UP Rare Bird Report for November 6, 2008

Thu Nov 6 22:43:26 EST 2008

UP Rare Bird Report for November 6, 2008

Autumn is drawing to a close, and the birding is certainly reflective of early November. Continuing from the last report, large numbers of winter finches are widespread across the Upper Peninsula. Numbers of White-winged Crossbills, and Pine Siskins are impressive, and flocks up to hundreds of Common Redpolls are also now being recorded. Purple Finches and American Goldfinches are also common, with smaller numbers of Pine Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks and Red Crossbills being seen. Also quickly building is a large Snowy Owl movement with at least 12 birds in 6 counties reported in last two weeks. A decent movement of Northern Shrike has been observed this fall. The first Bohemian Waxwings of the season have been reported, yet notable in their absence are Townsend's Solitaires. This is the first October in several years that Townsend's Solitaire has gone unreported in the UP. 

Recent photo highlights can be found in the 2008 photo gallery at www.UPBirders.org?; 

Highlights

PACIFIC LOON*

BLACK VULTURE*

ANCIENT MURRELET*

LARK SPARROW*

Harlequin Duck

Cattle Egret

Golden Eagle

Black-legged Kittiwake

Thayer's Gull

Iceland Gull

Parasitic Jaeger

Snowy Owl

Great Gray Owl

Boreal Owl

Black-backed Woodpecker

Bohemian Waxwing

Boreal Chickadee

YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER

Dickcissel

Ontonagon County

A SNOWY OWL was reported in the Village of Ontonagon in early November.

Keweenaw County

Joy Ziemncik reported 4 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS at the Black Creek Nature Sanctuary on October 21st. 

Houghton County

A BLACK VULTURE* was observed in Chassel along Upper Pike River Road on October 17th, and seen again four days later. Tim Gebur found a SNOWY OWL on the 24th in Stanton Township on Houghton Canal Road. Joe Youngman reported a SNOWY OWL on the "long dock" on the Lower Portage Entry on the 31st. 

Baraga County

Max Henschell found a PACIFIC LOON* at Sand Point in Baraga on October 31st. Max also had a SNOW GOOSE. Joe Youngman reports that the number of BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS has greatly diminished with only singles being found on the 3rd & 4th. Doug Welker reported 2 GRAY JAYS on the North County Trail on the Baraga Plains on the 30th. 

Iron County

Greg Cleary reported an impressive flock of 1000 RING-NECKED DUCKS on Crystal Lake in Iron Mountain on October 18th. 

Dickinson County

Greg Cleary & Dan Lorenz found a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER, 1 BOREAL CHICKADEE and 3 GRAY JAYS along the middle branch of the Escanaba River on November 1st. 

Marquette County

David Pavlik found 4 CATTLE EGRETS in the lower harbor of Marquette on November 4th. David found another CATTLE EGRET at the mouth of the Dead River on the 6th. At least 2 SNOWY OWLS were observed in Marquette on the 5th, with David Pavlik finding 1 at the mouth of the Dead River and Deb Hecox photographing another in the lower harbor. A 3rd SNOWY OWL was observed at Marquette's south beach on the 6th. Jen Anderson & Ryne Rutherford had a BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER on Hogsback Mountain on October 19th. A number of THAYER'S & THAYER'S/ICELAND-type GULLS have been found in Marquette with several individuals seen near daily and photographed. Both GREAT BLACK-BACKED & GLAUCOUS GULLS have also been observed. 6 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were at the Big Bay Lighthouse on the 6th. Zach Gayk reported 16 GRAY JAYS and 5 BOREAL CHICKADEES. 2 BOREAL CHICKADEES were observed along the Clowry Truck Trail on 25th. An NMU ecology class had a BOREAL CHICKADEE at Van Riper State Park on the 5th. 

Delta County

A YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER was found and photographed at Peninsula Point on November 1st. Also seen were 2 SNOWY OWLS. A SNOWY OWL and a late MARSH WREN were observed at Portage Marsh on the 1st, as was a BLACK SCOTER at Aronson Island. 

Alger County

Scott Hickman had a GOLDEN EAGLE in Christmas on October 31st. Scott also reported 15 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in Shelter Bay on the 5th. Scott reports gulling was excellent on the 6th, with 7 species observed including 1 each of a THAYER'S, ICELAND, GLAUCOUS and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS. Zach Gayk and Scott had a 1st year THAYER'S GULL in Munising on the 1st. Another 1st year THAYER'S GULL was observed on the 29th. Mark & Joanie Hubinger reported a 1st year ICELAND GULL in Munising on the 5th. A SNOWY OWL was observed along M-28 in Deerton on the 2nd. 

Schoolcraft County

Ron Annelinn reported a PARASITIC JAEGER in Manistique on October 20th. Ron also reported a LONG-EARED OWL at his home in Manistique on the 28th. 

Luce County

Joyce Peterson reported 4 SPRUCE GROUSE in the Sleeper Lake Burn on October 19th. Joyce also reported 3-4 GRAY JAYS along Skyline Road on the 17th. 

Chippewa County

Whitefish Point has had a number of rarities in recent weeks with the most notable being the 5th point record (7th for Chippewa County!) of ANCIENT MURRELET* on October 31st. Amazingly, another unidentified MURRELET species* was observed flying past the point on November 5th. A late record for the species, a LARK SPARROW* was at the feeders from November 2-3rd. Other highlights include 1 SNOWY OWL on the 3rd; 1 SHORT-EARED OWL on the 2nd; 1 HARLEQUIN DUCK on the 31st; 1 SNOWY OWL on the 29th; 1 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE on the 28th; 1 CATTLE EGRET (3rd point record) on the 26th; 1 DICKCISSEL on the 24th; 1 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER on the 22nd; 1 unidentified PHALAROPE species and 1 SHORT-EARED OWL on the 20th, as well as a continuing DICKCISSEL from the 18th of October; 1 GREAT GRAY OWL on the 18th; and a LONG-EARED OWL on the 17th. Owl banding finished up on October 31st, with a BOREAL OWL banded. A handful of BOREAL OWLS were banded during the last 2 weeks of October. Finch numbers have been excellent recently, with particularly large numbers of WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILLS, PINE SISKINS, and COMMON REDPOLLS. Small numbers of BLACK and SURF SCOTERS with few straggler RED-THROATED LOONS are still being seen. For more detailed reports and excellent photos, visit the sightings blogs at www.wpbo.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All birds marked with an asterisk "*" in the report are review species in the State of Michigan and should be documented with photos or a written descritption. Please send documentation to Adam Byrne at the Michigan Birds Records Committee at either 11771 Rachel LN, Dewitt, MI 48820 or by email at Byrnea at msu.edu

For further information about the Records Committee, please visit:

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/mbrc/mbrc_home.html

To report rare birds, please email at TheOwlRanch at aol.com or to Birdnet at UPBirders.org if you are a subscriber. For more information on Birdnet, or UP birds, please visit www.UPBirders.org

Till next time,

~Skye Haas

Instant access to the latest & most popular FREE games while you browse with the Games Toolbar - Download Now! 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/mich-listers/attachments/20081106/ab7644f6/attachment.html 