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Birding and Nature Watch Tours:
Want to do something wild? The Kirtland’s Warbler Festival is
offering a nice selection of birding trips and nature watch tours
in 2006. These guided tours will get you “out there” in wild
habitats to great wildlife viewing areas. We’ve recruited some
knowledgeable guides to help you. Guides are naturalists with many
years of experience either as natural resource biologists, or as
science educators and birders.
These nature tours are offered as off-campus trips on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, May 19, 20 and 21, and as on-campus tours
during the Festival, mid-day on Saturday, May 20.
Although not critical, since others will have equipment, it’s best
to bring your own binoculars or a spotting scope. Weather can get
nippy this time of year, so layering of clothing is recommended.
Wet, dew-laden vegetation is common on early morning trips so
another good idea is to wear or bring water-resistant footwear.
Here’s our selection of tour options:
KIRTLAND'S WARBLER FESTIVAL
TOURS:
Saturday, May 20, 7 a.m. and 8
a.m.
Sunday, May 21, 8 a.m.
Kirtland’s Warbler & Jack
Pine Ecosystem – during Festival. Maximize your chances of
seeing the elusive Kirtland's warbler. Ride a bus to nearby
warbler habitat with naturalist guides on board to answer
questions and enhance the experience. At the field stops within
the young jack pine habitat, you also will see and/or hear many
of the dozens of other native birds that share this special
habitat with our endangered Kirtland's warbler - including the
upland sandpiper, the Brewer’s blackbird, Lincoln’s sparrow and
clay-colored sparrow. More common species like the hermit
thrush, rose-breasted grosbeak, song sparrow, and the Nashville
warbler should be sighted or at least heard... Please note that
the Kirtland's warbler field trips leave from the Kirtland
Community College Campus Grounds. These tours leave from campus
and visit a MDNR Kirtland’s warbler management unit nearby. They
offer an excellent opportunity to see and hear one of the rarest
songsters in North America – our endangered Kirtland’s warbler.
Guides: Wildlife biologists
from Michigan DNR and US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Meet near the Festival
Information Tent. School buses will be provided. Viewing will be
from dry, sandy trail roads.
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OFF-CAMPUS
NATURE & BIRDING FIELD TRIPS (meet at site):
Friday, May 19
5 p.m. – Gahagan Nature Preserve.
Habitats include old-growth pine, lowland hardwood swamp,
cedar swamp, streamside/riparian, upland oak and pine. Forest
birds will be the main feature here with many warblers, thrushes,
sparrows and raptors found in these habitats.
Guide: Tom Dale, Education Director for this 60-acre wooded
preserve. Tom is a recently retired biology professor from
Kirtland Community College.
The Gahagan Preserve is located on the south edge of the village
of Roscommon. Meet at the Preserve parking lot on Southline Road,
1/4 mile west of M-18, south side of Roscommon.
Look for the Ford dealership and turn west at that corner. Hiking
on handicapped-accessible trail and boardwalk.
Saturday, May 20
7 and 8 a.m. – Kirtland’s Warbler
& Jack Pine Ecosystem – during Festival. These tours leave
from campus and visit a MDNR Kirtland’s warbler management unit
nearby. They offer an excellent opportunity to see and hear one of
the rarest songsters in North America – our endangered Kirtland’s
warbler. Other likely and unusual birds include the upland
sandpiper, the Brewer’s blackbird, Lincoln’s sparrow and
clay-colored sparrow. More common species like the hermit thrush,
rose-breasted grosbeak, song sparrow, and the Nashville warbler
should be sighted or at least heard..
Guides: Wildlife biologists from Michigan DNR and US Fish and
Wildlife Service.
Meet near the Festival Information Tent. School buses will be
provided. Viewing will be from dry, sandy trail roads.
6 p.m. – Houghton Lake Marsh Wetland Bird Tour
This MDNR waterfowl management area is open marsh and wooded/shrub
wetland. Nesting ospreys, black terns and a great blue heron
rookery are special attractions. Waterfowl species and many
wetland songbirds and wading birds are also common. Tour will end
at the nearby Michelson’s Landing on the Muskegon River Deadstream
Flooding. An active eagle nest will be the attraction of this
final stop.
Guide: Mike Petrucha, wildlife specialist, MDNR Wildlife Division,
Houghton Lake field office.
Meet on the marsh at the wildlife observation platform and parking
lot on west side of Old-27, 1 ½ miles north of the M-55 and Old-27
intersection on the southwest side of Houghton Lake.
7 p.m. – Wakely Lake Foot Travel Area, Crawford County.
Includes a diversity of woodland habitats, plus shrub wetland
habitats around Wakely Lake, a Huron-Manistee National Forest
special walk-in area. Good chance to see nesting loons and eagles,
and ducks, geese and other wetland birds, plus many woodpeckers,
warblers (including pine warblers) and many other woodland
species. Beavers and otters have been seen on these tours in other
years. An “owl prowl” will wrap up the tour, using taped owl calls
to attract resident owls at dusk.
Guide: Joe Gomola, Wildlife Technician, US Forest Service, Mio
Ranger District office.
Meet at parking lot on M-72, about 10 miles east of Grayling or 5
miles west of the intersection of M-18 and M-72. Area is well
marked by directional signs along M-72. Hiking will be mostly on
dry, sandy foot trails.
Sunday, May 22
8 a.m. – Jeremy and Lois Jones’ Wildlife Preserve, near
Roscommon, Crawford County.
“Fractured habitats - a little bit of everything,” according to
owner and wildlife photographer Jeremy Jones. This diverse habitat
makes for a diverse nature watching experience. Constructed
wetlands, old field/grasslands, shrub/forest habitat, and two
beaver colonies, have created an unusual and rich mixture of
habitats and bird life. Coyotes, bobcats, bear, deer, beaver and otter add to the intrigue. Jeremy has a photography studio that
displays his many award-winning wildlife and nature photographs –
and many are for sale.
Guide: Tom Dale, naturalist and retired biology professor from Kirtland will lead this nature tour.
Meet at the farmhouse at 3121 East Seven Mile Road. Follow Chase Bridge Road
north three miles from the M-18 intersection, or Chase Bridge Road
south about six miles from the M-72 intersection to find Seven
Mile Road. There is a large sign for Jeremy’s studio at the
intersection of Chase Bridge and Seven Mile roads. Grass will likely be damp, so best to wear
water-resistant shoes or boots. Hiking will be on impoundment
dikes and trail roads.
Click
HERE
for directions to these sites.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and U.S. Forest Service 2005 Kirtland’s Warbler Tours:
These guided tours are conducted annually from May 15 through
about July 4 by these federal natural resource agencies – both key
players in the recovery of the Kirtland’s warbler. These tours are
very popular, so it is recommended that visitors call ahead to
check on the need for reservations:
US Forest Service Tours, Mio and Grayling:
Mio - 7 a.m. daily, May 15 to July 4 (except Memorial Day,
May 29). A $5 fee is charged. Meet at the USFS Mio District
Ranger Station on M-72 in village of Mio. Office is located 1/4
mile north of the M-72 and M-33 intersection and across from
McDonald’s Restaurant. Visitors should meet at USFS office at 6:45
a.m. if they want to receive a briefing and watch a video on
Kirtland’s warbler recovery efforts. Tours take two to three hours
and you will drive your own vehicles.
For more information, visit the
US Forest Service Web site or
call the Mio Ranger District office at 989-826-3252.
Grayling – Tours also leave from the Holiday Inn in
Grayling. For more information on the Grayling tour, contact the
US Fish and Wildlife Service
Web site or at the address
below.
US Forest Service Mio Ranger District
401 N. Court Street
Mio, MI 48647-9314
Phone: 989-826-3252
Contact Joe Gomola (Ext. 3320) or Bev McVeigh (Ext. 3310)
E-mail:
jgomola@fs.fed.us
Grayling Kirtland's Warbler Tour
US Fish and Wildlife Service
East Lansing Field Office
2651 Coolidge Road
East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: 517-351-2555
Contact: Chris Mensing (Ext. 316)
E-mail:
chris_mensing@fws.gov
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