As with January and February, March began with some local birding at Orion Oaks County Park, Kensington Metropark, and a few other local spots. March 7th saw a short trip into St. Clair county and I spent a good deal of time birding around Lapeer county, but overall the craziness of driving halfway across the state at the drop of a hat seemed to be a thing of the past. With the start of migration upon us and ducks becoming plentiful, I found myself at 80 birds by March 5th, still having at least 30 or so easy targets ahead of me.
For the first time this year, 100 species became just a matter of birding regularly instead of a challenging requiring an absurd level of silliness. I definitely wanted to hit the March MichListers Big Month record of 123, but I was massively easing back on the driving-halfway-across-the-state-for-a-Scoter-esc birding. On top of that, there really weren’t many rare birds showing up; no Lifers for me to chase, which at this point I was absolutely interested in doing should the possibility arise. On March 14th, the possibility arose.
If you recall back to my February post, on 2/5 a Gyrfalcon showed up at Elizabeth Park in Wayne county, which I chased and dipped on. That dip was a particularly painful bird because Gyrfalcons are probably my favorite bird, and definitely the bird I thought was cool before I thought birds were cool. Well, on March 14th the same Gyrfalcon was relocated – again in Wayne county – and much like the first time I hopped in my car and raced down I-75 (the worst drive in all of Michigan, might I add), and this time my efforts were not in vain. As I drove around the Sacred Heart Major Seminary school building where the bird had been hanging out I ran into John Porath, whom I had spent many-a-day county birding with, and the two of us started driving around looking for the bird. John was the first to spot it when a flock of Rock Pigeons caught his eye, scattering every which way. I got it in my bins just as it collided with one of said Pigeons, securing it’s afternoon snack.
I’d argue beyond any other distinction (except for the one between those who have seen a total solar eclipse and those who haven’t), there is no greater divide than that between those who have seen a Gyrfalcon and those who have not. A few minutes prior I had been in the latter category, and now I was in the former. I’d now seen the one bird I thought was cool before I realized birds were cool – surely this must be the bird-of-the-year, right? (Hint: it just barely made the top 10. 2022 was going to be *that* kind of a year).
For the next week the birding world was quiet. I spent a bunch of time continuing to bird in Oakland and Lapeer counties, picking up a few month needs here-and-there, but in the few days following the Gyrfalcon there wasn’t much going on throughout the state. By March 20th I found myself at 111 species, just 12 away from the MichListers Big Month record for March with a the best 10-day stretch of the month for migration yet to come.
And then came Pointe Mouillee.
For those unaware, Pointe Mouillee State Game area is just under 7500 acres of state land near the southeast corner of Michigan, along the border of Wayne and Monroe county. It is a large, flat, mix of marsh and ponds along the coast of Lake Erie with about 10 miles of dikes and trails, and it’s an incredible place. Outside of duck-hunting season when it is closed, it is one of the premier destinations for birders in all of Michigan. In the spring it is cold with no protection from the wind and in the summer it is hot and muggy with no protection from the sun – but there are always birds.
Following the discovery of a Eurasian Wigeon and a Slaty-backed Gull by Justin Labadie and Bobby Irwin respectively, I headed out for my first ever visit to Pointe Mouillee on March 21st. I arrived before dawn and trekked out the several miles to the spot where the Slaty-backed had been seen, and while there weren’t many gulls around I was able to get a look at the Eurasian Wigeon. As the day drew on I grew hungry and headed back to my car to drive to MOD Pizza and get lunch, and then drove back to Mouillee for another grueling hike to try again for the Gull. The second trip brought me the same level of success as the first, and while I didn’t manage to connect with a Slaty-backed I did snag a total of 11 new month birds during the 16.5 miles I spent walking that day, bringing me to 122 for March – just one shy of tying the record.
Over the course of the next week I would connect with 4 more birds for my March list, bringing me to a total of 126 and giving me my second broken record of the year. With March now secured I looked forward to April, where the MichListers #1 Big Month of the 183 set back 2009 seemed an especially daunting task, but at this point I had decided that would be my goal for April. Also all through March I had maintained my spot atop the Michigan eBird Top-100 for 2022, and while I was still adamantly maintaining that “I wasn’t doing a Big Year, I was just having a Big Year” at this point, the voice in the back of my head grew louder every day. “What if?”. I hate to view birding as a competition, but I must admit I am a bit of a competitive person. I liked seeing my name atop that list, but surely it couldn’t stay there for long, right? It’s not like in just a couple of days I would start crisscrossing the state on a near-weekly basis as I rapidly closed in on the 300 Mark that I had previously thought would be a longshot for the year, right? Right?
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday at 5pm EST and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
