Michigan Roost Chasing Report

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

Well, this morning I made the 104 mile round trip to what I figured was the center of the NEXRAD RADAR image of the largest ?roost ring? in Michigan. The one on Mitchell?s Bay is bigger but is really in Canadian waters. First I went to 41 59 47.75 -83 13 09.60 which is at the end of Roberts road which dead ends at a substantial gate that?s posted to lead to a ?navigation aid? so I didn?t walk out there but I suspect there is a light station or channel marker. This location seems to be the south edge of the Mouillee State Game area and is apparently adjacent to some kind of landfill or quarry operation. Anyway, lots of mosquitoes. Wireless Internet access there was weak so my NEXRAD images did not update properly but I did see that the RADAR was in precipitation mode which has more frequent updates. A decent breeze from the SW was blowing the steam from the Fermi nuclear plant (just over 3 miles distant), straight toward me.



I saw a few gulls, herons, a deer, some killdeer and a cormorant. Then, as if by magic, at 6:15, the breeze died back and through the lightening sky, I?d estimate ? mile north of me, I used the binoculars to see swallows. Lots of swallows! Several thousand swallows! They were moving SE over the water. By 6:30 they had spread my way and were flying overhead. At an estimated height of 150 to 300 feet up and with low light, even with binocs I could not be sure what they were. Several had white under parts and some were completely dark (I can?t say black) and appeared to be Martins but they just did not seem large enough and with only sky for a backdrop, how could I be sure? Also, I?m thinking their wing-beats were faster than I remember them to be but we all know they can flap both fast AND slow.



The breeze had died down a bit so I strained to listen to their calls. The beeping quarry equipment and idling semi trucks a ? mile away added to the challenge. Yet, even as they drew close, these birds were remarkably quiet. Maybe they don?t have much to say that early in the morning (like me). Lots of mosquitoes and lots of dragonflies were present as well. By 6:45, they?d spread out pretty good so I decided to head back.



Soon I was back on pavement at 42 02 34.00 -83 12 48.74 where North Dixie (U.S. Turnpike Road) crosses the Huron river. A sign said ?Wayne County Parks? and there?s a nice turnout with a parking lot and a good vantage point facing the open marshes. Many of these Swallows were still in the area but they were still silent and I could not be certain what they were. I decided to move on.



As a last stop I went to 42 02 19.41 -83 11 55.63 at the end of Pointe Mouillee Road. On the way to the parking lot, I passed some power lines on the south side of Campau Road where about 20 Swallows were perched. They appeared to be juveniles and were preening but again, I could not say what they were. I?m pretty certain they were not Martins or Cliff Swallows which I know best. Also, I had not seen the extended tail feathers of Barn Swallows earlier and I don?t believe they generally fly as high as the birds I?d seen anyway. I think that pretty much means Rough Winged or Bank Swallows and that?s where I stop guessing.



Anyhow, If I were to go looking again, I think I?d just go straight to the last location and look from there. So, I?ll call this trip a bust but at least in the Insight (at 83.8 mpg over the 104 miles), it didn?t cost me much. Fred Kaluza?..Warren

[John Kendall]

I checked the closest unconfirmed NEXRAD roost near my N. Indiana colony last week.
At mid-day, I found 20 martins, 150 swallows of 3 types. A local farmer told me that "at dinner time, the birds come in". This is on some wires on a secluded open, farming area--no real water bodies.

I came back at dusk, but, must have been too late. I will go back another night just after dinner. They obviously are not roosting overnight on the wires. So, we don't know if they fly from the staging area on the wires to somewhere else (two houses have really nice looking roost trees, but, we saw not birds in them).
There is a very large reservoir within 6 miles, so, maybe, mine is just a staging area.
I think the main thing I saw in the nexrad site is that it is easier to find them at early evening vs. am if they are using the area.
I don't know Pt. Mouilee, but, am an avid birder, and have seen reports from there on the internet. Sounds like a tough area to try to reach all the possible spots-same deal with the reservoir--by boat may be best. Taking my boat down there is too much work.

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

JK, thanks for the response. You're right about the Pointe Mouillee location. I hear there are "trails" or paths in there but by and large it's several square miles of marsh land. Apparently our observations are similar in that these roosts are NOT EXCLUSIVELY comprised of Martins but at least up here, composed of several species of swallows. I wonder if the ratio of Martins is simply equal to their overall prevalence in the areas? In other words, I'm thinking that these "roosts" are nothing "special" to Martins in particular and are simply a phenomenon common to "swallows" in general. P.S. It seems all the Intellicast images are back-logged this morning as I want to see how the return from Lake Chapman compares in size/strength to the one I observed at Pointe Mouillee.

[Guest]

Now thats some very intresting reading Fred,well written,were or are you an author by chance??

Keep'em coming

dick

[Guest]

Fred,

You're right about the Pointe Mouillee location. I hear there are "trails" or paths in there but by and large it's several square miles of marsh land.

That sure sounds like a good excuse to start building an air boat to me. Find a good used Lycoming engine and prop, an aluminum flat bottom boat, some duct tape, and you're in business. Just like the Everglades less the alligators!

The way you like to attack new projects I probably should not have suggested this, should I?

Jeff

[Guest]

Fred,

You're right about the Pointe Mouillee location. I hear there are "trails" or paths in there but by and large it's several square miles of marsh land.

That sure sounds like a good excuse to start building an air boat to me. Find a good used Lycoming engine and prop, an aluminum flat bottom boat, some duct tape, and you're in business. Just like the Everglades less the alligators!

The way you like to attack new projects I probably should not have suggested this, should I?

Jeff

[Guest]

Driving 50 miles to within half a mile of thousands of swallows is not too bad. I've done worse. Right now I have my eye on a "roost ring" on the South Shore of Massachusetts. Looking for large bodies of water and marshes is really the best strategy, as people have mentioned. I'm using <http://www.topozone.com> for maps. Any tips?

What you're describing sounds a lot like the Tree Swallow roosts that I've seen. There are always other swallows mixed in, but less numerous is my guess. I'm wondering if Martins just leave sooner than Tree Swallows and that that's how they co-exist in different niches.

---Lane

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

You are a dangerously inspiring man Mr. Nelson! Actually, I would not want to risk disturbing them and give the only "roost" in Michigan a reason to move to Ohio or Indiana. More likely I'll take SCUBA and Snorkle and just kind of crawl my way in there. If I start this weekend, I might make it close enough by about January..Then I'd have to find a way to break the ice upon surfacing...

[Guest]

Fred,

Hmmmm.... This has mini-sub written all over it.

Let's see now.... The fact that you will not need to operate at extreme depths should permit a light weight composite hull and frame combined with electric propulsion (don't use Dell lithium batteries ). For ballast I recommend that you use Petoskey stones which will have resale value if you have surplus later. For your sonar replace the conventional ping sound with Dawnsong. The periscope should also function as a spotting scope. You can omit torpedoes, but I recommend you install a deck gun armed with bird shot (sparrow and starling deterent).

I like it! I'll be watching for pictures so get busy !

Jeff

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

The last time I considered cutting the bottoms out of galvanized trash cans and soldering them together end-to-end, I was working on a rocket design but the web-page about zozzle design disappeared from the Internet days after nine-eleven. So much for fun!

[Guest]

I suppose you are right. Any detection of submarine activity occurring that close to the border would certainly trigger a military response in times of heightened security (such as the present). I'm sure you are already being watched, Fred. No point waving a red flag.

I guess you will just have to be satisfied with using conventional bird-watching techniques, even if they happen to be far less challenging. Bummer....

Jeff

[John Kendall]

By following the instructions given to the webiste, I looked at the 4-8am window off of the North Webster, IN radar site, which is very close to us.
I found your Lake St. Clair site and knowing it was there gave me the "teaching lesson" on what it looks like.
So, I looked elsewhere, and noticed that on regional radar, the morning blips further east (OH, south of Defiance) show up as they should, a few minutes earlier than the IN blips-near Wabash.
I found the N. Indiana site and it looks to be on the Wabash River, just W. of Wabash--there is no road access, but, perhaps with scoping, I can verify the location and number of birds.
I cannot locate this type of radar image however, in the pm from 4-8 pm. Is this because the birds come in at various times and aren't "exploding" from the roost?
Also, what does CDT time refer to? Is this over the Atlantic? I am told to add 4 hours to the east ern time, doesn't jive with any location, such as Grenwich time in England.

[Fred Kaluza~MI]

JK, CDT is just Central Daylight Time. I believe Indiana is (or at least was) a difficult state to tell time in as some counties went on DST and others do/did not. You will want to be looking at images from about 10:00 to 11:00 GMT whatever time that is in your neck of the woods.