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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Yellow-billed Loon (photos) - Sault Ste. Maire power plant

I just received these 2 photos of a Yellow-billed Loon taken by Don Martin. The bird was seen at the Sault Ste. Marie Power Plant on 31 Dec 2009 at 8:40AM. Here is the Mich-listers post detailing the sighting:

"Yellow-billed Loon at the Soo power plant.  We had views at 20 yards.  
When we left at 8:40 it was 75 yards south of the southern property
line where theblue fence ends and construction fence begins. I don't
have the ability to post. Thought you may want to post the
sighting. Don Martin"


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Wastewater gulling (& Blue-winged Teal in Dec!)

Had a chance to check the wastewater briefly this morning, and was pleased to find my first ever December Blue-winged Teal for Michigan along the center dike, a drake.
Also was treated to six gulls species including Glaucous, Bonaparte's (only 1, a youngster), Herring, Ring-billed (still 350+), Iceland type (not seen well enough to be positive thayeri was ruled out), and Thayer's. The Thayer's was a nice adult seen at close range near the dump, allowing for close study:





Note the black subterminal markings on p5, a sure sign of thayeri in any adult kumlieni/thayeri candidate.
Finally, I also had a strange Ring-billed Gull adult with a black bill with a small yellow tip. Not sure what to make of this.