Saturday morning, 20 Dec 2025 brought mostly cloudy skies, temperatures in the low 20's, and S winds blowing 5 - 15 mph as 28 hardy souls participated in the 56th Monroe, MI Christmas Bird Count. Our CBC coincides with the 126th National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count. Inland ponds were frozen, moving water was mostly open, and Lake Erie had some open water with inland bays mostly frozen. Weather and effort are shown below (note that observers includes double-counted persons who covered more than one area during the day).
We would finish with 32334 total birds and 70 species for the day. Highlights of count included 5 Trumpeter Swans, 79 American White Pelicans, Field Sparrow, 2 Fox Sparrow, 6 Black-crowned Night Herons, a Short-eared Owl and 10 Eastern Screech Owls.
My day started at 5:15 am standing in total darkness in the Lady of the Lakes woodlot at the foot of Erie Road. An hour spent playback of Saw-Whet, Eastern Screech Owl, Long-eared Owl, and Great Horned Owl failed to produce any responses. If there were owls present they were drowned out by wind and the several thousand Canada Geese roosting on the ice at Luna Pier next door. Luckily, Justin Labadie had an epic morning at Sterling State Park with 10 Eastern Screech Owls, and he even had a Short-eared Owl.
I met with Patricia, Moxie and Dianne at the American Diner for breakfast at 7 am, then headed back to the foot of Erie Road at 8 am to check out the Lady of the Lakes woodlot and Lake Erie shoreline while Allen Chartier and company started their day at Erie Marsh (Area 2 of count circle).
A nice sunrise showed lots of ice with only small patches of open water. No waterfowl as far as the eye could see.
The woodlot was not much better. I did hear a pair of Downy Woodpeckers and flushed 2 dozen Mourning Doves, but otherwise had to enjoy a quiet start to the day.
I then walked south along the beach to see if there were any passerines around. Only scattered flocks of American Tree Sparrows showed themselves, and that was not until I climbed the hill and walked the fence line of the now-closed Whiting Plant property. So I took a few pics of the hundreds of Canada Geese flying back and forth from their roost at Luna Pier.
The berm gave a better view of the lakeshore and I managed to scope some waterfowl FAR out on the horizon. Returning to the car a small flock of American Tree Sparrows showed themselves and offered some pics in the early morning light.
As I neared the car the "Cheer" call of a Carolina Wren got my attention. I managed to see a pair of wrens moving through the phragmites and got a single photo before they moved on.
I then covered the bottom half-portion of Area 4 (Erie Rd north to Luna Pier Rd.) and picked up flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos, House Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and a few Northern Cardinals. A flock of European Starlings were next to the road in town, which gave me an opportunity to see the birds transitioning into their breeding plumage.
The afternoon was spent at the foot of Front Street and the DTE Energy Monroe Power Plant. With thanks to Claire Souder (Environmental Engineer, DTE), who offered to escort us around the plant proper, I met up with Todd and Karen Palgut, Patricia Rydzewski, Moxie Sylvan, Dianne Kovach, Laura Paulson and Lorri Wallet. Together we would tour the plant shoreline counting Bald Eagles, gulls, herons, cormorants, and waterfowl. A Great Egret was spotted along the west shoreline of the warm water discharge canal as I drove into the plant.
As I waited for the rest of the crew to arrive I ran over to the fence line next to the warm water discharge and managed to flush 6 Black-crowned Night Herons roosting along the shoreline. They are always a target bird during this time of year.
We loaded into the van and Claire drove us to the mouth of the Raisin River where we saw more Great Blue Herons than Bald Eagles along the shoreline. A few Mallard were present, but most of the ducks were present inside the plant's intake canal.
We stopped along the south shore of the plant and scoped Lake Erie. Gulls were scattered by the hundreds across the lake with most birds roosting on ice flows. Among them were numerous adult Great Black-backed Gulls and Bald Eagles. A large raft of Lesser Scaup were floating in front of us while smaller numbers of Common Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers were flying past.
We then continued toward the warm water discharge canal where hundreds of Bald Eagles were seen roosting along the shoreline. The inland fly ash ponds were open, and one pond held over 100 Hooded Mergansers that took flight upon our arrival.
Three Common Mergansers (females).
Near the mouth of the discharge we found a tight raft of American White Pelicans roosting along the west shoreline. I counted 79 birds.
While Todd and Karen counted Bald Eagles I concentrated on counting Double-crested Cormorants (1600) roosting along the entire length of the canal. With gulls all out on the lake the canal itself was surprisingly empty of gulls.
On one of the inland frozen ponds I got scope views of ~50 Bonaparte's Gulls roosting among another 50 or so Ring-billed Gulls.
We then headed over to the Fly-Ash Onsite property on the west side of the discharge canal and toured the berm and adjacent woods. We picked up Red-tailed Hawks, Song Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and more American Tree Sparrows. Moxie and Dianne picked up Song Sparrows while a drumming Downy Woodpecker was seen next to the parked van.
Our tour of the Monroe Power Plant ended at about 3:30 pm, so Pat, Moxie, Dianne and I drove over to Bolles Harber to kill an hour before dinner. The inlet held a number of Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Great Black-backed Gulls feeding on dead fish. A small flock of American Tree Sparrows hopped on the rocks in front of us as Pat and I walked to the end of the pier.
A pair of American Black Ducks were a nice find among the scads of Mallard.
Dinner at the American Diner on S. Monroe was a great opportunity to have a nice meal in the back room where we could all meet as a group and share some of the day's adventures. Among the highlights:
Area 2 group of Allen Chartier, Guadalupe Cummings, Erika Van Kirk, Alexa Blankenship and Spencer Vanderhoof started their day at Erie Marsh Preserve. Highlights included 5 Trumpeter Swans, 7 Northern Harriers, 49 Gadwall, our only shorebird (Killdeer) and three River Otters!
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| Erie Marsh - © Spence Vanderhoof |
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| Allen Chartier and Spence - © Spence Vanderhoof |
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| Guadalupe, Erika and Alexa - © Spence Vanderhoof |
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| American White Pelican - © Allen Chartier |
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| Erie Marsh - © Allen Chartier |
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| Killdeer - © Allen Chartier |
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| River Otter - © Allen Chartier |
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| 2 River Otters - © Allen Chartier |
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| 2 River Otters - © Allen Chartier |
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| 2 River Otters - © Allen Chartier |
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| American Tree Sparrow - © Allen Chartier |
Area 3 group of Dennis and Kathy Rohmeyer, Renee Strickland, and Teri Blasius found the bulk of American Kestrels (8) in the count circle along with Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk and Bald Eagles.
Area 4 group of Patricia Rydzewski, Moxie Sylvan and Dianne Kovach enjoyed spending the frigid morning at Luna Pier counting over 2500 Canada Geese on the ice. Their morning warmed up, though, when they found a pair of Fox Sparrows and a cooperative Red-shouldered Hawk.
Area 5 group of Ann Smith, Dave Mendus and Jackie Copeland found all of the American Robins (92) in the count circle. They also cornered the market on mixed Ring-billed / Herring Gulls (4000), Dark-eyed Juncos (114), Brown-headed Cowbirds (30) and House Finches (36). Wild Turkeys (17) were also a highlight.
Area 6 group of Todd and Karen Palgut, Laura Paulson, Lorri Wallet and Justin Labadie did very well in the Sterling State Park vicinity. Justin recorded 10 Eastern Screech Owls, and even had a Short-eared Owl fly in front of his car on the way to the State Park. He'd also find a Cackling Goose among the 1500 Canada Geese, and a Field Sparrow. Todd and Karen found 1 of 2 Great Egrets in the count circle. The group also found most of the European Starlings (4904) in the count circle.
Area 7 group of Bob and Gail Pettit, and Sarah Romero helped give us our only Red-breasted Nuthatches (2), Northern Cardinal (15) and Blue Jays (17), and also did well with Red-tailed Hawks (2), Northern Harrier (4) and American Kestrel (2). Sarah recorded this American Kestrel trying to hang on in the blowing wind.
Area 8 group of John Flora, Tom Olkowski, and Dan Schwab helped find most of our blackbird flock: Common Grackle (8), Brown-headed Cowbird, and European Starling (888).
Below are Area Totals and Totals for the day. Thanks to all who participated in this year's count!
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