Manistee Christmas Bird Count to be held Saturday December 21, 2013.  

The later date is due to a conflict with the special duck hunting date on our preferred Dec. 14th.  Last year we had almost no waterfowl as they were scattered and not resting in their usual areas.  We hope to have a more typical count this year and hope the weather isn't too bad by the later date.

For questions on the CBC see the site:  National Audubon CBC

Birds of Paradise

Manistee Audubon Meeting Wednesday Oct. 9, 2013

See the incredible National Geographic Video which took 12 years to gather the imagery and find the Birds -of-Pardise shown.  This was part of the exhibit over the summer at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City.  If you missed the exhibit you won't want to miss this video.  Program at 7:00PM at Lake Bluff.  Brief business meeting of the club to follow.  For questions call 723-7956.

Field Trip:  Arcadia Grasslands on Saturday Sept. 14. at 8:00 AM.  Meet at the kiosk overlooking the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy grasslands on Keillor Rd. about 3/4 mile north of Glovers Lake Rd.  (Glovers Lake Rd. from US-31 go west to the intersection of Keillor and go right or north).   We will bird the grasslands paying particular attention to the sparrows and their challenging identification.  Time permitting we will then head over to the Arcadia Marsh and the new dike that crosses the marsh viewing the restoration efforts there and seeing a new group of sparrows and other fall migrants.  We will be walking through some tall grass at the grassland but the walking on the dike is open but may be muddy if it ever rains.  For any questions call Brian Allen at 510-9380.

Great program last Wednesday night with Jim McGraff and his snakes of Michigan http://www.naturediscovery.net/presentations.htm#reptilesamphibians

We had kids in the audience with live snake hairdos and people holding snakes that never had before!  We all left with a better knowledge and appreciation and less fear of snakes in Michigan.

Next program will be a potluck reorganization meeting place and time TBA.  Have a great spring and remember to do your lists to eBird or report rare bird sightings to 231-510-9380.

BA

Saturday, April 20, 8:00 a.m. Arcadia MarshThis field trip is a perennial favorite to see waterfowl and returning spring migrants. We will meet at the parking lot for Arcadia Beach at the west end of Lake Street in Arcadia (on Lake Michigan), then break into smaller groups to car pool to local hot spots. Brian Allen (723-7956) and John Ester (325-2445) will lead the trip.

See you there.  

Migration bottleneck :

The bottleneck is open, with the milder weather today loads of birds are on the mover from Cranes to sparrows, this has been noted on radar and by field observers, hawks along the Lake Michigan shore today, a mild "fallout" at noon of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Sapsuckers, Brown Creepers and sparrows at the house at noon and....

Bob Paetschow reports that the Piping Plover is back in Manistee.  Time to get out there and go birding if you can!

program cancelled for this evening due to illness of the presenter.  We will still have an informal meeting for all those that attend.