White-winged Crossbill. Photo by Linda Scribner.
By Brian Allen
For the first time ever, the Manistee Christmas Bird Count had to be rescheduled. The forecast for the Dec. 16, 2021, event called for west winds of 30-40 mph gusting up to 70 mph! The night before, I received phone calls and text messages from many of the observers, canceling due to fallen trees, blocked roads and power outages. Despite freezing rain, blizzards, deep snow and ice, we had never canceled and often suffered in the field because of it. Older and wiser now, I thought it would be better to reschedule to Dec. 21 and, as the storm hit on the 16th and the power went out, it seemed like the right call.
When we rescheduled, we lost many participants. It’s always difficult to get volunteers to spend a day outdoors counting birds when families are making plans and getting together for the holidays. I appreciated the 12 observers who helped and the three feeder watchers who contributed their results.
Tuesday dawned with mild breezes and balmy 20-degree weather. We do our counts during the week now, to avoid the late-season duck hunt on the weekends. That’s when our duck-hunting friends are on Lake Michigan and chasing the same ducks we need to see resting on the water. For the last several seasons this has worked well for us, and we are able to scan the waters of the big lake from shore and do an accurate count. This year, the numbers were lower than usual for Common Goldeneyes (199) and Long-tailed Ducks (561). At times, we’ve sighted more than 10,000 Long-tailed Ducks and once counted 50,000 ⸺ making Manistee one of the major wintering grounds for this species.
A great find for our count this time was the first-ever Barrow’s Goldeneye. This duck is exceedingly rare in Michigan and is usually found only on the rocky shores of the northern coasts of the Atlantic or Pacific. It seems this same bird, which originally appeared in Manistee in January a few years ago, has returned to winter here for the fourth year in a row. Hundreds of birders have traveled to Manistee the last several years to see it. As winter progresses and Manistee Lake freezes, the duck moves with Goldeneyes and Greater Scaup to the docks at Seng’s Marina, where the bubblers keep the water open. We appreciate that the Sengs allow us to look at the bird while it stays in the marina, and we advise anyone who wants to see it to always check in with the marina office first.
We found other good waterbirds during the count, including both Common and Red-throated Loons in Lake Michigan. The 17 Bald Eagles we counted were a little higher than our average counts, and the lingering Robins and Eastern Bluebirds in the Onekama area brightened the day. Another surprising find on the shore of Manistee Lake was a flycatcher, a.k.a. the Eastern Phoebe. This is a hardy bird species that can withstand some wintry weather, but this is the first time we have ever had one on our count. Eastern Phoebes usually winter far south, from South Carolina to Texas, and hopefully this one made its way there before the brutal cold of January hit.
We always hope northern birds from Canada, coming because of the cold and lack of food there, show up during our Christmas count. This year we were fortunate. Pine Siskins are often around most years at some feeders, but the Common Redpolls are more periodic, visiting at four- to five-year intervals. This year they appeared in December and were included in the count. Common Redpolls are a white bird with striped sides and, as the name implies, a red cap on the head. They are mostly seen in flocks, feeding on weed seeds in fields. At times, 10-50 can show up at feeders, where they prefer thistle feed and black sunflower seeds. The stars of the northern finches this year were the White-winged Crossbills. We found dozens actively searching for spruce and tamarack cones. Their frantic “jip-jip” calls give them away. They only appear every 10 years or so, and their pink color and calls liven up the winter evergreen forests. The bill tip on crossbills is twisted over, to help them extract the cone seeds from conifers. They are so adept at retrieving this food, they seldom need to leave northern Canada, even in the coldest winters.
Our total number of species counted this year was 69, a tie with our “rival” count in Benzie County and about average for us. This shows how hard working our volunteers were, making up for the ones who couldn’t count due to rescheduling. One of the highlights of the winter bird count is at the end of the long, cold day outside ⸺ when we usually gather for hot chocolate and chili at the compilation dinner. This was postponed again due to the appearance of the Omicron variant of COVID-19. We sure hope to get together next year for our dinner, share stories of the day in the field and enjoy the birds that appear for us every winter.
If you are able to identify birds in the field or count them at your residence, please join us next December. Contact me at manisteebirder@gmail.com, and I can give you instructions on counting at your feeder or welcome you into a field group.
Dr. Brian Allen is a long-time birdwatcher and bird researcher based in Manistee County. Each winter and spring he counts birds and bird species from Bear Lake to Wellston as a volunteer with the U.S. Geological survey. Reach him at manisteebirder@gmail.com
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