Volume 94 Issue 4 Jul-Aug 2017
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Jack Pine Warbler JULY-AUGUST: Inadvertent Bird Refuges in Michigan ■ Establishing Purple Martin Colonies ■ Record Owl Banding Season ■ Hawk Count Report ■ Spring Waterbird Recap ■ Spring Season Rare Bird Sightings THE MAGAZINE OF MICHIGAN AUDUBON JULY-AUGUST 2017 | JackVOLUME Pine 94Warbler NUMBER 1 4 Cover Photo Marbled Godwits Photographer: Marilyn Keigley Marilyn Keigley is a retired professor from Ferris State University and enjoys nature photography, especially birds and snow crystals. These Marbled Godwits were photographed on the south end of Wilderness State CONTACT US Park, July 5, 2013. According to Marilyn, there were four Godwits along with Common and Caspian Terns By mail: near the rocks along the shore. She enjoys learn- 2310 Science Parkway, Suite 200 ing the scientific details that are behind the photos Okemos, MI 48864 and has given or shared photographs with Michigan By visiting: Audubon, Michigan Botanical Club, Michigan Nature 2310 Science Parkway, Suite 200 Association, Leelanau Conservancy, and other nature Okemos, MI 48864 environmentally-focused groups. By Phone: Thank you to Marilyn Keigley for submitting this wonderful 517-580-7364 image for the 2017 Jack Pine Warbler cover photo contest. Mon.–Fri. 9 AM–5 PM STAFF Heather Good Executive Director [email protected] Contents Lindsay Cain Education Coordinator [email protected] Features Columns Departments Rachelle Roake Conservation Science Coordinator [email protected] 2-3 9-10 1 Serendipitous Sanctuaries: Spring Owl Banding Executive Director Letter Maura Villhauer Inadvertent Bird Refuges in Operations Manager Michigan 10-11 8 [email protected] Spring Waterbird Count Upcoming Events Diane Huhn 4-5 Special Thanks: 2017 Communications & Marketing Coordinator Purple Martin Conservation Spring Fling & Cerulean [email protected] Program: Establishing 12-13 Warbler Weekend Colonies Spring Hawk Count Molly Keenan Administrative Specialist 13 [email protected] New Members 6-8 BOARD OF DIRECTORS WPBO Spring Season 14 Ray Stocking (chair), Anne Brasie (vice- Reports chair), Mike Bishop (secretary), Penny Special Thanks: 2017 Tawas Meints (treasurer), Alec Lindsay, Elizabeth Point Birding Festival Abood-Carroll, Deaver Armstrong, Rich Bailhe, John Baumgartner, Rosann Kovalcik, Gregory Nelson, Natasha Koss COPY EDITOR Molly Keenan Administrative Specialist [email protected] MICHIGAN AUDUBON CONNECTS BIRDS AND PEOPLE FOR THE BENEFIT OF BOTH … PRODUCTION … through conservation, education, and research efforts in Diane Huhn Communications & Marketing Coordinator the state of Michigan. Formed and incorporated in 1904, it is [email protected] Michigan’s oldest conservation organization. Michigan Audubon ADVERTISING supports bird surveys throughout the state, publishes survey data, Guidelines available on request. provides educational opportunities, and preserves nearly 5,000 acres of land within 19 sanctuaries as habitat for birds and other PRINTING wildlife. The 41 chapters of Michigan Audubon focus on local Jack Pine Warbler (ISSN 0021-3845) conservation issues and provide educational programs within is published six times per year and their communities. Contributions to Michigan Audubon are tax- is received by all Michigan Audubon deductible. members. It is printed by: RiverRun Press 600 Shoppers Lane Parchment, MI 49004 Visit MichiganAudubon.org for more updates, and follow www.riverrunpress.com MichiganAudubon on social media Printed on recycled paper made from 100% post-consumer waste. From the Executive Director Giving Back to Birds and the Future of the Tawas Point Birding Festival 2017 marked the Tawas Point keynote speaker’s presentation on Birding Festival’s 12th year. More bird-friendly communities, what birds than a decade ago, the incep- give us is essentially free. And their tion of this event was inspired and presence is an incredible gift. What fueled largely by the energy, vision, are we giving back? It’s an important striving to support in our programs and dedication of one woman, question to keep returning to. We can and events. We want to continue Peggy Ridgway, and has been find big and small ways to collectively providing opportunities to watch sustained by her, her local Michigan do so by engaging in activities that and learn about birds while simulta- Audubon Chapter, AuSable Valley make up a bird-friendly community neously offering education to create Audubon, and the staff of Michigan and reach beyond the reliable tenant a stronger team of conservation- Audubon. In fact, about 50 volun- of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” ists supporting the needs and well- teers connected with AuSable being of birds in our state. Valley Audubon work either behind Beyond the basics, we can raise our the scenes or on the leading lines bird-friendly living standards by doing So, what can we expect for the next of guiding tours and working tables any number of additional, meaningful Tawas Point Birding Festival? Well, to make this event a success, and things: in 2016, a few staff members met they do so with good humor, a with core volunteers who work with seamlessness in working together, • Plant native plants and remove us to organize the event: Peggy and a steadfast commitment to this ornamentals and invasives from Ridgway, Sue Duncan, and Jean event and what it offers visitors and our yards. Howard, the current president of the community. • Turn off outdoor lights — particu- AuSable Valley Audubon. We talk- larly during migration. ed about the sustainability of this At the root, what is remarkable • Avoid using pesticides. event on an annual basis, and how about this event is how purely it • Feed the birds and promote small scaling back the event to hosting aligns with our mission to connect and local businesses doing so. it every-other year would ensure birds and people for the benefit of • Limit the use and purchase of plas- its sustainability, and that we can both. At least, we humans benefit tics. continue offering a very full experi- greatly from the sights, sounds, and • Drink bird-friendly coffee. ence for attendees and keep this experiential learning of attending if • Put screens on the outside of the event growing in positive ways. we have our eyes and ears open. glass, place decals on or hang Tawas Point State Park boasts strings in windows to prevent bird During alternate years, we at two successful Purple Martin colo- collisions. Michigan Audubon will be busy nies, a plethora of warblers pass- • Buy organic. promoting Birdathon at both ing through with perfect timing for • Keep cats indoors. Cats kill up Whitefish Point Bird Observatory the event, numerous trails great to 3.7 billion birds annually in the as well as a statewide Birdathon for birding, and opportunities to United States — this is a true crisis fundraiser for all the chapters of see and learn about less common for birds and our native ecology. Michigan Audubon throughout the birds (this year, we were graced by state to participate in. Stay tuned a Painted Bunting and Fork-tailed For what birds give us, what they for future Birdathon updates and Flycatcher). The list goes on. represent, and simply in and of details, and mark your calendars their own right — practicing these for the next Tawas Point Birding I go back to the tail-end of that things is the least we can do, isn’t Festival: May 16-18, 2019. mission — for the benefit of both it? Imagine if birding or birdwatch- — and think often about how ing and conservation practices went we are giving back. As I said to hand-in-hand; that’s what organi- banquet attendees prior to our zations like Michigan Audubon are Heather Good, Executive Director Jack Pine Warbler 1 Serendipitous Sanctuaries Inadvertent Refuges for Birds BY KIRBY ADAMS A Grasshopper Sparrow taking refuge at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in July 2014. © Caleb Putnam t’s a cold and windswept landscape that the We also need, for the time being, power plants. Snowy Owl surveys. Flat and treeless, the land is Coal-fired plants are stalwart polluters and even the Ihard and rocky with just a few sparse plants. A comparatively “clean” nuclear facilities release enor- few other small birds are the only animals to be seen. mous amounts of water vapor, which is a greenhouse It’s a barren landscape, and that’s just how the owl contributor, not to mention the radioactive waste. likes it. Still, birders have a love/hate relationship with power plants. Go to Marquette in the winter and the An apt description of the tundra, no doubt, but what outflow by the plant on Lake Superior might be the if I’d added that the only thing visible on the hori- only liquid water you see outside. That fact isn’t lost zon was a line of taxiing 737s? Yes, it’s an airport in on ducks and gulls that flock there to feast on fish. Michigan in January. It’s not an accident that Snowy During the record-breaking frigid winters between Owls are so frequently found at airports, as no other 2013 and 2015, open water was hard to come by landscape this far south so accurately mimics the anywhere in the state and power plants were provid- tundra that the owls are comfortably familiar with. ing much needed havens for loons, grebes, and Birds are not like people who take pleasure in new ducks. Birders had a field day, literally, ticking off all experiences and unfamiliar surroundings. They’re of the winter waterfowl in one field of view through creatures of habit, something worth remembering for binoculars. Most people would agree that power the conservationist and the birder. plants are not typically categorized as eco-friendly The affinity for airports by owls and various other birds is not without consequence. During the series of Snowy Owl irruptions over the past six winters some airports were shooting owls in the name of plane safety. A crash in New York caused by geese was fresh on the public’s mind, and there’s no doubt a bird as large as a Snowy Owl hitting a windshield or a jet intake could be disastrous.