From Grand Rapids to Soo Country

[byronkbutler_06@comcast.net]

>From Grand Rapids to Soo Country
 
Highlights of birds seen Jan 20-21, 2007  
1.      Long-tailed Duck (hundreds, pos. thousands, Pere Marquette Park, Muskegon) 
2.      Sharp-tailed Grouse (60+; 59 M48 in Rudyard area; 1 at I-75 & 9-Mile Road) 
3.      Bald Eagle (1 adult, M48 s.e. of Rudyard) 
4.      Northern Goshawk (1, Brimley area, M28) 
5.      Red-tailed Hawk (11; 10 along I-75 in LP; 1 in UP n. of Rudyard) 
6.      Rough-legged Hawk (20; eastern UP, incl. 3 dark morphs s. of Rudyard) 
7.      Merlin (1, Grand Rapids) 
8.      Purple Sandpiper  (1, Pere Marquette Park, Muskegon) 
9.      Snowy Owl (2 imm., Rudyard, Centerline Road) 
10.  Northern Shrike (2; 1 M55 e. of Lake City in LP; 1 on Shunk Road, Soo area) 
11.  Common Raven (50+, then lost count (many more); n. LP & everywhere in UP) 
12.  Black-throated Gray Warbler (1, 1st winter female, Grand Rapids) 
13.  Snow Bunting (200+, eastern UP, half where M48 crosses I-75) 
14.  Common Redpoll (2, M48 Rudyard area) 
 
With the report of the Grand Rapids Black-throated Gray Warbler, this past weekend Maggie and I were seduced by the lure of the chase. A Merlin had also been reported at 1345 Monroe Street, and from there we could run up to Muskegon to look for Purple Sandpiper and Long-tailed Duck. Thus we had four good target birds to make for an exciting day trip. 
 
We arrived at Caleb’s office building on the Grand River at 9:35 am ET. Within minutes those ahead of us had located the vagrant warbler. Everyone present had multiple good looks at the bird, which, according to the Sibley guide, I determined was a first winter female, and assume others independently came to the same conclusion. Following satisfactory looks at the warbler, Maggie and I began to search for the Merlin. Within minutes this bird, too, appeared, flying down the Grand River. 
 
We decided to now run up to Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon. Before we left we spoke with two Michigan birders, Sean (sp?) and Tom (to whom I apologize for forgetting your last names) who told us about birding the Muskegon Wastewater System. This sounded very good to us so we took off to fatten our day list in Muskegon. 
 
An hour later we arrived at Pere Marquette Park. Stepping out of our car and walking the short distance to the base of the breakwall, we immediately found the Purple Sandpiper where so many said we would find it—right at the base of the wall on the south side. Walking a little way out on the wall we took great looks and photos of this bird. We wish to express our appreciation for the many Michigan birders who so cheerfully responded to my RFI about this Sandpiper; everything you told us was entirely correct! 
 
Leaving the sandpiper, we walked further out on the jetty to look for Long-tailed Duck. This was a treacherous walk on very slippery ice. Each step was carefully placed before shifting weight on that foot, yet we still had a few scares. I was thinking to myself how foolish was this venture and what a trooper was Maggie to follow along without a complaint. I was carrying thousands of dollars in optics (binocs, scope, and camera equipment) in addition to the risk upon our bodies. But after months of waiting for Long-tailed Ducks to show up in Indiana, I wanted that duck! 
 
We made our way out to the elbow but dared not go further since the ice out there appeared to be worse than what we had just walked upon. To our southwest, a bit of a distance offshore, was a huge raft of ducks and it looked like most of them were long-tails! Shortly, these ducks arose from the surface and flew to the northwest of the north jetty where they were much more difficult to see, obscured by both the jetty and shimmer. Yet in passing, we saw high-hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Long-tailed Ducks among some other species. There were were so many and they were swirling around so much we did not try to estimate them. Five of the birds came to within 400 yards of us, giving us very good looks in the scope. 
 
We now made our way off the jetty, thankful to have made it without breaking anything. On the return we looked again for the Purple Sandpiper but did not see it. It was only 11:30 am and we had all four of our target birds for the day! Boy, that had been easy! As I began to look up how to get to the wastewater area Maggie asked me what was my next most important Michigan target bird. Of course, that was Hoary Redpoll, but the western UP was too far out of reach and I had no knowledge of them anywhere else in Michigan. I replied, “I guess that would be Sharp-tailed Grouse, in the eastern UP. Snowy Owls have been seen there recently, too.” 
 
At noon we were outside Muskegon headed east on M46, driving for Rudyard. This was very uncharacterisitc of us. Normally, our trips are very well planned and prepared, often to the Nth degree. We had just made a rash decision, to transmogrify a moderate day trip into a long-distance weekend trip! We had no change of clothes, toiletries, medicines, cell phone chargers, ABA directory, AAA tour book, etc.--or even cash! We had no knowledge of the weather conditions ahead, or the availability of lodging. What we did have was a fifteen year old DeLorme atlas, a three year old official state map, Chartier & Ziarno’s “A Birder’s Guide to Michigan,” and confidence we would overcome whatever impediments were encountered. 
 
Exactly six hours later we had paid our toll and had begun to cross the Mackinaw Bridge. We had stopped in Cadillac for gas and an ATM machine. There Maggie spotted an antique store, in which we spent a little time browsing. This is why it took us six hours to get to the bridge from Muskegon. Along the route we found a Northern Shrike at a Christmas tree farm two miles east of Lake City, our first Michigan shrike. Across the bridge, in St. Ignace, we checked into a motel overlooking the Straits of Mackinac. From the porch of our room I set my camera on the tripod and took long-exposure photos of the bridge at night. We then settled in the room to develop a plan for the morning. Our motel furnished us with soap, shampoo and complementary toothbrushes. 
 
Showered and dressed in yesterday’s long johns, we left St. Ignace at 7:30 am to be on site at Rudyard by early light at 8:00 am; sunrise was at 8:17. By eight o’clock we had four Rough-legged Hawks due to Maggie’s sharp eye. But in looking for grouse and Snowy Owls we had grossly overshot the Rudyard turnoff. There was nothing to do now but go up to M28, then return to Rudyard. Exiting I-75 we turned right (east) on M28 to M129, then headed south on M129. We saw nothing of note along M129 as we proceeded south to M48. Turning west on M48 we traveled only a couple tenths of a mile when a Sharp-tailed Grouse flew over our car and landed on a high deciduous tree twig on the south side of the road. While obtaining very good looks at this bird we heard others vocalizing a little further west. I got out to walk the road, hoping to get a glimpse of them in a cluster of conifers. As I neared, at least thirty grouse (conservatively) flushed and flew over my head to the north, landing too f
ar off for further pursuit. We continued toward Rudyard, but our progress was impeded by frequent encounters with other grouse, in groups of 1, 2, and 12, between M129 and Pealine Road. Further west on M48 we encountered another group of 14 grouse. A little east of Pealine Road an adult (4th year) Bald Eagle had flown right over us, very low. Optics were not necessary. A bit to the west of Pealine, where a small river crosses the road we encountered a mixed foraging flock of chickadees, goldfinches, nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, and two Common Redpolls. Many of the birds in this flock moved on before identified, at least three Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen. It was ten o’clock by the time we reached the intersection of M48 and Centerline Road (west of I-75). We had already tallied a minimum of fifty-nine Sharp-tailed Grouse. We were right where we needed to be to see Snowy Owl, two hours later than planned.  
 
We drove up, down and all around the Rudyard area, building our count of Rough-legged Hawks, but finding no owls. At 1:00 pm we were a couple miles southeast of the intersection of M48 and Hantz Road. We still had not seen any owls, snowy, great gray, or hawk-owl, but we had seen a good number of rough-leggeds and three of them were dark morphs. At this point I was getting wing shots of a dark morph when a car pulled up to us. It was the local newspaper carrier, a rather gregarious fellow. He told us that he sees Snowy Owls every day around 4:00 pm on Centerline Road between M48 and M48. Huh? 
 
This eastern region of the UP is very frustrating. We had three maps now, none of which agreed with any other, and none agreed with the signage on the ground. Between M48 and M48? What does that mean? To follow this story it is important to understand that four intersections referred to here, and that there are multiple names for many roads. M48 is 22-Mile Road. The other M48 is the Business M48, or 19-Mile Road. Road numbers decrease as one goes north, hence, Business M48 (hereafer, B-M48) is north of M48. The two intersections of M48 & Centerline Road and B-M48 & Centerline Road are different locations. A third intersection, M129 & M48 (or 22-Mile Road), was near where we had seen the first grouse. The fourth intersection is I-75 & M28. M28 is also known as 9-Mile Road. Thus, we had overshot Rudyard in the morning and had driven north all the way to 9-Mile Road, from which we took M129 south to M48 (22-Mile Road) and turned west. 
 
Our lack of prior understanding of the road names in this area led to our happy accident of finding fifty-nine grouse on M48, for otherwise the information we had likely would never have taken us to this area. From what the newspaper carrier had said I concluded the Snowy Owls would feed in the farm fields all day, where they would be difficult to find, and return to the telephone poles and rooftops in late afternoon, before they went to roost, perhaps even roosting there. Maggie and I had been straining our eyes for five hours and were in need of a refractory period. We determined to eat lunch, then return to Centerline Road at four o’clock. 
 
We headed up I-75 to M28, then turned west toward Brimley. As we entered the intersection, from the exit ramp, a Sharp-tailed Grouse flew right over our car, from the southwest to the northeast corners. This was our sixtieth and last grouse of the day. It was getting close to 2:00 pm. Along M28 we continued to count Rough-legged Hawks. Just east of the turnoff to the north for the town of Brimley we had pulled to the side of the road to look at a rough-legged and scan for owls. At this place a Northern Goshawk flew low, right over us!!!! 
 
We went into Brimley, where the few snowmobilers were not a bother. We had a very nice, and much needed, lunch at Willabee’s restaurant. Although a lounge, and we are not lounge lizards, we liked the place very much. Returning to the intersection of I-75 & M28, we followed the directions in Chartier and Ziarno’s guide to explore this area. First we had to shift our nomenclatural thinking, then followed 9-Mile Road (M28) to the east to Nicolet Road. We explored the area as outlined in the guide, not finding much. But, on Shunk Road, one hundred yards north of the intersection of it with 9-Mile, Maggie found a Northern Shrike, our first UP shrike. 
 
Having used up what little time we had to scout this area in hopes of lucking into redpolls or Bohemian Waxwings we again turned south on M129, from which we retraced our route along M48 just to see if we would encounter the grouse again. We did not. At a farmhouse on M48, immediately east of the I-75 overpass, we saw over one hundred Snow Buntings land in pine trees! This is the first time I’ve ever seen a flock of buntings perched in trees. A half dozen Rock Pigeons were dominating the feeders at this house. The buntings would drop to seed scattered on the ground whenever the pigeons were not present. These same buntings were visiting a house feeder a half-mile to the southwest, on Centerline Road, and could be seen flying between the two houses. A row of conifers just north of the Centerline house is a favorite perch of one of the dark morph rough-leggeds. Two were seen in this area. 
 
It was 4:25 pm when we reached the intersection of M28 and Centerline. It was snowing and light was low with the cloud cover. Turning north, we scanned the telephone poles along the west side of Centerline. On about the fifth pole was a heavily black-flecked immature Snowy Owl! Many thanks to the friendly paper carrier! We drove right up to the pole, which was at the driveway to the first house on the left. The bird did not flush so we were able to see it well. Since we had been told two owls were between M48 and B-M48, we drove this stretch of Centerline repeatedly searching for the second owl without finding it. A little after 5:00 pm we decided we needed to return to Indiana, so we left Centerline Road by turning west onto B-M48 to go to the Rudyard BP for gasoline. Three hundred yards west of the intersection, Maggie found a second owl on a high pole to the south of the road. This owl was barely visible to the naked eye, but Maggie noticed that the shape of the top of this pole
 appeared to be just a little different than nearby poles. Snowy Owls we have seen previously, in New England, have always stuck out as large white objects but this owl, a couple hundred hundred yards distant, was hardly discernible. We scoped it and found that it, too, was an immature. 
 
Inside the BP, we learned that a young woman working there lives in the house at the southeast corner of M48 and Centerline Road. She said two Snowy Owls hang out in her yards and she has many photos of them. The first owl we saw was probably one of those birds. Thus, if you want to see a Snowy Owl, cruise Centerline Road “between M48 and M48,” especially late in the day.
 
The first five of our six target birds had been so easy it hardly felt like birding. The Snowy Owl, however, consumed more time than the others put together. It also kept us from looking for Bohemian Waxwings, or from driving to Marquette to see Louie’s Topper. Had we seen the owl early in the morning we would have had enough time to have driven the three hours from Brimley to Marquette for the Green-tailed Towhee. Then from Marquette down to Green Bay we would have completed a birding cirumnavigation of Lake Michigan in two weekends. As it now stands, we are missing a 178-mile segment of M28, from Brimley to Champion to accomplish that feat. 
 
On these two trips we’ve seen twenty of our primary and secondary target birds, plus three accidentals; or half of our total target list. We are missing Hoary Redpoll, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Bohemian Waxwing, Spruce Grouse, Evening Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, Gyrfalcon, and, of course, winter owls and gulls. I believe all but great Gray, Boreal, and Northern Hawk Owls and Gyrfalcon have been reported by others. Good reasons for us to return.
 
Leaving Rudyard at 5:30 pm, we drove the 410 miles home through a snow storm, on mostly unplowed roads. Wherever it was not snowing (below Grand Rapids) it was foggy. The difficulty of the drive home was made fun as talked about the birds we saw, listened to the Colts-Patriot football game on the radio, and finished our last bag of Moose Munch. In all we covered 1,067 miles in 42 hours, getting all six of our target birds, plus a Northern Goshawk and two shrikes. Of that time, only ten hours were spent birding, six of those looking for the owl! 
 
Only two miles from home, my cell phone beeped. It was a much delayed voice message from Caleb. Only then, in the first minutes of Jan 22, did we learn of the fate of the Black-throated Gray Warbler—the tiny bird that inspired this trip. We were much saddened by the news, yet that outcome may have been inevitable. If not this weekend, then later this week with the next cold snap. Thanks, Caleb, for finding this bird and for the enthusiastic effort you made to keep all of us informed. And thanks to the many other Michigan birders who contributed information to us to make this trip a success! With all of you we wish to share our trip. 
 
Byron K. Butler
Chesterton, Porter Co., IN
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-listers/attachments/20070123/59839b37/attachment-0001.html