east of Cooledge around 06 FEB, JP via EE; 1 
seen there 16-17 FEB, JR;  1 found dead in the vicinity just after that 
weekend, but another bird present through end of FEB, JP via EE; there on 02 MAR, JR
   MAPLE R - no reports yet.

If you are in the area and think you can add to our database, please let me 
know.

Doug McWhirter
10112 W Holt
Dimondale, MI 48821
517-646-8151


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