SALINE, MI -- Dedicated birders from across the region have continued their migration to Saline in hopes of spotting a rare roseate spoonbill.
The pink tropical wading bird was spotted in Michigan for the first time over the weekend, making a temporary home in the Koch Warner Drain off of Saline-Milan Road. By Friday, July 23, it had moved a short distance to a marshy pond off of Bemis Road between Burwyck Park Drive and Keveling Drive, just off U.S. 12.
The Associated Press reported this was the first sighting of the roseate spoonbill in Michigan. It’s unclear why the avian visitor has wandered so far from its endemic coastal marshes in Florida, Texas, and southwest Louisiana.
Related: Pink tropical shorebird appears in Michigan for the first time ever
“Sometimes they wander a bit too far,” said Benjamin Winger, curator of birds at the University of Michigan’s Museum of Zoology.
About a dozen birders came and went from the roadside pond in the span of an hour Friday evening, each catching a glimpse of the bird, named both for its rose-like color and the broad, shovel-like protrusion at the end of its bill.
Joe Bruessow, a Saginaw Valley State University professor and self-described amateur birder, traveled with a fellow birdwatcher from Bay City to photograph the spoonbill. The pair learned of the bird’s sighting through eBird, a website whose community tracks bird sightings both rare and commonplace, and which has sent groups from across the country flocking to Washtenaw County in the past.
“I’m just happy to have seen it,” Bruessow said as the flamingo-like bird perched on a branch sticking out of the water several hundred feet away. “We could have come all the way here and somebody says ‘Oh, he’s gone.’”
Teresa Kovalak, a painter who lives just a few minutes away from the second pond where the spoonbill was sighted, made the short trip with camera in hand in hopes of capturing a reference image to paint the bird. She’s only seen two other roseate spoonbills in the past - a pair, which she spotted together in flight on a week-long trip to Florida.
Other groups traveled from Metro Detroit and Toledo, Ohio, some having kept watch roadside since the early morning hours. Cars lined both sides of Bemis Road, with small groups coming and going in hopes the bird would become more active as sundown neared.
While the crowd at the bird’s previous location on Saline-Milan Road grew so large early in the week that police reportedly arrived to direct traffic, the group thinned somewhat on Friday.
Still, surprised motorists gawked, slowed and honked as they passed, no doubt wondering what had drawn a small crowd of tripods, binoculars and telephoto lenses to the rural roadside.
"bird" - Google News
July 24, 2021 at 07:03PM
https://ift.tt/3wX9qzS
Rare pink bird is still in Michigan and continues to draw a crowd hoping to catch a glimpse - MLive.com
"bird" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2s1zYEq
https://ift.tt/3dbExxU
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Rare pink bird is still in Michigan and continues to draw a crowd hoping to catch a glimpse - MLive.com"
Post a Comment