UP Birds -- WPBO & back Oct. 13-15

[theowlranch@aol.com]

Howdy All,
 
Well birding this weekend has been nothing short of spectacular. Max Henschell & I birded from Marquette to Whitefish Point with several stops in between. There were several highlights, and we racked up a total of 76 species for the weekend, not bad for late October in the UP. 
 
We started our voyage on Friday afternoon in Munising where we found 2 ROSS'S-type GEESE. One of the birds showed some signs of being a probable hybrid with Snow Goose, but the other bird may of been a pure Ross's. Max got some great photos of the birds and I sent a few pics out for some opinions. They were in the Football field next to the high school in Munising with a flock of 30 CACKLING GEESE. They could be still around around, the Cacklers were still present today, but we didn't look too hard for the White Geese.
Then of course came the call on the GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE in Marquette... so of course back home to see that little bird (missed my feeders by 3 blocks!). Max & I finally got to Whitefish Pt. Saturday morning where the crew on the waterbird count were clocking in Jaegers left and right. Our timing was good though, and soon after we arrived we were treated to great views of a juvenile dark-morph POMARINE JAEGER that made multiple passes by the Point. Later in the day, Brad Murphy & I even had a PARASITIC JAEGER chasing a gull over the parking lot! 
 
Sunday ended up being just as good with a killer waterbird flight, lots of scaup and Red-breasted Mergansers were moving. Quite a few BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS were on the point this morning with a 2 being visible right from the waterbird shack, and later in the morning we got great looks at a young SABINE'S GULL winging by. A few minutes later a Jaeger sp. was also in the bay causing quite the dilemma of what rare bird to look at! 
 
Finally, the call came on the ROCK WREN at Sand Point, so quite a few of us packed up and headed back west. Amanda Ingraham (Great Find -Thanks again!), meet us at the old coast guard station were the Rock Wren was putting on a great show doing ninja-like flips off the garage doors catching bugs. 
The bird is at the old coast guard boat house just before the Picture Rocks Nat. Lakeshore headquarters building. This is at the very end of Sand Point Road on the northeast side of Munising Bay. The Wren was mostly on the ramp on the west side of the building, but was also running around on the boardwalk, and on the front steps of the building.
 
What a weekend! I'll have photos of the Rock Wren & Green-tailed Towhee up in the 2006 photo gallery of www.UPBirders.org in just a short while.
 
Good Birding!

~Skye Haas 
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