We had great weather for our biggest count of the season.  The temp was in the 70’s with a light breeze.  A bit more sun to bring out the colors would have made it perfection.  Cranes came in from all directions tonight, and we had about half a dozen flights over the observation area.  In addition to the crane overflights, we had a pair of Mute Swans put on a bit of a show flying over us twice.  The second time reminding us that even though they are called mute, it’s not because their wings are silent.

A single, Big Brown bat came early and stayed late tonight.  It flew back and forth over the grassland to the west of us.  I really think it was seriously checking out our newly installed bat house…

360 cranes were observed with 294 of them staying overnight.  And only about half of those 66 were long distance observations, so fewer cranes are coming in and then leaving.  Conditions are looking very good for high numbers this year.

We’ve released an updated Crane hotspot map, available HERE.

Next week, some of use will be doing the annual USFWS counts around Jackson County so I’ll try to get some of those numbers on next week's report. 

(Steve Jerant)

Crane counters:  Ross Green, Gary Siegrist, Don Henise, Robyn Henise, & Steve Jerant
Compiler:  Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count: 360 (294 Stayed in Mud Lake Marsh)

Species count:  26

Species       Count

Species	Count
Canada Goose	21
Mute Swan	4
Trumpeter Swan	2
Wood Duck	25
American Wigeon	3
Mallard	40
American Black Duck	15
American Coot	10
Sandhill Crane	360
Killdeer	1
Great Blue Heron	1
Northern Harrier	4
Bald Eagle	1
Red-bellied Woodpecker	1
Downy Woodpecker	1
Hairy Woodpecker	1
Blue Jay	10
Tufted Titmouse	1
Carolina Wren	1
European Starling	3
Eastern Bluebird	3
American Robin	50
Cedar Waxwing	30
White-throated Sparrow	1
Red-winged Blackbird	2000
Rusty Blackbird	1

View eBird checklist

On Tuesday JAS restarted tours with the Michigan Nature Association after a long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The McCulley-Bastian Nature Sanctuary is a property adjacent to the River Raisin near Adrian.  This was named by early French settlers due to the amount of grapes seen on its bank.  But the traditional name for this river is the Nummasepee, the River of Sturgeon.

One of the property owners, Barb McCulley, joined us for our walk. It was a treat not only to meet the previous owner but get some insight into the history of the property.

In addition to lots of Tulip poplar (my favorite tree), mature sycamore, red oak,  and maples, there were some interesting understory plants that were new to some of us.

Moonseed Menispermum canadense
(Steve Jerant)

Palm Sedge MCarex muskingumensis
(Steve Jerant)

Robyn was able to get close enough to this puffball for a game ball photo for us.

(Steve Jerant)

Rachel Maranto led us up and down the high slopes along the river.  We transitioned from a mature riparian forest to a tract transitioning from old agricultural field with trees planted in the 1980's.

(Steve Jerant)

Oh, the birding? Well there was not a lot of activity, but we had a wonderful trip and finished up with some cider and donuts, compliments of our hosts, Barb & Duane!

3 Canada Goose
2 Sandhill Crane
1 Great Blue Heron
4 Turkey Vulture
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Blue Jay
2 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Carolina Wren
2 American Robin
1 Northern Cardinal

Number of Taxa: 13

Trip eBird list 

At 4:37 PM the sun came out.  Then at 4:41 PM, it clouded over and started to drizzle again.  But it was a beautiful moment.  Although it did get very dark, we had some openings, then a rainbow, a little one, but it came down just some hundred yards north of the apple tree below us.  Around 6:30 the sun broke through and lit up the marsh and the trees in the far distance.  Haehnle is really a great place to watch weather.

Ross and I worked the crane count this afternoon till after sundown. We saw 197 cranes with 147 of them staying the evening. We had several direct flyovers but most of the traffic came from the west.  We had some ducks in the close water and Trumpeter & Mute swans in the back water.  A pair of Wilson’s Snip did two flyovers for us. American Robins and of course blackbirds were in great abundance tonight. The robins buzzing over our heads and the blackbirds in the marsh. We even saw a few small murmuration.

Six visitors braved the conditions for a view of the cranes tonight.  The best viewing time for cranes in the last hour before sunset.

Crane counters:  Ross Green & Steve Jerant
Compiler:  Steve Jerant
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count: 197 (147 Stayed in Mud Lake Marsh)
Species count:  29

Canada Goose 6

Mute Swan 4

Trumpeter Swan 2

Wood Duck 19

Mallard 32

American Black Duck 5

dabbling duck sp. 20

Ring-necked Duck 12

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Sandhill Crane 197

Killdeer 1

Wilson's Snipe 2

Double-crested Cormorant 1

Great Blue Heron 1

Turkey Vulture 2

Northern Harrier 5

Red-bellied Woodpecker 1

Downy Woodpecker 1

Northern Flicker 1

Blue Jay 6

American Crow 1

Tufted Titmouse 1

European Starling 20

Eastern Bluebird 3

American Robin 250

Cedar Waxwing 27

White-throated Sparrow 2

Red-winged Blackbird 825

Common Grackle 6

blackbird sp. 100

Yellow-rumped Warbler 2

View Ross’s eBird checklist at https://ebird.org/checklist/S120869202

Ross did an abbreviated count last week (09/26) in the rain, all by himself. He had only 3 cranes for his effort.

This week, better weather brought out a full crew to count cranes at Haehnle Sanctuary.  The team counted 45 species.  The 41 Ross tabulated plus American Bittern & Blue-winged Teal seen by Don and 2 Bald Eagles & Turkey Vulture seen by Robyn.

Crane counters:   Don & Robyn Henise, Mike Bowen & Ross Green
Compiler:  Ross Green
Submitted by Steve Jerant

Crane Count: 19
Species count:  45

View Ross’s eBird checklist at https://ebird.org/checklist/S119930208

Four members of JAS made the drive downriver today to take in the raptor migrations happening over the Detroit River from Canada.  The hot raptor today was the Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Our group saw probably 50 of these during our visit at the Erie Park boar launch area.  Volunteers there have their annual counting station setup and are available to identify raptors as they migrate through.  While the Broad-winged Hawks are generally plentiful this time of the year, our group only saw a few.

As we usually do, some of us took a loop walk through the woods and wetland to see if we could observe some other species farther down the food chain.  There were large groups of Wood Ducks and Egrets in the park.  We got a few warblers, as well as other passerines and some more ducks.

In addition to the raptors moving south there were lot and lots and lots and lots of Blue Jays running south.  I put in 500 into my eBird list but the counting team there posted over 10 time as many (http://hawkcount.org/285-2022-09-20).

Our raptor species count was 10 for this trip.

Species List:
65 Canada Goose

127 Wood Duck -- Large group (75) off trail coming out of boat launch area.

4 Blue-winged Teal

40 Mallard

11 Pied-billed Grebe

2 Mourning Dove

1 Common Gallinule

2 Sandhill Crane

8 Killdeer

2 Lesser Yellowlegs

30 Ring-billed Gull

1 Herring Gull

1 Caspian Tern

30 Double-crested Cormorant

9 Great Blue Heron

112 Great Egret -- Majority in wet area nearest entrance.

6 Turkey Vulture

1 Osprey

8 Northern Harrier

22 Sharp-shinned Hawk

1 Cooper's Hawk

2 Broad-winged Hawk

1 Bald Eagle

1 Belted Kingfisher

2 Downy Woodpecker

1 Northern Flicker

7 American Kestrel

5 Peregrine Falcon

1 Merlin

500 Blue Jay -- Many more, did not count

1 Black-capped Chickadee

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

1 Carolina Wren

9 American Robin

3 American Goldfinch

18 Red-winged Blackbird

9 Common Grackle

1 Common Yellowthroat

1 Palm Warbler

9 Yellow-rumped Warbler

2 Nashville Warbler

3 Northern Cardinal

Number of Taxa: 42

My eBird Checklist

From Marsi Darwin 09/09/2022

See the Haehnle page for details, photos and any updates.

Four beautiful artworks have been generously donated “to benefit the birds” and will be sold in a silent auction this fall.

They are an acrylic painting of a vernal pond with Sandhill cranes by Toni Stevenson, a trio of leaf prints by R W Domm, a framed photograph of an oak in mist with black eyed susans, and a framed collage of four seasonal photographs by R W Domm.

If you wish to bid on an item in our auction, please email your name and phone number to marsi@ChelseaDepot.com and a bidding number will be assigned to you.

Each item will be lettered A, B, C and D and each will have a minimum starting bid.

If you’d like to bid, simply email the letter of the item you want, your bidding number, and the amount you’d like to bid. A running tally will be kept until the auction goes live at the Chelsea Depot Artisans Show on Saturday, November 12, 2022, from 10-4, where the items will be on display and where visitors to the show may also sign up to bid.

You may bid in person on November 12 on a bidding sheet at the show at the train depot, 125 Jackson St., Chelsea, or by emailing marsi@ChelseaDepot.com that day. Emails will be checked hourly. Any last minute bids must be received by 4 p.m. on November 12. Winning bidders will be notified by Sunday afternoon, November 13 and arrangements for payment and picking up artwork must be made at that time.

Lathe Claflin and I did an inventory of the grassland under development at Hahenle Sanctuary.  This section of the property is part of the Peter and Gwyneth Schroder Tract which was acquired in 2018.

A USDA EQIP grant was started in 2018 and the section was planted in May, 2021.  The seed mix contained prairie grasses and forbes selected for their value as hosts for pollinator species.  Of the 24 plants that were seeded in 2021, we were able to find 14 specimens.

Most of the prairie grasses were found as well as Aster, coneflowers and sunflowers.  I was pleased to find an Indian Hemp plant, which was not in the seed mix.

List of plants found on survey

Common Name	Species Name
Aster, New England	Aster novae-angliae
Big bluestem grass	Andropogon gerardii
Black-eyed Susan	Rudbeckia hirta
Coneflower, Purple	Echinacea purpurea
Coreopsis, Sand	Coreopsis lanceolata, L. Var. lanceolata
Evening Primrose (Common)	Oenothera biennis
False sunflower/ Oxe-eyed Sunflower	Heliopsis helianthoides
Indian grass	Sorghastrum nutans
Little bluestem grass	Schizachyrium scoparius
Milkweed, Common	Asclepias syriaca
Partridge Pea	Chamaecrista fasciculata
Sunflower, Maximilian	Helianthus maximiliani
Switch grass	Panicum virgatum
Wild bergamot, Beebalm	Monarda fistulosa
Fleabane Daisy	Erigeron strigosus
Indian Hemp; Hemp Dogbane	Apocynum cannabinum
Ironweed, Common	Veronia fasciculata
Yarrow, White	Achillea millefolium

Maximilian Sunflower
(Steve Jerant)

Indian Grass(Steve Jerant)

Oxe-eyed Sunflower(Steve Jerant)

Indian Hemp
(Steve Jerant)

From from Crystal Allis, President of Borderless Friends Forever:

Hi everyone! We are excited to share with you a wonderful opportunity to share your passion regarding birds with an exchange student, or two! Omar and Carlos both need a host family to host them for the 2022/23 academic year program. Omar wants to be an exotic animal veterinarian and enjoys teaching his birds new tricks. Carlos has a pet falcon and enjoys teaching people about falconry. As a host family you will provide three meals a day, a place to sleep and study, some transportation, and loving parenting and guidance. The students have their own spending money and their own health insurance. If you are interested in learning more, please get in touch with the Executive Director to discuss. You can visit www.borderlessfriends.org to learn more about the organization. 

A small group of JAS members braved the threatening rain predicted for the Monroe area for a trip to Pt. Mouillee.  This year's trip was a bit better than last year with lower water levels and lots of mud.

The ponds were full of Killdeer, Great Blue Heron, and Great Egrets everywhere we drove.    We saw a single Snowy Egret in Unit 8 and lots of Black-crowned Hight Herons further on.  The ducks were not too varied, but we did find a good-sized raft of them in the Humphries Unit. 

(Steve Jerant)

As for shorebirds, we spotted only 9 species but did see a single immature Piping Plover, so it was worth the drive down.   The rain held for most of the day, but then we got hit a few times. Luckily, no lightning was spotted and the showers were fairly light and brief.

(Steve Jerant) 

Species List:

4 Canada Goose

13 Mute Swan

50 Wood Duck

9 Blue-winged Teal

1050 Mallard -- About 1000 in Humphries unit

40 Pied-billed Grebe

6 Mourning Dove

7 Common Gallinule

10 Sandhill Crane

2 Semipalmated Plover

1 Piping Plover -- @Long pond, yellow leg, short black bill, distinctive walk.

90 Killdeer

12 Least Sandpiper

2 Semipalmated Sandpiper

4 Short-billed Dowitcher

4 Spotted Sandpiper

5 Greater Yellowlegs

45 Lesser Yellowlegs

30 Ring-billed Gull

1 Herring Gull

204 Caspian Tern -- 195 in humphries unit

1 Common Tern

50 Double-crested Cormorant

14 American White Pelican

95 Great Blue Heron

140 Great Egret

1 Snowy Egret -- Unit 8

2 Green Heron

7 Black-crowned Night-Heron

2 Turkey Vulture

5 Osprey

7 Bald Eagle

2 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Belted Kingfisher

1 Northern Flicker

5 Eastern Kingbird

1 Blue Jay

1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

100 Tree Swallow

30 Barn Swallow

1 House Wren

200 European Starling

1 Gray Catbird

2 American Robin

3 American Goldfinch

1 Chipping Sparrow

2 Song Sparrow

2000 Red-winged Blackbird

6 Common Grackle

Number of Taxa: 49

eBird post

While the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) has not yet been spotted in Michigan, the DNR and EGLE are asking us to keep an eye out for it.  The sooner it is spotted the quicker mitigation efforts can be executed.

See this DNR bulletin for more information.