Faint Dots

At 7:30 a.m. a few Saturdays ago, Murphy headed out the door.
“Let me know if you see anything cool!”
“You too!”
“Let me know when you see a loon!”
She was headed down to Ohio, to the Route 2 area along Lake Erie, to be specific. Despite what people, myself included, may say about Ohio this area is a birding hotspot. The marshes and flooded wood lots along the lake provide a major stopping point for a significant number of migrating birds. Fortunately, the value of this land has been seen by local, state, and federal agencies resulting in a string of nature preserves. Magee Marsh, the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, and the recently established Howard Marsh are just a few of the places to check out along the shore of Lake Erie. Migrating waterfowl have been moving through there for a few weeks now and in early May the Warblers come in; normally attracting major crowds at the Biggest Week. Kenn Kaufman details the importance of these areas in his book, A Season on the Wind.
Although the popular warblers were likely not moving through those spaces yet, waterfowl and other birds are still exciting to see, so it was no wonder she was going down there. I had no doubt that she was going to have a better day than I was and was definitely going to be seeing a Common Loon, something we’ve both been talking about wanting to see this year. The parks I was planning to go to were not as far so my goal was to get out of the house by 8. I cleaned up the dishes, threw on some clothes, grabbed the leftover pasta from the fridge and headed out the door. Car was started at 7:53. Perfect. But I actually hadn’t decided where I was going yet; there were three or four places along Lake Erie I could try, but wasn’t sure which one I might hit first. Game time decision: Lake Erie Metropark first and I’d reassess when I was finished there. Although I was wanting to have another herping day like the week before, I felt that the birds were on a bit of a schedule and I wanted to see them before they took off.
Arriving at the park, it seemed that COVID was keeping many of the birders and walkers at home, but people were still heading out on their boats to fish. I decided I would follow a trail that would take me right along the lake, thinking that I would likely see things on the open water. Quickly, I was on a boardwalk between the drive to the boat ramp and a marsh. The marsh was surprisingly quiet; Red-winged Blackbirds and Canada Geese seemed to be the only thing moving about and calling. Slowly scanning the reeds reveals that these were not the only birds. Wood ducks were slowly drifting between clumps of reeds, despite the conspicuous colors of the male wood duck, they hide quite well. Splashing in the shallows caught my attention, a peek with the binoculars showed a single Grackle bathing itself, taking a second after each dip to scan its surroundings. More birds seemed to be up in the Cottonwoods as I walked through them; I took my time to scan the upper reaches of the branches to see what might be singing from on high. A ball of light yellow stuck out on of the highest branches and I craned my neck up to look. I needed it to move slightly so I could get another view besides its butt, however, it seemed content on its perch. To my neck it felt like I had been watching for hours and any longer I would be permanently stuck in that position, but really it had been a few minutes. Was it a Goldfinch or maybe a type of warbler? I moved on, not ever knowing what that bird was. The marsh kept providing Wood duck after Wood duck, something that I was not used to seeing so frequently and up until that day I had only seen four wood ducks in one day; but I easily had ten within a half an hour.
Arriving to the mouth of the Detroit River, the boating ramp was busy; a global pandemic wasn’t going to be keeping people from getting their lines wet. I walked to the break wall and scanned the water for any floating birds. Despite the fact that this is the location of the Detroit River Hawk Watch,  I was still drawing looks from fishers. Wood ducks were wading further down the river, but nothing else was there. Farther out on the lake, I could see a scattering of faint dots, but I knew full well that once I got a little closer, what seemed like faint dots would be active birds, full of color and charisma.The trail began to get closer to the lake and I was able to get glances of some of the birds, but trees directly on the shore obscured my view and the lake was intruding onto the trail. On the other side of the trail was more marsh, but again, there was a lack of activity. Then I saw a male Bufflehead, looking very kingly amongst a group of four or five female Buffleheads. This was my first time seeing the females, who sport a much smaller white patch on their faces. Since seeing Buffleheads for the first time this past spring, it is a wonder they are able to keep their feathers as white as porcelain, considering the water they swim in.
Murphy and I had been updating each other with what we were seeing, both just waiting for the inevitable text that one of us had seen a Loon.
“Got a Bonaparte’s gull
“I got 3 wood ducks”
“Three cormorants
“I think I just saw a rusty blackbird!” “Jk they be grackles”
“~100,000 common mergansers” “JK RED BREASTED MERGANSER
“3 horned grebes!”
This last text was mine and I was particularly excited about it. Although I was aware these birds existed, I only recently learned that they could be seen here during their migration before moving on to more northwestern breeding grounds. The males, with their red eyes and a blonde streak of feathers that runs from their beak and sticks out past their head, I consider to be the glam rockers of the waterfowl world. There was a group of three that was just out of range for a picture but when I got out onto a boardwalk one surprised me as it came up from a dive just a few feet away. I made a quick motion to move my camera into position, but the bird was spooked and took off across the water.
Horned Grebe fleeing
David Bowie

My disappointment quickly faded as I looked up to see a group of three waterfowl, that looked like something I had seen before, but just a tad different. It was the Red-breasted Merganser! I had only just seen the Common Merganser for the first time last fall and really had no prior knowledge of this other species. I think the best way to describe what these birds look like is that the males look like they were in a cartoon explosion with their faces and hair blackened and blown backwards. This may sound confusing, but looking at you’ll understand when you check out some up close photos. Between the Horned Grebes and these guys, I was feeling ecstatic. But, my walking on this trail had hit a stopping point; the trail was completely flooded out and the Lake as spilling into the marsh on the other side. Normally I feel quite confided about walking through large puddles overtaking trails, but with this one I decided to turn around. I moved quickly on my way back, feeling confident I would not be seeing anything new and for the most part I was correct, but towards the end of the trail, I caught a flash of something and whipped my binoculars up to follow it: Belted Kingfisher, no mistaking that blue. First time I’ve really gotten a decent look at one and even this one was flying out of view. I got back to the car and needed to make a decision: do I find another trail here/meander around or do I go to another park? I grabbed a drink of water from my water bottle and looked around, as if I my immediate surroundings were going to give me a suggestion of what to do. Feeling like I should try somewhere new, I got into the driver seat and punched in the direction to Point Mouillee State Game Area, a short drive south.
Male Red-breasted Merganser about to perform its mating call
Mid mating call

There didn’t appear to be a central parking lot at Point Mouillee, so I wasn’t exactly sure I’d know where to go, but knew I’d figure it out. Driving down Telegraph Rd. I passed what looked like a promising parking area but was going too quickly to turn. I kept driving along the border of Point Mouillee looking for other areas that may be good to park and past a few. Then out of my left peripheral I saw a pole with a platform and two figures perched on it, I hit the brakes hard and pulled off the side of the road. It was a man made nesting platform for Ospreys and sure enough, there were two Ospreys perched at it. This marked the first Ospreys I had seen in Michigan, my first ones being in Florida, 2018. I watched them from my car for some time; they cleaned themselves, they looked around, nothing terribly exciting. However, it is exciting to see the nests of birds of prey; outside of two Osprey nests, three Bald Eagle nests, and one Great Horned Owl nest, I have never seen the other species nests. And these nests were all near roads, parking lots or other man made structures. This nest will definitely be one I come back to check on for chicks.
Pair of Ospreys at nesting platform. Unfortunately, when I zoomed in on this photo I saw aluminum cans in their nest. These may have been mistaken for fish.

I turned around and found a parking area that I had passed earlier. I pulled in and sat in my car, waiting for a group of runners to clear out from stretching and started walking down the main gravel path. To my right was what looked to be marsh/flooded farm field and to my right was the opening of the Huron River. A group of five or six ducks paddled around near the dike; every couple of seconds they’d be head up and the next they’d be inverted, with their tails in the air as they grabbed for vegetation to eat under the water. Most of them were Blue-winged Teals, males and females. But two ducks just a few feet away from them were something else. From where I was the colors were hard to make out, but it seemed to have a mostly red head with some green, a thin white stripe towards the front of its body as well. My first thought was that maybe it was a Canvasback, but upon looking them up I saw that the body and the bill did not match what I was looking at. Then it popped into my head that maybe this was a Green-winged Teal. I’m not sure how this bird popped into my mind, but fortunately my intuition turned out to be correct and I was able to add another bird to my life list; third one of the day.
Green-winged teal with Blue-winged teal in background

Walking down the gravel path, I felt like I was in Florida again; this wide open area with little tree cover would be unbearable if it were a sunny day in the summer. Thankfully, it was anything but sunny; the temperature seemed to drop significantly from when I had first gotten to Lake Erie Metropark and I had a flannel, sweatshirt and Carhartt coat on; quite the opposite of what I had been expecting for the day. I was comfortable though and glad I wasn’t going to be sweating out of my mind.
On the mouth of the Huron, I saw a scattering of ducks, mostly Lesser Scaups and then a small flock of what would be another lifer for me: Ruddy ducks. Ruddy ducks are cute as can be with their baby blue bills and upright tail, some had their heads tucked into their plumage for a midday nap. Last fall, we thought we had seen one at Howard Marsh but could not make a positive ID. This flock locked it in for me.
Ruddy ducks. These ended up being the second most seen bird

Moving on down the path, some people were out for walks with their dogs or fishing from the dikes, but I was only one of a small minority with binoculars and camera hanging from my neck.
Looking from one side of the dike to the other, there was a drastic difference in the birds being represented. The marsh side was filled with Canada Geese, American Coots and Red-winged blackbirds; a rather noisy bunch of birds. Whereas the open water had large flocks of Lesser Scaups, Red-breasted Mergansers jetting in from other locations and quickly diving for fish, Horned Grebes diving in one spot and then popping up in a very different spot, Ruddy ducks appeared in everywhere in scattered areas. The juxtaposition of the different aquatic habitats and the birds was interesting; perhaps it was just the day I was there or maybe the birds passing through on their migration prefer to stick to the open water.
American Coot

I stood on the open water side and scanned the mouth of the Huron, seeing much of what I described above. I looked on up the shore line, in the direction I would be walking to see if I could make anything out. I noticed a solitary bird, looking predominantly black form this distance and larger than the rest. My first thought was that it was a Loon, but I knew that from a distance, a male Red-breasted Merganser could trick you. I picked up the pace as I advanced in the birds direction, hoping that whatever it was, it would not fly off or dive and pop up out of sight. I kept checking in my binoculars every few steps to help me figure out if I needed to keep the pace up or if I could take my time. Eventually I got close enough to confirm it: Common Loon. I immediately got a picture through my binoculars to send to Murphy, which was met with fierce competitiveness. I was able to get relatively close to this bird and watch it with excitement. I had never seen this bird in my life, but most of us are familiar with its depictions in artwork along with their erie call that is often added to movies. The black of its head is so velvety, you can’t believe that they are actual feathers; it was exceeding all expectations I had. For most of my time watching, it simply sat in the water, looking around, but on several occasions I was able to watch it dive and pop back up in the same spot. These birds are designed for diving, with bodies described as torpedo like and feet located towards the back of their body to help propel them. Prior to making a dive, it bends its head to peer into the water, looking like someone snorkeling. When it brings its head back up, the body slowly lowers into the water and then its gone in an instant, pursuing fish. Unfortunately for us, the Loon is just passing through here, it breeds in more northern areas on inland lakes. It’s what’s known as an indicator species for high quality lakes because they rely on clear water to find prey, so logging and development near these lakes could have a negative impact on them due to increased siltation. I watched the Loon for sometime before deciding to move on, there were likely other birds to be seen. In retrospect, I should’ve lingered longer, because there wasn’t anything too different than what I had been seeing and by the time I turned around the Loon was gone.










It got hot. The sun broke through the clouds and I was sweating under my layers and heavy coat, which I shed in time. I had turned around because I thought I might try to go to a different park an hour away to try and get some herping in. I was moving at a quick clip to get back to my car, not really taking the time to pause and look at anything. Then I got about 200 meters from my car and I saw something way out in the mouth of the Huron. The gray and white suggested it could just be a Ring-billed gull, but it sat differently in the water than the Ring-bills I had been seeing that day. It was not doing me any favors as it paddled farther and farther away. Maybe a female merganser and the head colors just weren’t coming through for me, I thought. Staring through the binoculars I decided that it had to be a Loon, but if it were an adult Common Loon there would be black and there was none. So maybe it was a non-breeding adult? An immature? Or maybe it was a non-breeding Red-throated Loon, the Great Lakes do fall in their migration zone. It was impossible to tell now, it was just too far away.
It was just too far away to get even a decent picture. If I’ve learned anything, its that to get good pics of birds you need a very good lens.

A gull? A Common Loon? A Red-throated Loon??

A few days later, a birder posted to the Michigan Birding Facebook page a few photos of a Red-throated Loon at Point Mouillee, potentially confirming what I had seen. Unfortunately, this bird had fishing line tangled in its mouth and I am not sure how it has played out.
I got back to my car and began eating my left over pasta for lunch, watching people begin and end their walk. I began to think about how many times in the past I may have walked by the water and noticed those faint dots I mentioned earlier. If only before I had taken a closer look and been more curious about what those faint dots really were. So I encourage you to bring a pair of binoculars out with you on your next walk along the water, you’ll see that those faint dots are more than just that, they’re more than some ducks out on the water. Maybe you’ll see the glam rock birds, the exploded cartoon birds, and if you’re lucky even that stunning bird with a head of velvet.


*Please exercise caution when going to parks and public outdoor spaces. Everyone deserves to be able to enjoy outdoor green space, especially in this time, but if you feel that a park is too crowded or people are not taking proper distancing precautions, please exit the park and contact the park authorities.

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