Golden Eagle, Thayer's Gull, Pine Grosbeak Thumb

[Karl Overman]

Today, January 4th, Robert Epstein, Jim Lesser and I birded around  
the Thumb from Port Huron to the tip of the Thumb in Huron County.    
Here are some of the birds we found:

Long-tailed Duck--20 off Edison Park in Port Huron on the St. Clair  
River virtually underneath the Blue Water Bridge

Rough-legged Hawk--3 seen in farm country north of Port Hope, Huron  
County on M-25.

Golden Eagle--one immature bird flying low, south and then west along  
M-25 along the Lake Huron shoreline south of Russell Road in northern  
Sanilac County

Thayer's Gull--one adult seen close in flight at Edison Park in Port  
Huron on the St. Clair River.

Great Black-backed Gull--2 adults Harbor Beach, Huron Co.

Screech Owl--One gray phased bird seen at close range, about 4 feet  
above the ground on the edge of 	Loosemore Road, Huron County.    
Another one heard along that road.

Northern Shrike--We saw about six scattered birds in Sanilac and  
Huron Counties.

Bohemian Waxwing--50 in mixed flock with Cedar Waxwings along  
Loosemore Road, Huron County.

Snow Bunting--flocks frequently seen along roadsides in Huron  
County.  The largest, 500 birds were at a manure spread in a field  
south of Harbor Beach, Huron County

Pine Grosbeak--one female in Port Austin, Huron County and two more  
females seen along Loosemore Road, Huron County

Common Redpoll--two seen in with a large flock of Goldfinches at  
residential bird feeders on M-25 in northern Sanilac County.

Regarding the Bohemian Waxwings, we did not find them in the more  
open, swampy area that birders often concentrate on--we did see Pine  
Grosbeaks there and a dozen Cedar Waxwings.  The Bohemian flock were  
further west on Loosemore Road where you had to look through the  
woods to the south to see them perched in a tree.  There was still  
small areas of open water in the harbor at Harbor Beach but ducks we  
found were mundane--Common Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes and Bufflehead.

Loosemore Road for those unfamiliar with it, is a straight dirt road  
that runs  from M-25 across from the entrance to the day use area of  
Port Crescent State Park to M-25 again further to the west as that  
road curves around the tip of the Thumb.

Cheers,

Karl Overman
Farmington Hills, Mi.