Long-eared Owl

I wasn't familiar with the Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) and I've never seen one on the wild but these owls are native to Michigan, breeding in the north and wintering throughout the state.  They range throughout Canada and the northern United States as well as parts of northern Europe.

Their "ears" are only tufts of feathers while their true ears are hidden by feathers on the sides of their heads.  Like other owls they are a night predator.  They are a medium sized owl, much smaller than a Great Horned Owl but bigger than a Screech Owl.

Asio otus

Asio otus

The Long-eared owl is included in John James Audubon's Birds of America.
 
This bird is used in education programs of the Lake Milton Raptor Center.  They were in Kalamazoo this weekend for an event at Wedel's Garden Center.

Fall migration at the fish hatchery

The fish at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery don't migrate, but the fish-rearing ponds do attract a variety of migrating waterfowl.  A Kalamazoo Gazette story on a bird-watching event at the hatchery sounded interesting and while I couldn't attend that event, I did visit the next weekend.

Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks live in Kalamazoo year round but many other species are only here during migration.  Buffleheads, a small diving duck with white sides and a large white headpatch, may be my favorite.  I also saw Ring-necked Ducks (although I never see the ring on their neck, but the white ring on their bill is much more visible), Northern Shovelers with their over-sized beaks, and small black Coots.  There were also a fair number of a duck I didn't recognize, with understated, almost elegant, grey plumage; these turned out to be Gadwalls.

While the trails at Wolf Lake are close to the ponds, the ponds themselves are big enough that you really need binoculars to appreciate the birds.  There is an observation deck at the largest pond, with a bench and illustrations of some of the common visitors.

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery
34270 County Road 652
Mattawan, MI
(at the intersection of M-43 and Fish Hatchery Road)

Sandhill Crane Fall Migration

Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) have already started their migration south.  As these large birds leave their breeding grounds in Michigan and other northern states and provinces to spend the winter in Texas and northern Mexico, or Florida, they gather by the thousands in wetlands along the flyway to feed and rest.  This creates great opportunities to see impressive numbers of cranes in the next few weeks.

Several of these areas are near Kalamazoo.

The closest is the Baker Sanctuary northeast of Battle Creek.  Each year they host Cranefest, which will be October 12-13 this year.  Access is via the adjacent Kiwanis Youth Conservation Area, with the best viewing in the late afternoon to just before dusk as the cranes fly overhead. 

Kiwanis Youth Conservation Area/Baker Sanctuary
22300 15 Mile Rd
Bellevue, Michigan 49021

The Haehnle Sanctuary near Jackson also features thousands of cranes each Fall.  They plan a festival on October 20, as well as tours and events throughout October.

Phyllis Haehnle Memorial Sanctuary
8746 Seymour Rd
Grass Lake, MI 49259
[address is approximate.]

Jasper Pulaski in Indiana is the best-known spot for Sandhill Cranes in the region.  It's about a 2.5 hour drive southwest from Kalamazoo.  Since it is farther south, the peak migration is later, typically in mid-November.

Jasper Pulaski Fish and Wildlife Area
west of US Route 421 
Medaryville  IN  47959 

Owl Pellet

While I know Kalamazoo has owls, I hardly ever see them. Mostly, I'd guess, because they're active at night. I hadn't thought about owls in my own backyard until my daughter found this owl pellet on a tree branch. Since then, I've been looking on occasion but without success, so far. I don't know if it was from Screech Owl, a Great Horned Owl, or a Barred Owl.  The neat package of fur and bones was pretty interesting.

Barred Owl

Barred Owls (Strix varia) are another bird I'm more likely to hear than to see since they are nocturnal. Barred Owls are widely distributed throughout the eastern US and Canada. They are smaller than the Great Horned Owl and bigger than a Screech Owl.



The bird shown here is used in educational programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Dark-eyed junco

Juncos Junco hyemalis are one of the birds that migrate to Michigan for the winter. They spend summer feeding and breeding in Canada. Some juncos are found as far south as Florida and Northern Mexico. In Kalamazoo, they are a consistent winter presence.

Juncos are members of the sparrow family. There are a number of different colorations for the Dark-eyed Junco, distinct enough that they were previously classified as separate species. Our local variation is known as the Slate-colored Junco or the Northern Slate-backed Junco. Informally, they're called snowbirds.

Juncos will readily come to bird feeders but they prefer to eat from tray feeders or seeds on the ground.


photo by Maria Stull Jan 28, 2012

Predator on campus

On Friday afternoon, I was chatting with a friend in his office while college life went on outside his window: students walking across the upper quad, squirrels bounding across the snow. Suddenly, a dark shape streaked past the oak trees and crashed into a squirrel. A red-tailed hawk had found its dinner. I'd never seen a hawk at Kalamazoo College so it was a real surprise. I'm sure it was a bigger surprise to the student who was standing about 10 feet away when it happened.

Screech Owl

Eastern Screech Owls (Otus asio) are common in Michigan, but I'm not sure I've ever seen one in the wild. Like the other owls of Michigan, Screech Owls are nocturnal, making them more difficult to observe. I'm more likely to hear owls than see them.

Screech Owls are much smaller than Michigan's other owls. They are predators, with a diet of rodents, small birds, and large insects.

The bird pictured here is used in educational programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Rough-legged Hawk

While many birds leave Michigan for the winter, the Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) migrates to this area from Canada's far north.

This hawk had been injured and is unable to survive in the wild. It's one of the stars of the Kalamazoo Nature Center's education programs.

Horned Grebe

Horned Grebes (Podiceps auritus) summer in western Canada and winter in the southeastern United States, passing through Michigan during Spring and Fall migration. This one was diving for food on Lake Michigan near the mouth of the St Joseph River, last week.

Grebes were once called Helldivers since they tended to disappear under the water at signs of danger, rather than fly away. While they look like ducks, the two families are not closely related. Grebes have narrow bills and their feet are lobed, rather than webbed.

The grebe pictured here is in its black-and-white winter plumage. The Horned Grebe's breeding colors are strikingly different, chestnut and black with a distinctive yellow tuft behind the eye that makes the "horn".

The Eared Grebe has a similar winter look, although I think they are less common in Michigan.

Horned Grebes are also found in Europe, where they are sometimes known as Slavonian Grebes.

Kellogg Bird Sanctuary

The Kellogg Bird Sanctuary is a great place to interact with ducks, geese, and swans. At the entrance, buy an inexpensive bucket of corn and the birds will come to you. Some, like the Trumpeter Swans, are permanent residents and others are passing through. The sanctuary is about 15 miles east of Kalamazoo, just past Gull Lake.

Established in 1927 by cereal magnate W. K. Kellogg to protect waterfowl, the sanctuary is run by Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station. The main attraction for birds is the 40 acre Wintergreen Lake, which is an important migration stop for some and a nesting area for others. While Mallards, Canada Geese, and Trumpeter Swans dominated the areas where visitors threw corn, other species were more abundant offshore. We saw Canvasbacks, Redheads, Buffleheads, and Ruddy ducks on our visit last weekend.

The sanctuary also displays some exotic waterfowl including Mute Swans and Black Swans. A small series of cages contain rescued birds of prey: a Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Red Tailed Hawks, a Bald Eagle, and others. A relatively new exhibit shows gamebirds, both native (quail, grouse) and imported (various pheasants.) Overall it makes a nice family outing.

Kellogg Bird Sanctuary
12685 East C Ave.
Augusta, MI 49012


Admission

Great Horned Owl

The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) is found throughout most of North America and selected parts of South America. Unlike some of Michigan's birds, Great Horned Owls spend the winter here, nesting in January & February.

It's easier to hear these big predators, than to see them since they are active at night. Their hoot is the characteristic "who who." (Owling.com shares some recorded hoots.)

The owl's "horns" are not ears, just distinctive tufts of feathers.

Great Horned Owl territories often overlap with Red-tailed Hawks, with owls hunting at night and hawks hunting in daylight. Owl wing feathers are much softer than hawk feathers, allowing silent night flight. The stiff hawk feathers allow for higher speeds.


The bird pictured here is used in educational programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Wood Duck

Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa) are such striking birds that I still remember seeing my first one, nearly 40 years ago at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York. Living in Kalamazoo, I'm fortunate to see them frequently when canoeing on Portage Creek.

Over-hunting and habitat destruction nearly destroyed Wood Duck populations a century ago. [See USDA report pdf] Protection began with Migratory Bird Treaty in 1916 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Hunting regulations and the development of duck boxes allowed the population to rebound. In Michigan, they are now reasonably common.

This is the time of year when many Michigan Wood Ducks migrate south.

Wood Ducks tend to more skittish than, say, Mallards, so I rarely get decent photos in the wild. The bird pictured above was at the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Trumpeter Swans

Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator) are native to Michigan but they were extirpated more than a century ago by over-hunting and habitat destruction. Most of the swans I see around Kalamazoo today are the aggressive Mute Swan introduced from Europe.

In the 1980s, Michigan began a program to reintroduce Trumpeter Swans to the state. By 2000, Michigan had over 400 swans, including 100 in Southwest Michigan. Since then, their numbers have increased. Wild swans are protected from hunting in Michigan.

Binder Park Zoo, where I took this photo, is a participant in the restoration program.

The Trumpeter Swan Society has more information on these magnificent birds.

American Kestrel

The American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smallest bird of prey found near Kalamazoo. They eat grasshoppers and other insects in the summer and mice and small mammals in the winter. They nest in tree cavities, often in holes created by woodpeckers, and feed in open areas. They are often seen perched on telephone lines watching for prey. The species is widely distributed throughout North and South America.


The bird pictured is used in education programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Long Tailed-Duck

I'd never seen a Long Tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) until this Friday when I saw a unfamiliar bird swimming in Lake Michigan near the South Haven pier. It eventually swam right up to the edge of the pier, then dove. Later, I found they can dive 200 feet deep.

Long-tailed ducks are an ocean species, spending much of their lives far offshore. They spend summer in the arctic and nest on the tundra. They winter on the Atlantic & Pacific coasts, the Great Lakes, and in European waters. Because they are difficult to observe, scientists don't know much about these birds compared to other ducks. The Sea Duck Joint Venture provides more detailed Long-tailed duck information pdf.

Hunters frequently refer to these as "Oldsquaws."

Warbler migration

Michigan's spring warbler migration overlaps with its ephemeral wildflower season, perhaps because both depend on insects to some extent (for food and pollination, respectively.) In any case, it's nice to see these small colorful birds in the woods and see wildflowers at the same time.

My warbler identification skills aren't very good, so I lean heavily on guidebooks. The bird pictured above is a Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata) sitting in a plum tree in my backyard.

It's impressive to think about how far these small birds travel, flying from Central & South America to the northern US and Canada. Of course this also means that habitats separated by thousands of miles are interlinked and that ecosystem disruption in one place will affect the others.

National Geographic's guide suggests several area birdwatching sites that have large numbers of warblers in the spring.


2011 Warbler festivals

Tawas Point Birding Festival May 12-15, 2011
Kirtland’s Warbler Wildlife Festival May 21, 2011
Cerulean Warbler Weekend, June 3-5, 2011.

While it's a three and a half hour drive from Kalamazoo, I can't resist adding northern Ohio's immodestly named festival: Biggest Week In American Birding May 5-15, 2011

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) are the most common hawk around Kalamazoo. I nearly always see one or more when I'm driving on the highway, either perched in a tree at the edge of a field or circling overhead. I regularly see them on my short commute to K College. They can be found from Canada to Central America.

Mice and other small rodents are their main food source, but they will also eat rabbits or birds. Young hawks with less hunting experience may eat roadkill.

Mobbing is an interesting phenomenon where groups of crows or blackbirds harass a hawk to drive it from its territory. Attacking such a fierce predator seems like it would be suicidal, but the smaller birds have enough maneuverability to make it a successful strategy.

The classic colors of a Red-tailed hawk are a dark head, back and wings with cinnamon-colored tailfeathers with a light underside. There is substantial variation across individual birds and juveniles don't have the red tail which can make them somewhat harder to identify.



The bird pictured above is used in education programs at the Kalamazoo Nature Center.

Spring Robin

Robins (Turdus migratorius) are a traditional sign of spring in Michigan. Their preferred habitat, open grassy areas for feeding with nearby trees and bushes for protection, matches typical suburban landscaping, so they are one of the easiest songbirds to see. My lawn has been brightened in recent weeks by groups of robins hunting for worms.

Their colorful breast, cheerful chirping, ease of viewing, and association with Spring make them a very popular bird. In 1931, the Robin Red Breast was named Michigan's State Bird.

While robins are known as Spring birds, some do overwinter in Michigan, which makes them a less reliable indicator than the Red-winged Blackbird or the Turkey Vulture. Their Latin name means "migrating thrush" and most robins do migrate south for the winter and return north in the Spring.

The American Robin is named after the red-breasted European Robin, but they aren't closely related.

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) are a reliable sign of Spring as they return to Kalamazoo to eat winter-killed carrion. They will spend the summer in the area, raise their young, and then migrate south for the winter. They are one of Michigan's largest birds of prey and are frequently seen soaring above fields and woods.

Their underwing has a distinctive two-tone pattern-- black at the front and silver in the back. Up close, their bald, red head distinguishes them from hawks or eagles. In flight, their profile is V-shaped with the wing tips above the body.

I've seen dozens of them throughout Southwest Michigan this week. The bird pictured was flying directly over the parking lot at Fort Custer State Recreation Area.

Turkey Vulture Society