ANNUAL BIRD COUNTS

Here is a summary of the December 17, 2009 Mackinaw Straits Christmas Bird Coumt.

Thank you for your participation. A good count was had in spite of the early winter. We had 10 birders out in the field till 12:30 after which most of us went north to Rudyard and the Dafter Dump for the afternoon (where we spied 3 snowy owls, and glaucous and Iceland gulls). The count totals were 2889 individuals of 39 species.

Highlights: 1012 Redheads, 1 White-winged Scoter,250 Long-tailed Ducks, 252 Common Goldeneye, 2 Snowy owls, 2 Northern Shrikes, 227 Bohemian Waxwings, and a very late White-throated Sparrow. Missing this year were the hoards of winter finches we had in 2008. Steve Baker