Canada Goose 215 Shiawassee NWR IWMMP, SA
Trumpeter Swan 4 (Restricted Access)
Wood Duck 355
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 7
Mallard 1861
Blue-winged Teal 300
Northern Shoveler 9
Northern Pintail 8
Pied-billed Grebe 95
Double-crested Cormorant 53
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 53
Great Egret 466
Green Heron 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 38
Northern Harrier 4
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 4
Virginia Rail 21
Sora 79
This is a refuge-wide IWMMP total for this species. I have a systematic method of using a tape playback in roughly fifty meter increments and counting only responding SORA that are straight out from me or just slightly ahead of me and never behind me. It's been my observation that rails respond that are within fifty meters out from the dikes on which I drive. I never hear them respond further out than that nor much farther to my right or left of twenty-five meters. My method of tape playback includes one VIRA grunt (pause to listen), one SORA whinny (pause to listen) and then loudly clapping (pause to listen). (I accidentally discovered clapping to elicit rail response as I clapped a few weeks ago to flush BCNH & rails readily responded.) I'll then wait for several minutes and, if hearing none, I slam the truck door shut (sometimes they respond to that) and then start the vehicle and listen carefully as they sometimes respond to the engine starting. I move forward roughly fifty meters and repeat the process in cattail rich wetlands. The following individuals were heard in the following sections: Pool 2 (33); River Unit (16); North Marsh (8); Grefe Pond (9); Pool1A (11), and the remaining two coming from other sections of the refuge.
Common Gallinule 45
American Coot 38
Sandhill Crane 115
Semipalmated Plover 11
Killdeer 11
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 19
Lesser Yellowlegs 85
HUDSONIAN GODWIT 1
Stilt Sandpiper 16
Least Sandpiper 20
Pectoral Sandpiper 21
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3
Short-billed Dowitcher 8
Wilson's Snipe 8
Caspian Tern 13
Northern Flicker 19
Merlin 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 4
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 6
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Marsh Wren 6
Savannah Sparrow 6
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 519
This was a refuge-wide count of continuing large concentration of migrating BOBO. One flock alone was conservatively estimated by Roger and myself to be 400. Had we made a concerted effort to just count BOBO, the number would have been far greater as there was a continual vocalization throughout the day.
Common Grackle 2
American Goldfinch 55
Trumpeter Swan 4 (Restricted Access)
Wood Duck 355
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 7
Mallard 1861
Blue-winged Teal 300
Northern Shoveler 9
Northern Pintail 8
Pied-billed Grebe 95
Double-crested Cormorant 53
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron 53
Great Egret 466
Green Heron 5
Black-crowned Night-Heron 38
Northern Harrier 4
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 4
Virginia Rail 21
Sora 79
This is a refuge-wide IWMMP total for this species. I have a systematic method of using a tape playback in roughly fifty meter increments and counting only responding SORA that are straight out from me or just slightly ahead of me and never behind me. It's been my observation that rails respond that are within fifty meters out from the dikes on which I drive. I never hear them respond further out than that nor much farther to my right or left of twenty-five meters. My method of tape playback includes one VIRA grunt (pause to listen), one SORA whinny (pause to listen) and then loudly clapping (pause to listen). (I accidentally discovered clapping to elicit rail response as I clapped a few weeks ago to flush BCNH & rails readily responded.) I'll then wait for several minutes and, if hearing none, I slam the truck door shut (sometimes they respond to that) and then start the vehicle and listen carefully as they sometimes respond to the engine starting. I move forward roughly fifty meters and repeat the process in cattail rich wetlands. The following individuals were heard in the following sections: Pool 2 (33); River Unit (16); North Marsh (8); Grefe Pond (9); Pool1A (11), and the remaining two coming from other sections of the refuge.
Common Gallinule 45
American Coot 38
Sandhill Crane 115
Semipalmated Plover 11
Killdeer 11
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Greater Yellowlegs 19
Lesser Yellowlegs 85
HUDSONIAN GODWIT 1
Stilt Sandpiper 16
Least Sandpiper 20
Pectoral Sandpiper 21
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3
Short-billed Dowitcher 8
Wilson's Snipe 8
Caspian Tern 13
Northern Flicker 19
Merlin 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 4
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 3
Yellow-throated Vireo 1
Warbling Vireo 6
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Marsh Wren 6
Savannah Sparrow 6
Indigo Bunting 2
Bobolink 519
This was a refuge-wide count of continuing large concentration of migrating BOBO. One flock alone was conservatively estimated by Roger and myself to be 400. Had we made a concerted effort to just count BOBO, the number would have been far greater as there was a continual vocalization throughout the day.
Common Grackle 2
American Goldfinch 55
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