Beaver Island Michigan

What/Where/When
Post them when you see them.

Kirk, thanks for the suggestion. I forgot to mention in the previous Kestrel post that the Eastern Meadowlarks are back. I saw two at the Lighthouse grounds (north end). What a beautiful song to herald in Spring! I usually look for them before Welke's Airport in the open fields and on the tops of the apple trees. They are ground nesters and build a little domed structure with trails to the nest.

Western Shores Rd.
Saw a Red Wing Black Bird the other day.
2 Bald Eagles and a juvenile on the ice.
Also a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Spring is on the horizon. Yeah!

No loons yet-but will let you know, Ken. The ice is still fairly widespread in Northern Lake Michigan around the islands.

Just had a call from a "little birdie" on the Island - at 5:10 p. m. today, Tuesday, April 7 - two sand hill cranes in Russell Green's field on Slop Town Road.

It will be interesting to see if the Sand Hills stick around for the summer, always fun to see them.
With the Bald Eagle sightings hopefully the population will be healthy in numbers.
Anxious to hear of the first Golden sighting.
Donna Hardenberg spent a week with us on Fripp Island, SC. She is an amazing birder and should be on Beaver in early May.

Kirk

2 sand hill cranes showed up on our fields 3 days ago. The last 4 or 5 years we have been lucky to have this pleasure!

Beaver Island Birding Trail Presentation Update:

Registration is not required for presentations; however, field trips do require registration and trips are nearing capacity. All events are free. So if you haven't registered for a field trip, please do soon. http://www.beaverislandbirdingtrail.org/warblers.html

Following Greg Butcher's presentation on May 23rd at 4 p.m., Nancy Seefelt will be sharing her experiences related to bird research around the archipelago. It is a fascinating presentation that she has shared with others around Michigan, so please mark your calendars.

Nancy Seefelt is a Michigan native who grew up in Sterling Heights, near Detroit. After high school, she enrolled at Central Michigan University (CMU) and discovered Beaver Island when she took a class at the CMU Biological Station after her freshman year. Nancy received her M.S. degree from CMU and her doctorate from Michigan State University and currently holds a faculty position in the Biology Department at CMU During the summer field season, much of her research focuses on avian ecology, specifically the breeding biology of waterbirds (gulls, terns, herons and cormorants) in northern Lake Michigan and the stopover ecology of migrating songbirds along Michigan shorelines. The migration work involves censussing, mist netting, and remote acoustical monitoring; the acoustic monitors also track the sounds of migratory bats. In addition,Nancy monitors the breeding activities of the endangered Piping Plover as part of the recovery program for this species. As a vertebrate ecologist and evolutionary biologist, Nancy has been studying birds throughout the Beaver Island Archipelago for over 20 years.

Loads of little Golden-crowned Kinglets in the pines and confers right now. A couple of hundred Red-winged Blackbirds near the old Salty house and two Turkey Vultures flying over Greene's wetland.

Nice coverage of the May Birding Trail events in the Michigan Audubon's Jack Pine Warbler magazine that just came out.

Yesterday at 5 p.m. 40 Cormorants heading over harbor to the NW.

Today: Common, Hooded, and Red-breasted Mergansers-East Side

7:05-My first Bluebird of the year-in front of Kathryn Ricksgers house and a Woodcock just north of Hannigan's Road/East Side Drive.

First robin yesterday! Also, who are those black & white ducks by the Cisco? They sit too high in the water to be loons, and the coloring's wrong: white sides, black backs.

Ditto the first Robin yesterday across the street from the Toy Museum.

I read that there were sandhills back on the island, but I hadn't seen any.
Yesterday I was out at the golf course hitting a few balls at the driving range.
Although I didn't see any sandhills, I heard them fly over and then land across the road in John Work's cow pasture. The sound is a familiar one out at the golf course, and at first I didn't even react. The squirrels in the trees there must have wondered why I stopped hitting the golf balls and just stood there transfixed on the sounds of Spring with that big smile on my face. After the sandhills landed, they stopped their squawks, and I returned to the task at hand, trying to actually hit a little white ball.

The hearing of the sandhills was the highlight of the late afternoon. It was quite a full day with the icebreaking by the Biscayne Bay earlier.

I saw one Loon flying over a couple of days ago and they are calling on the east side this morning. My first Great Blue Heron in the harbor near the old Rustic Villa/Bud McDonough's Ball Park. Beautiful clear day with lots of birds moving and songs.

Dick & Amy -
Glad to hear the Osprey have returned. We saw a good population of them in the Sea Islands of SC along with Loons and Cormorants. That's a location where many of BI water birds likely migrate to each winter. Loons generally from SC to FL. If anyone knows for sure the flyway patterns of BI birds, please share.