Saturday, I spent 4 hours counting waterbirds at Blacks Rocks in Marquette. I got dropped off around 8am. About 30 minutes into my count I spotted a distant gull looking bird. Occasionally, I could see white flashes on the upper wings. It looked like a cross between a Peregrine Falcon and a gull. It was a Jaeger! It was a couple miles out so I was not able to identify which type it was.  Still, I was really excited because it's only the second one I've ever seen.  

I also saw 31 Red Necked Grebes, 3 Horned Grebes, 1 Red Throated Loon and 2 Common Loons. 

Today, I was watching songbirds at our horse stables. Blue Jays and Cedar Waxwings were the most common. I tallied a total of 4 Palm Warblers and 8 American Goldfinch. The Highlights were a Scarlet Tanager and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.

The Mammal highlight was this really awesome Coyote. 

Finally, we're in need of a Photo Quiz. I took this photo of a warbler Yesterday.  GOOD LUCK!!

Today, I spent about an hour and a half at our local breakwall, near Marquette's lower harbor. It is next to the local coast guard station, right on Lake Superior.  It is a really good spot to see shorebirds. Some of the Highlights today were 5 Buff Breasted sandpipers and 2 American Pipits.  

August 15th marked the beginning of the fall waterbird count at the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory. You can follow there blog at www.WPBO.org. So far this year, waterbird numbers have been slow but are just starting to pick up. There has been no Jaegers yet but, there was a Sabines Gull and a pair of Stilt sandpipers. 

I've been to WPBO once already. I went on the 24th and the 25th. The 24th was the best day of the fall for Shorebirds. With a total of 16 Species including, White Rumped, Semipalmated, Bairds, Least and Pectoral Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstone, Whimbrel, Semipalmated, Piping, Black Bellied and American Golden Plovers, Sanderling, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper and a Killdeer. On the 25th, Shorebird Numbers were way down but a Red Knot flew by and landed with only 5 minutes left in the count. 

                                                My first Breeding Bird Survey
When I got asked to go on my first Breeding Bird survey, with one of our areas top birders, I jumped at the opportunity! I met Katie Koch, a USFWS bird biologist at 4:45am! That was the earliest time I've been birding by 15 minutes. When we got to the first survey point, it was 5:20. When the clock turned to 5:34 it was time to start. We waited and listened for 3 Minutes. We were right on the edge of a jack pine tree stand. The first bird we heard was a Lincoln’s Sparrow. Then, we heard a Chipping Sparrow, an American Robin, a Nashville Warbler, a Yellow Rumped Warbler, a Vesper Sparrow, a Pine Warbler, and i saw a lifer Eastern Towhee! Katie told me that we would drive half a mile stop and listen for 3 Minutes and do that again 50 times!

3 hours later we stopped at Deer Lake.  On our first stop at Deer Lake, we got the first Hooded Merganser of the day. On our second stop, we saw 2 Ring-Necked Ducks , a Common Loon, a Northern Parula, two Hermit Thrushes, and a brown Creeper. We also found a Hairy Woodpecker nest.

Our last spot was in a Deciduous forest. We heard a Ruffed Grouse, a pair of Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers, a Red Eyed Vireo, two Ovenbirds, a Blackburnian Warbler, and a Black Throated Green Warbler. 

                                               About the Author

I’m a 13 year old birder from Marquette, Michigan. I have watched backyard birds my whole life, but got really interested 3 years ago. I’m currently trying to start the Upper Peninsula Young Birders Club. I am an amateur wildlife photographer and aspiring ornithologist.  I am also the author of 21stcenturybirder.com. My dream is to study fall migration at Point Barrow, Alaska and Waterbird migration pathways throughout the Great Lakes 

Friday, I started surveying Spruce Grouse. The study was mainly on habitat thickness used by Spruce Grouse. We saw one female, which we got really close to. Friday, I went to Whitefish point. I got 5 big year birds and 3 were lifers! The first was a blue headed vireo, in a bog, on the point. My family came back to look for the blue headed vireo and found a roosting barred owl. Although it wasn't a big year bird, it was neat to see. My next lifer was a Red Throated Loon that I spotted from the waterbird shack. We saw nothing else until dusk on the hawk platform. The first thing we saw was an American Bittern. Then, we saw another American Bittern being followed by a either a Long or a Short Eared Owl! Soon after, we saw another owl, that I identified as a Short Eared Owl. There was also a Long Eared Owl identified by the banders.  We also heard Eastern Whip-poor-wills. Everyone else left but me and Jason B.  Jason is researching owl migration at the platform. The banders and everyone else radioed in a Great Horned Owl behind us.  We looked around, and finally spotted it sitting in the top of the tree. While Jason was taking the weather he yelled out,"HUGE OWL!" We jumped on the dunes looking for it for 10 Minutes but weren't able to find it. We left and were told they caught a  Northern Saw Whet Owl. While we were in the owl banding lab, Jason came and told us there was a Great Grey Owl by the boardwalk. He went to take a phone call and flushed it. It was a lifer for me and a good amount of the people there. We watched him for about 40 minutes. That was my 6th species of owl for the day! Sunday, I surveyed Spruce Grouse again. We saw a total of 4 and one was displaying!  They jumped up and down on the tree branches and made a thumping noise.  

In two weeks the WPBO spring fling weekend is taking place. It's fun to go there and see a ton of amazing birds and meet amazing birders! This months story will be about WPBO during April. I went last weekend and added a ton of new birds, including a Boreal and Short eared Owl!