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Rouge River Bird Observatory |
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Rouge River Bird Observatory |
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July 1999:16 July: Today I had the opportunity to take a boat from the Ford Rouge Plant up the channelized portion of the Rouge River to the Henry Ford Estate, and from there a voyageur canoe upstream to just past Ford Road and back to the Estate again.
The hot summer day did not reveal too many birds, but of note there was an adult Double-crested Cormorant in the Rouge Plant turning basin, a rather unusual summer record for an adult in Dearborn, but they are becoming more frequent all months of the year. The best news was the growing number of Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridges. There were over 100 nests, with many of them in the Melvindale/I-94 area, and also quite a few under Ford Road. Worst news was the total lack of Eastern Meadowlarks, which even a couple of years ago were common along the grassy verges of the channel. I have not heard or seen any nesting this summer.
9 July: Two juvenile Hooded Mergansers were at Greenfield Village today, the first summer record for Dearborn. There have been no recent Wayne Co. nest records (in fact, the Breeding Bird Atlas found no confirmed nests anywhere in the state south of northern Oakland Co.), so this is an interesting record.
June 1999:
28 June: A Black-and-white Warbler is reported from a yard near Snow Woods (a nice patch of forest owned by Ford Motor near Rotunda and Oakwood). This may be a very late spring migrant (previous late date 3 June), an early fall migrant (previous early date 14 Aug), or a nesting bird (this species nested locally decades ago).
11 June: A Horned Lark on the concrete channel of the Rouge near the Ford Test track indicates they may be attempting to nest now that Ford has adopted a no-mow policy in the track.
4 June: A singing Brown Creeper in the area where they have nested the last two years indicates they may be at it again. Another singing male Black-throated Blue Warbler, this time in the Craves yard, pushes the late date back even further. It was foraging with a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
1 June: A singing male Black-throated Blue Warbler furnished a late spring date for this species.
