I walked out of my exam at 10am today, at Lambton College in Sarnia to see
Kettles of Broad-winged Hawks streaming overhead. By the time I had walked
to my Residence building 2 minutes away, I had counted 328. I grabbed my
Scope and Camera and set up on the Soccer Field behind the school. NE winds
slowly pushed the birds south, and I followed them south until 2;30pm when I
lost the flight line. (I went as far south as LaSalle Line in Sarnia).
I my total for Broad-winged Hawks was 5,512. I recorded 9 species total,
with 1 Red-shouldered Hawk being the only thing slightly unusual. The totals
for the other species would probably have been much higher, however I spent
most of the time counting the Broad-winged Hawks. 13 Sandhill Cranes (in 3
groups) and several common loons were also seen migrating past.
The flight was very large before I was able to get set up, and 4700 of the
BW's came in the first three hours when the birds were lower and there was
some cloud to help spot them. Later in the day, the cloud dissipated and the
birds gained a lot of height. I believe that many more could have passed by
undetected today.
Good Birding!
Brandon Holden
Sarnia, Ontario
From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Apr 24 15:54:22 2007
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Subject: [Ontbirds]
FW: [birders] Re: Black-throated Gray Warbler at Arb (Ann Arbor,
Michigan), still, 12:55pm, Apr. 24
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This is such a great bird I thought I would pass it along to my Ontario
neighbors in case you would like to travel to see it. (Scroll to bottom for
directions)
--- Roger Kuhlman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Shortly before 10 am I found a Black-throated Gray
Warbler in Nichol's Arboretum in Ann Arbor. The bird
was in the second most westernly valley off Dow
Prairie in a clump of evergreen trees--I think
either firs or hemlock. To get to this area you need
to walk south off of Dow Prairie past the
Rhododendron to the fence along the southern
boundary of the Arb. Once reaching the fence you
walk west along the fence up the hill until you see
an isolated patch of evergreens. Here is where the
bird was. Also in the vicinity a tree has crashed
smashing the fence.
When I first saw the bird I immediately thought of
Yellow-throated Warbler but it had no yellow throat
patch. I could see the big black throat and eye area
patches on the bird. Black streaking was limited to
the sides of the bird and the undertail coverts were
clean dull whitish. No streaking was present on the
back.
Only a few minutes before sighting the BTG I had met
Mike Sefton and I was telling him what I had seen in
the Arb Tuesday morning which I had thought was
pretty good--a mini-flock of migrating Pine Warblers
along the Huron river; Blue-headed Vireo; Brown
Thrasher; Winter Wren; several Palm Warblers; a
Nashville Warbler; large numbers of Ruby-crowned
Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Hermit
Thrushes; and a singing Ovenbird in the Warbler
grove by the Pavilon. After sighting the
Black-throated Gray I raced throughout the Arb
trying to find Mike but I could not locate him. I
told one birder about the bird but I don't know if
he was successful in seeing it. While running around
looking for Mike I heard a second good bird singing
along the Huron River. A Louisianna Waterthrush was
on the north side of the river just west of the
beach? area.
I hope the BTG can be re-located by other birders.
It is a superb bird.
Roger Kuhlman
Ann Arbor, Michigan
4/24/2007
Birders,
Just got a call from Lathe and Jacco saying the bird
was relocated at 12:55pm in firs/hemlocks/whatever
just at the point the trail bends to the right before
ascending the hill to the original location for the
bird, described below by Roger.
All props to my main man Roger for finding this
excellent bird and getting the word out quickly. To
the best of my knowledge, this is the only record for
this species in the county since one was seen in the
Arb on 30 Apr 1958, and collected the following day.
If accepted by the MBRC, it will be about the eighth
record for the state.
Mike Sefton
Ann Arbor
-------------------------------------------------------------
Nichols Arboretum (123 acres, 49.7 hectares) is an arboretum operated by the
University of Michigan, and located on the eastern edge of its Central
Campus at 1610 Washington Heights in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The arboretum is
open daily until 10:00PM, without charge.
Nichols Arboretum
Nichols Arboretum is located adjacent to U-M's Central Campus in Ann Arbor.
James D. Reader, Jr. Urban Environmental Education Center at the Burnham
House
1610 Washington Hts.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-647-7600
By car: From I-94, take US-23 North, exit at Washtenaw Avenue, west, turn
right onto Observatory St., then right onto Washington Heights. Please note
that metered parking along Washington Heights is limited. City parking along
side streets near the Geddes entrance is available.
To find the Arb use the information at the following web site for directions
and maps:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/se_mich/locations/index.html
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