Category Archives: Winter Bird Reports

December 1 – February 28/29, inclusive

Slaty-backed Gull, January 30, 2016

Slaty-backed Gull

Slaty-backed Gull in Montrose Harbor. Photo by Kanae Hirabayashi. (click to see a larger version)

An adult Slaty-backed Gull was at Montrose Harbor this morning, January 30. I first noticed the bird sitting on the water at the west end of the harbor around 7:45. I had a hunch it was a Slaty-backed due to the large size, dark upperpart color, heavy head and neck streaking, and prominent white tertial crescent. When the bird flew I could see several additional clinching field marks, including the broad white trailing edge to the wing and “string of pearls” primary pattern. The bird settled down on the ice for the next 45 minutes or so and several people were able to see and photograph it. It seemed quite content but at 8:45 it got up and flew to the north and didn’t come back. This is the 340th species and 20th gull for Montrose.

I had a few other things at Montrose this a.m., including an adult Thayer’s Gull in the harbor, 6 flyby White-winged Scoters, and the 2 continuing female type Ruddy Ducks in the lake south of the handicapped parking lot. Some kind of small fish are running in the harbor, which probably explains why there have been so many Herring and Ring-billed Gulls around, and why the Slaty-backed showed up.

White-winged Scoters and Long-tailed Duck, December 6, 2015

Montrose Sunrise

Montrose Sunrise (click to see a larger version)

I birded Montrose for about an hour this morning, December 6. Most of that hour was spent at the end of the fishing pier looking at Lake Michigan. Except for Red-breasted Mergansers not much was moving, though I did have 3 northbound White-winged Scoters. There wasn’t much on the lake either; I guess most of the expected winter waterfowl are still to the north of us and will come down with colder weather.

When I was done looking at Lake Michigan I walked over to the harbor to look for the Long-tailed Duck, and after a little searching found it in the channel between the docks at the east end of the harbor, pretty much where it’s been since it first showed up.

White-winged Scoters, February 25, 2015

White-winged Scoters

White-winged Scoters (click to see the larger version)

The highlight of a walk around Montrose Point this morning were 40 or so White-winged Scoters, almost all concentrated in a small area of open water on the lakeside of the fishhook pier. This reminds me of what happened last winter when the lake froze over, stranding and killing many ducks. I don’t think the situation is as dire as last year but if we continue to have unseasonably cold weather it will be. I took the photo from the base of the fishhook pier; most of the birds are White-winged Scoters.

Belmont Harbor Surf Scoters, February 7, 2015

Surf Scoters

Surf Scoters (click to see the larger version)

Karen and I had 2 Surf Scoters, an immature male and an immature female, at the mouth of Belmont Harbor this morning, February 7. Both birds got up and flew north while we were watching them and may have landed near Montrose. After a long schlep up the lakefront we got to Montrose and could not relocate the birds, so apparently they kept going.

Our only other birds of note were a Red-bellied Woodpecker in the Marovitz Golf Course, a pretty good bird for the immediate lakefront, and the continuing juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Montrose. It felt good to be out and about and feel the sun on our faces.

Great Black-backed Gull and Red-throated Loon, January 19, 2015

Great Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull (click to see the larger version)

A walk around Montrose this morning, January 19, yielded a couple good birds. While I was scanning the lake from the fishing pier I saw a Red-throated Loon on the water a few hundred yards offshore. The bird was slowly drifting to the north and I thought I could get a better look at it by walking north on the pier as it swam north but I lost sight of it. Red-throated Loons are rare in winter at Montrose, though they are the expected loon at this time of the year.

I also had a first cycle Great Black-backed Gull near the parking lot adjacent to the bathroom building. The bird was actually up on the grass feeding on handouts like a Ring-billed Gull, a behavior I don’t think I’ve seen before for GBBG. The bird also has a bad left foot as can be seen in the photo below. I saw nothing else of note.