Detroit RBA 8/30/06

[Karl Overman]

Cattle Egret
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Golden Plover
Baird’s Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Snowy Owl
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Cape May Warbler
Connecticut Warbler

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 10:30 p.m.

This is the rare bird alert sponsored by the Detroit Audubon  
Society.  Pointe Mouille finally has good shorebird habitat with  
shorebirds  being found at several locations there.  Perhaps the best  
diversity at the moment is alongthe northern dike of the Long Pond  
Unit where on August 26th species included Pectoral Sandpipers,  
Semipalmated Plover and Stilt Sandpipers.  On August 27th Jim Fowler  
and Tim Smart had Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Baird’s Sandpipers in  
cell five.  A few shorebirds continue to be found in cell 3.  The  
Tricolored Heron was seen on the west side of the Vermet Unit on both  
August 26th and 27th.  Two Cattle Egrets were seen on the dike  
between the Lead Unit and the Long Pond Unit at Pointe Mouillee on  
August 27th.

There were two strikingly large concentrations of Snowy Egrets  
recently.  Tex Wells had 12 at the Erie Marsh Preserve on August 25th  
and Joe Soehnel had 14 at the Karn Plant (not accessible to public  
post-9/11) on August 23rd.  These must be influxes from colonies on  
islands in the Great Lakes to very localized areas on the mainland as  
Snowy Egret is a difficult bird to find in Michigan in general.

Buff-breasted Sandpipers have been reported as of late from a number  
of locations such as the Muskegon Wastewater facility (Chip Franke  
et.al.), the DeBuck’s sod farm on Lippincott Road in extreme eastern  
Genesee County (Luke Redman 8/24) , the DeBuck’s sod farm south of  
I-96 in western Livingston County (Sean Bachman 8/29), the Gooding  
Road sod farm in Washtenaw County (Gerry Sniderman 8/29) and in the  
onion fields north of Pelee.  Both Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Golden  
Plover were found by Walt Pawloski at the Waltz sod farm in southern  
Wayne County on August 25th.   Jerry Jourdan had a Red-necked  
Phalarope at the Elk Rapids sewage lagoon in the northern lower  
peninsula on August 19th.

In a couple of recent falls, passerine migration seemed late but this  
year it is on time for most species, if not on the early side.  Julie  
Craves has been reporting a good mix of migrants at the U of M  
Dearborn campus including a Cape May Warbler on August 15th that was  
a local early record.  Tom Heatley had Connecticut Warbler,  
Swainson’s Thrush and Gray-cheeked Thrush as Metrobeach, Macomb  
County on August 29th.

As reported on the Saginaw Bay birding webpage, Louie Dombroski had a  
rare summer record for Snowy Owl on August 22nd in Hampton Township,  
Bay County.

Under the category of be-careful-what-you-wish-for for the proponents  
of alternative energy sources, plans are being consider to put  
windmills off the Lake Erie shoreline west of Point Pelee which  
surely would not be good for migrating birds.

On Saturday, September 2nd, there will be a Detroit Audubon field  
trip to Point Pelee lead by Karl Overman.  Meet at the Pelee Visitor  
Center parking lot at 8 am. On Sunday September 10th there will be a  
Detroit Audubon field trip to Metrobeach lead by Joanna Pease.  Meet  
at the Nature Center at 8 am.


To report rare birds call Karl Overman at 248.473.0484.
.


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