Fwd: Long Memorial Day weekend - Northern LP and Eastern UP

[Scott Baron]

Oops, I forgot to include the dates of most of these
sightings.  Here is the complete info.

--- Scott Baron <brnpelican at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 12:16:45 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Scott Baron <brnpelican at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Long Memorial Day weekend - Northern LP and
> Eastern UP
> To: Mich-chat Birds <mich-chat at envirolink.org>, 
>     Mich-listers Birds <mich-listers at envirolink.org>
> 
> Hello, birders. Sorry for the late posting.  I got
> back home on Wednesday night and I've been super
> busy since.  I had a fun time birding No. Michigan
> for 5 days this week.  I had never been to Michigan
> before.  I missed quite a few birds but got some
> neat ones, too.  The rarities, according to the bar
> graphs in the ABA guide to Michigan: 
>  
> AM. BITTERN, Houghton Lake WRA, Roscommon Co., 1, No
notes with me, I think I visited this location on May
28.
>                       Munuscong Bay SWMA, Chippewa
> Co., 3, May 31 (I only birded Gray Rd. northeast
past
> Riverside Rd.  No time to go out to the marsh.)
>  
> GREAT EGRET, Mackinac Co., June 1. Flying north
> along the east shore just outside of the northern
> St. Ignace city line around 6am. 
>  
> LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL, Whitefish Point, Chippewa
> Co., May 30. At the tip, previously reported on the
> Mich-chat listserv. This bird was called a second
> summer bird.  Counters at the point got digital
> photos through a scope of this bird.
>  
> BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, Hiawatha NF, Chippewa Co.,
May 31 
> A great, long look at a beautiful male pecking away
> at a dead Jack Pine tree 25 feet away.  I must have
> watched this bird for about 15 minutes.  It fed in
> the bottom half of the tree, always on the trunk. 
> Occaisonally it called.  Lots of bark was being
> falling off the tree from the woodpecker's work. 
> After several minutes, he went to another branch
> and, facing out, spread his wings slightly while
> tilting his head.  I think he was sunning himself
> after all the hard work of excavating.  I didn't
> want to take my eyes off of this bird but it was
> already mid-morning and I wanted to cover much more
> ground.  This guy was in the woods off of Forest
> Road 3132, 2.8 mi. E of FR 3139.  He was on the
> north side of the road, maybe about 100 ft. in.
>  
> BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, Munuscong Bay SWMA, Chippewa
Co., May 31
>  I don't have my notes with me but I saw either 5 or
> 6 birds at the Gray Rd./Riverside Dr. intersection
> (S end of Gray Rd., just E of Stirlingville.)  I
> didn't see any Brewer's in the Kirtland's Warbler
> areas of the LP.
>  
> Other cool birds: Bald Eagle, Ruffed Grouse, Wild
> Turkey, Virginia Rail, Sandhill Crane (I love these
> birds, so primitive to me, and great call), Upland
> Sandpiper (a pair at the entrance to Raco Airfield
> and others at Munuscong Bay), Common Tern,
Red-headed
> Woodpecker (No. Higgins Lake SP), Winter Wren, both
> kinglets, Swainson's Thrush, Blue-winged,
> Golden-winged, Cape May, Kirtland's (fascinating
> bird, I went on the tour from Grayling to see it
> first, then used the ABA guide to find another
> population, then found likely habitat just inside
> the Alcona Co. line near Oscoda Co. along the Jack
> Pine tour that held a few singing birds), Mourning
> Warblers, Clay-colored (I really wanted this one and
> I finally saw and heard one on my last morning in
> Mich. at the beginning of entrance rd. to Tuttle
> Marsh, never found Clay-colored in Kirtlands'
> areas), Vesper, Savannah, Lincoln's (heard only,
> darn) Sparrows, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin.
>  
> Whitefish Point was very cool, windy w/ some precip.
>  Not much activity birdwise, but it was neat to see
> and I got to chat with some nice birders at the
> point.  I highly recommend a visit to Munuscong Bay
> and Houghton Lake SRA.  Even though I didn't find my
> hoped for LeConte's sparrows at the former and
> Yellow Rail at the latter, I loved both places and
> each was very birdy.  By the way, a man who was
> surveying for frogs and toads at Houghton Lake SRA
> told me that he had heard Yellow Rail there
> recently, more likely in early morning maybe a
> couple hundred feet down the boardwalk.
>  
> Misses: other boreal birds like B. Chickadee, Gray
> Jay, etc.  No LeConte's at MB, no S.t. Grouse at
> Raco Airfield but I didn't get there until sunrise
> so I guess I was too late.  No Yellow Rail as I
> previously mentioned.
>  
> Also other wildlife like Ermine (Whitefish Point,
> great look at this cute, curious animal), various
> butterfly species, and a large wild dog running
> across the road in the Hiawatha NF that I swear
> could have been a Wolf rather than a Coyote.
>  
> Thanks to all the nice people that I met.  The
> Midwest is so friendly.  And the birding was fun
> with 3 lifers.
>  
> Scott Baron
> Fairfax, Va.
> 
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