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Rouge River Bird Observatory |
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Rouge River Bird Observatory |
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January-February 1999:22 Feb: Today, the first batch of singing blackbirds hit Dearborn, with Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds being especially vocal.
16 Feb: Slowly, spring is knocking at our door. Species heard singing on today's survey included Song Sparrow and three different Brown Creepers, including one in the "traditional" nesting area on campus. Red-winged Blackbirds are starting to sing, and a handful flew over campus today. There were at least three noisy Common Grackles in the Craves Dearborn yard this afternoon.
5 Feb: The Bald Eagle was seen again today, this time soaring over the Ford Proving Grounds.
3 Feb: Today a young male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was found on the bird survey, this is a good sighting for this time of year, as we've had no previous records between 8 Jan and 15 Mar. A Golden-crowned Kinglet popped up again in the Craves yard on 31 Jan. The Ruddy Duck remained at the Ford pond as of 2 Feb.
29 Jan: A male Ruddy Duck is at the Ford pond at Village and Oakwood. We only have a handful of Dearborn records for this species.
21 Jan: A Common Grackle flew over the Craves yard.
17 Jan: Today Bert Ebi found a Merlin in the cottonwood trees at the south end of Levagood Park (6 blocks west of Telegraph and two blocks north of Cherry Hill).
15 Jan: Several American Black Ducks were at the Ford cooling pond on Village Road and Oakwood. Four male Brown-headed Cowbirds were in the Craves backyard. The Bald Eagle was seen again at Greenfield Village.
14 Jan:A Snow Bunting flew over campus.
13 Jan: A Northern Shrike was reported yesterday near Military and Monroe in a residential area of west Dearborn. Today a Horned Lark was at Greenfield Village. and a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds visited the Craves backyard. Several White-throated Sparrows and Carolina Wrens, two Song Sparrows, and one American Robin continue as regular visitors along with the usual suspects.
5 Jan: An adult Bald Eagle flew over Ford Field, going north towards campus and quite high. Later a couple called and said they had been at campus on New Year's Day and saw an immature Bald Eagle near the Henry Ford Estate, an addendum to our Christmas Count (the species but not the individual we expected!). An immature eagle was also seen by Jim Fowler and crew that day downriver; perhaps with the river freezing up the eagles are ranging far and wide. A Fox Sparrow, one Red-winged Blackbird, several White-throated Sparrows, and my regular Carolina Wren were in the Craves backyard.
1 Jan: The Detroit River CBC was held; Dearborn is included in this count. Thirteen people in 6 parties grubbed around Dearborn and found 41 species. Highlights included first winter records for 3 species: Pied-billed Grebe (3 at the Ford Rouge Plant), Tundra Swan (6 flying south over the Ford Proving Grounds), and Swamp Sparrow (1 west of the Rouge channel south of Rotunda). Other notable birds were a Green-winged Teal at Ford Field; 12 Great Black-backed Gulls at the Ford Rouge Plant (there were only 7 records in the city prior to 1998); 10 Great Blue Herons; one lingering Northern Flicker; and 6 White-throated Sparrows in three groups. There were good numbers of American Tree Sparrows (113) and Dark-eyed Juncos (208) despite the difficultly in finding passerines in the windy cold, especially in the morning.
There were only 43 American Robins this year, found in small groups. Last year we had over 700, but they stripped the berries on the hawthornes at the Ford Proving Grounds early this year. We could not find our Bald Eagle (last seen on Christmas Day), and couldn't come up with a single Brown Creeper or Cedar Waxwing. Local feeders hosted two count week species: Brown-headed Cowbird and Common Grackle.
The full report has now been posted.
Last month's sightings. More Archived sightings are listed below
Interested in receiving updates on the bird sightings at UM-Dearborn via e-mail? Contact Julie Craves .
Archived sightings
