12/19/10 - initial feedback

Numbers from participants are coming in.... The count on 12/19/10 was slow for some of us, but a good variety was still found. With all but 2 groups numbers, a total of 63 species have been noted.

Here are notes & highlights from some area participants:

Area A from Gregg Perez:
"Section A of the Clinton Circle is located north east of Manchester, MI.

I started the day in the city limits of Manchester spotting several back yard bird varieties; goldfinches, Cedar Waxwing, House Finches and Starlings. The river's edge was quiet near Kirk Park but I did find a Great Blue Heron hiding behind the cattails.

The Woodland Way subdivision contained good numbers of woodland birds in the undeveloped lots. Exiting the city limits heading north I spotted 16 Wild Turkeys on Dutch Road.

The bird sightings slowed down as I headed north on Parr Road. However, the drainage ditch that bisects the road was very active with Cardinals, Goldfinches, Tree Sparrows, Bluebirds and Starlings.

The most productive area in Section A continues to be along Bemis Road (the eastern half near Schneider). I met one resident there walking her dog. She mentioned her husband had recently spotted a Red Headed Woodpecker and a Northern Harrier; however I did not spot any on my walk. The hottest bird area was a grassy prairie near the corner of Schneider on Bemis. It seemed that there was a bird scurrying about in every square foot of the 10 acre plot. I mostly counted Tree Sparrows, Song Sparrows and Juncos. Due to the frequency of movement and cover I was not able to identify many of the birds but I suspect there were at least 500 birds or more in that field. If you decide to walk this stretch of road you will be greeted by two friendly Golden Retrievers. They will most likely follow you as they did me for your entire walk.

Overall, I could consistently find Tree Sparrows along every brushy field edge. I spotted 4 Red-Tailed Hawks this year as opposed to none last year. The Bluebirds were also more plentiful than last year. There was very little open water so I found very few Canada Geese compared to last year. In the end I counted 30 species and totaled 808 birds in Section A."

60 Snow Buntings = along M52, south of Pleasant Lake Road

Area B
1 Rough-legged Hawk
1 Short-eared Owl (count week = 12/21)
1 Winter Wren


Area C from John Farmer:
"Jeff Schultz, Greg Jacks, John Dickinson, and I covered a portion of the Clinton circle which straddles the Washtenaw/Lenawee County line that includes parts of US-12, N. Adrian Hwy, Taylor, Staib, Pennington, Billmeyer Hwy, Clinton-Macon, Kehoe, and Fisk Roads .

We had 44 species, 2214 individuals. Best birds were Jeff's Long-eared Owl on Sutfin Rd., a Northern Shrike (almost certainly the same one Paul Cypher and Don Sherwood saw within a mile of our location) roughly 1/10 mile N. of Pennington on the E. side of Murphy Rd.

- A Rough-Legged Hawk on the north side of Pennington within a half mile of Clinton-Tecumseh Hwy.
- A Great Blue Heron, a Kingfisher, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, and three fly-over Common Redpolls in the stretch of the River Raisin and the mill race just south of US-12 in Clinton.
- A wealth of open field birds -- ~ 250 Snow Buntings, 100 Horned Larks, and 8 Lapland Larkspurs feeding on low weeds (maybe lambsquarter) in the recently manured field on the south side of Hack Rd. 3/4 mi. East of Neblo Rd. Year after year, this location is a pretty good bet for those northern visitors.
- Also had a lone White-throated and 5 White-crowned Sparrows feeding in bush honeysuckle at the woods edge on the west side of McCollum Road 0.38 miles north of US-12.
- The only waterfowl we saw were 12 Mallards on and/or flying above the open stretch of the River Raisin below the dam in Clinton."

Area D from Paul Cypher:
"Don Sherwood and I covered half of Area D during the Clinton Christmas Bird Count.
- A Northern Mockingbird was located in the area of 10354 Murphy Highway. This is a short skip to the north and east of Tecumseh. Two years ago, a Mockingbird was literally just around the corner. I suspect it is the same bird.
- A Northern Shrike was on Pennington Road just west of Billmeyer. Look for the orchard.
- A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (doing his best to convince us he was a young Cooper's Hawk with that peculiar "mewing") was in Bird Park. This is just north of the main drag in Tecumseh.
- While Don and I dipped on Great Horned Owl, we scored six Eastern Screech Owls at only three stops. Three were in Bird Park, two at the little parky place north of town (1/10th of a mile north of Burt Street on the Tecumseh-Clinton Highway at the community arts building or whatever it's called) and one on Murphy Highway between Allen and Pennington.
- The same "parky place" north of town had two Field Sparrows not too far from....the field.
- We tallied 34 species in our half. Ken Ross tallied 29 species (including Sandhill Crane and Bald Eagle) for a section total of 43 species."

Area E from Dan Gertiser:
2 Pileated Woodpeckers at Hidden Lake Gardens
1 Northern Mockingbird at Hidden Lake Gardens
...No TV’s this year. I checked the roost three times, and no birds. Also no Rough-Legged either. A young man was hunting in the field I always find them, so I will use that as my excuse. He did have a pheasant, but I can’t count that one.
...The only waterfowl was one injured goose. Lowest count there for me.
...Got a Cowbird after enduring a crappy 10 minute search through the manure piles outside a dairy operation.
...I thought I had low counts for all Passerine species this year.

Area G, north
9 Turkey Vultures
6 Eastern Screech-owls
1 Red-breasted Nuthatch

Area G, south
93 Wild Turkeys
1 Belted Kingfisher
13 Golden-crowned Kinglets

Area H
1 Northern Mockingbird

Area I
1 Rough-legged Hawk
1 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler