4/24

A WINDY day! Sustained winds were 12-15mph with gusts up to about 25mph. It was sunny to start with clouds increasing later.

Raptors:

Unidentified Raptor - 2
Unidentified Accipiter - 2

N. Harrier - 3

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2

Red-tailed Hawk - 1

Bald Eagle - 1

Others:None of note.

4/21 & 22 - White Pelicans & White-eyed Vireo!

4/22: 60's and sunny. Nice day. Some nice birds too...including one Red-headed Woodpecker, 4 Greater Yellowlegs and 17 White Pelicans! White Pelicans are annual but rare in MI in migration.

Raptors:
Unidentified Raptor - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
N. Harrier - 6 (some may have been repeats)
Turkey Vulture - 6

Others:
Sandhill Crane - 6
**American White Pelican - 17 - a rare sighting for MI!
Greater Yellowlegs - 4 (new migrant)
Red-headed Woodpecker - 1

4/21: Hazy day with some fog on the lake getting blown in the the afternoon. Temps dropped as the wind turned out of the west. Pine Warbler showed up today - singing up in the trees to my north. BW Teal also showed up, but the best bird of the day was a White Eyed Vireo! A breeder in certain locations of the southern counties in MI, this bird took me by surpise! It must have been a migratory "over-shoot" working his way back south. He did not vocalize and I only saw him for a minute or so. I turned for a couple seconds and he disappeared.

Raptors:
Unidentified Raptor - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
N. Harrier - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1

Others: Common Loon - 1
Blue-winged Teal - 11 (new migrant)
Pine Warbler - 1 - First of Spring!
**White-eyed Vireo - 1 (very rare this far N. in MI)

4/17 & 18

4/18
Started off windy, but turned out sunny and WARM! Temps soared over 70 today! The weather helped the birds move today - raptors and others. Lots of RC and GC Kinglets, Brown Creepers and Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to move through. Also Blue-gray Gnatcatcher showed up today as did Barn Swallows.

Raptors:
Red-tailed Hawk - 4
Merlin - 1
N. Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Unidentified Accipiter - 2
Turkey Vulture - 26

Others:
Long-tailed Duck - 200+
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - first of spring
Barn Swallow - first of spring


4/17

Raptors:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
N. Harrier - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Unidentified Falcon - 2

Other:
Rough-winged Swallows (first of spring!)

4/15 & 16

Sharpie in full glide. This pic was taken in VA at Kiptopeke State Park in 10/06. Since my camera is currently not operational I thought I'd add spice to this blog from other sources!

4/15:
Cold by the lake, warm inland - but wind was sustained at 6mph. Overall a good day - weather-wise that is. Lots of Turkey Vulture movement...slim pickn's on the rest.

Raptors:
Bald Eagle: 3
Red-tailed Hawk: 1
Cooper's Hawk: 1
Unidentified Raptor: 1
Turkey Vulture: 34

Others:
Sandhill Crane: 8
Common Loon: 3
Gloucous Gull: 1 adult in flight

4/16
Temps broke 50 today (BARELY) with sustained winds at 15-20mph out of the S/SW (just about blew me from my perch!). Believe it or not, Muskegon proper hit 75 today - that's what the cold lake water does to beach temps in spring!!
Despite MY being bundled up in the windy, cool weather, the birds know spring is here. I saw my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet today as well as numerous Tree Swallows, Brown Creepers, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and 2 Caspian Terns.

Raptors:
Red-tailed Hawk: 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 2
Cooper's Hawk: 1
Merlin: 1 (nice view as it flew directly overhead - in a FAST b-line north with S winds - in total Merlin style!)
Unidetified Raptor - 1

Others:
Caspian Tern: 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler: several heard
Tree Swallows: lots

4/10

Cold, windy and turning rainy...need I say more? Despite this fact, some birds were on the move. Harriers turned in a pretty good show. I witnessed one hunt and catch a rodent down below my dune-top perch. It sat in the grass and ate a migratory lunch-on-the-run.

Raptors:
Northern Harrier: 8
Bald Eagle: 1
Osprey: 1 (first for my watch!)
Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1
Red-tailed Hawk: 2
Turkey Vulture: 10

Others:
Sandhill Crane: 1
Common Loon: 1

4/9 - A "Turkey" photo day

Strong west wind made for a cold morning, but the winds died down some for the afternoon and the sun even made a few peeks out. The birds were SLOW...except for the gulls and cormorants! One odd bird note is that many YB Sapsuckers were seen again today (see 4/7), but this time they were headed south...anyone with any ideas why?

Raptors:

Bald Eagle - 3

Red-tailed Hawk - 1

Accipiter Sp. - 1

Turkey Vulture - 25 (photo above)

Others:

Yellow-rumped Warbler! - 1 - First of spring.

Blue-winged Teal - 3

Common Loon - 8

Wild Turkey - 2 (see photo below)

4/8

Temps in the lower 40's with light rain developing made for a miserable afternoon. At least some activity was enjoyed beforehand! Note the picture with umbrella set up to cover my data sheets and a Gortex wrapped me wishing I had a stove to warm myself by.













Raptors:
Cooper's Hawk - 1 heard
Turkey Vulture - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Rough-legged Hawk - 1 (dark morph)

Others:
Common Loon - 3 (1 flyover, 2 on Lake MI)
Sandhill Crane - 6
Winter Wren
LOTS of Golden-crowned Kinglets (see attempted diginoc picture)

4/7

Raptors:
Merlin - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Bald Eagle - 1
N. Harrier - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Turkey Vulture - 10
Other:
White-winged Scoter - 10
Common Loon - 1
Sandhill Crane - 23
*30+ YB Sapsuckers flew over headed N. within the first 3 hours of the count. They slowed down lots after that - I ended up with about 35 (although I'm sure a few slipped by while I was busy counting the other birds. It was hillarious to watch them come across the open area to my south with the strong S/SW winds today. They came in FAST, almost tumbling toward me and several "crash-landed" in the trees behind me to the North! The smart ones did U-turns before landing on the N. side of the tree trunk.

4/1 - 4/4

Digiscoped Bluebird seen from the hawk watch


4/1

Raptors:
Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (the days ONLY raptor)
Others:
Long-tailed Duck - 4
Common Loon - 1
White-winged Scoter - 6
Wild Turkey - 3 (and YES, they did FLY over!)
Glaucous Gull - 1 imm.


4/2
Raptors:
Bald Eagle - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Turkey Vulture - 7
Others:
Sandhill Cranes - 34
Gloucous Gull - 1 adult



4/3
Raptors:
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Bald Eagle - 7
Unidentified Accipiter - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 9 (long distance)
Turkey Vulture - 17
Kestrel - 1
Other:
Raven - 1 (heard and seen flying south)
Pileated Woodpecker - 4
Long-tailed Duck - 500
Sandhill Crane - 19
White-winged Scoter - 16
Tree Swallows! First of Spring! Several flew by over the lake today.
Bohemian Waxwings (probable) - BRIEFLY heard and seen flying away through tree branches.


4/4
Raptors:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 6
Turkey Vulture - 22
Other:
Pileated Woodpecker - 2
White-winged Scoter - 4

The View

Here's some pictures of the view from the Hawk Watch:

View of Lake MI to the S/SW View to the East
Me!