UP Rare Bird Report for September 11, 2008

[theowlranch at aol.com]

UP Rare Bird Report for September 11, 2008

 

There is a great fruit/cone crop this year, and it is widespread across the peninsula. The mountain ash trees in the UP are so heavily laden with berries that most trees have bent branches. Apples, crabs, cherries and other fruiting shrubs/trees are all having a banner fruit year as are the berry bushes. White and black spruce, particularly white spruces are heavily laden with cones this fall as are balsam fir.  Also experiencing a large cone crop are white pines, and to a lesser extent red pine. Depending on how the fruit crops are to the northwest of Lake Superior, I expect a decent flight of the frugivores (Pine Grosbeak, Bohemian Waxwings, Townsend’s  Solitaires, and Varied Thrushes). It is possible that if the fruit crops are good northwest of the lake, that the flight might not occur until mid-winter.

A photo of the White-winged Dove can be found in the 2008 photo gallery at www.UPBirders.org

 

 

Highlights

WHITE-WINGED DOVE*

Cackling Goose

Red-throated Loon

Whimbrel

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Red-necked Phalarope

Parasitic Jaeger

Black-backed Woodpecker

Western Kingbird

Boreal Chickadee

Connecticut Warbler

 

 

Keweenaw County

Zach Gayk reported a BOREAL CHICKADEE at Bête Gris on August 30th. 

 

Houghton County

Max Henschell found a WESTERN KINGBIRD at the Calumet Sewage Ponds on September 6. Joe Youngman had a LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER at the Chassel Sewage P
onds on the 5th. 

 

Baraga County

Joe Youngman had 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS at Ojibwa Beach on September 5th. Joe also had 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS on the Baraga jetty on the 11th. 

 

Marquette County

David Pavlik had an unidentified JAEGER SPECIES fly past the Presque Isle Black Rocks on September 5th. Scot Stewart had a CONNECTICUT WARBLER at the Presque Isle Park Bogwalk on the 4th. 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS & 3 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS were at the NMU athletic fields on the 7th. 2 WHIMBREL were also seen in Marquette on the 7th. Up to 5 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS were at the NMU athletic fields as of the 11th. 


Delta County

2 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS were in a burn along County Rd 513 on the Stonington Peninsula on September 6th. At least 2 pairs of RED-NECKED GREBES have successfully raised young in Kipling for a 4th year in a row. Dee Miller reported a pair of GREAT EGRETS at Ludington Park in Escanaba on the 5th. 

 

Alger County

Scott Hickman reported a CACKLING GOOSE at the mouth of the Au Train River on September 11th. 

 

Luce County

Rick Baetsen reported a number of notable sightings including 3 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS from the Sleeper Lake burn on September 8th. Another BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER was at Pike Lake on the 7th. Also at Pike Lake were a family group of 4 SPRUCE GROUSE on the 8th, and the season’s first CACKLING GOOSE from the 6th-8th. 

 

Chippewa County

Recent highlights from WPBO include a juvenil
e RED-NECKED PHALAROPE on September 11th; 2 RED-THROATED LOONS on the 10th; 1 SURF SCOTER, 1 RED-THROATED LOON, and a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER on the 9th; 1 adult PARASITIC JAEGER, 1 unidentified JAEGER SPECIES, & 2 RED-THROATED LOONS on the 8th; 1 unidentified JAEGER SPECIES, 1 WHIMBREL, 1 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER, & 6 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS on the 7th;  2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS on the 6th, and 1 juvenile PARASITIC JAEGER & a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER. For more updates at Whitefish Point, visit www.WPBO.org and click on the sightings blogs.

 

Mackinac County

A WHITE-WINGED DOVE* appeared at the feeders of Barb & Jeff Brockway at Milakokia Lake on September 7th. The bird has not been seen since. If accepted by the MBRC, this will be 10th Upper Peninsula record of this species.

 

 

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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 description. 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 me at the TheOwlRanch at aol.com or to Birdnet at UPBirders.org if you are a subscriber. For more information on Birdnet, or UP birds,=2
0please visit www.UPBirders.org

 

Till next time,

 

~Skye Haas
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