Baseline Bird Survey of Mashkiigaki:

A Brief Report to The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians and New Community Vision

July 2025

In May 2025, three experienced birders from Leelanau—Ed Ketterer, Greg Nobles, and Bert Thomas—spent three mornings a week, from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., taking note of the birds observed.

Walking the main trail of the Mashkiigaki site over the course of twelve visits, we identified 74 species. It is also worth noting that earlier observations in 2024 had seen an additional 4 species, including the Grasshopper Sparrow which is a species of Special Concern.  See the full consolidated list at the end of this report.

We submitted our daily observations to eBird, the community-science resource sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, via creating a place specific page for Mashkiigaki for such observation uploads. We have so far kept those lists hidden from public access, pending further discussion with GTB to ensure elaboration on the role of a public list in ongoing and future citizen scientist engagement.  While previous observers associated with the former Timber Shores owners had largely downplayed or dismissed the significance of the avian diversity and numbers at Mashkiigaki, we found the bird identifications there to be impressive, sometimes even surprising.

Among the surprises were several species not altogether unknown to the region, but comparatively uncommon: Alder Flycatcher, Bobolink, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, and Scarlet Tanager. During our repeated visits, we also began to get a better sense of the landscape itself, with several small micro-climates, including grassy meadows, woodlands, wetlands, and of course the shoreline. Each of these provided valuable habitats for different species, and we increasingly came to know what to look for where. 

One of those locations provided us the opportunity to observe on a near-daily basis a Bald Eagle nest, with two adult eagles close at hand, typically one visible inside the nest and another flying and perching nearby.  We cannot attest to the success of the eagles’ producing offspring, nor can we rule out nest failure, and quick research is inconclusive about Bald Eagle behavior regarding a second nesting.  Sometimes when there is a nest failure, they will attempt to produce another clutch that same year, but ordinarily, with successful nests, eagles do not have a second nesting in one year.  Whatever the case here, it would not be unusual for eagles to return to a nest to make repairs, etc., so they could use it in subsequent years. Clearly, that bears watching in the future.

So, for that matter, does the entire Mashkiigaki site. We are grateful to NCV and the GTB for the opportunity to have made repeated visits to Mashkiigaki this May, and we hope such careful observation can continue in the future—and not just at the height of avian migration season in the spring, but throughout the year, including winter. The prospect of gaining a year-round, long-term understanding of the abundance of the bird species at Mashkiigaki can contribute to both the scientific and spiritual appreciation people experience at this remarkable place in our peninsula.

Background

In a few site visits over May -June 2024, local birders volunteering with New Community Vision (NCV), undertook preliminary birding notes towards establishing insights on the significance of the ecosystems of Mashkiigaki and raising community awareness.  They encountered 45 different species and proposed that the special habitats of Mashkiigaki were likely much more significant for bird diversity and species of concern.

Following the completed acquisition of Mashkiigaki, and in view of NCV’s future roles in ongoing community engagement and citizen scientist initiatives under the NOAA Restoration, Engagement, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: An Indigenous Approach to Comprehensive Resiliency (RETEK) grant, GTB agreed to a proposal for three local birding experts to voluntarily undertake a more extensive bird survey during the prime May – June season in 2025 to help establish a baseline of the bird population.

As noted, the best tool for doing so is eBird, an app developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - https://ebird.org/home - that allows users to record bird sightings, by both species and number, and submit them to a larger database that helps scientists record bird populations over the longer term. By using eBird, ordinary people, including local school children, can participate in a valuable and exciting community science initiative and thus make a critical contribution to our understanding of environmental changes taking place around us—and not just to birds, but to plants, fish, mammals, and human beings.

Mashkiigaki bird identifications, May 2025

74 Species, Listed in Ornithological Order

Mute Swan

Mallard 

Common Merganser

Canada Goose

Mourning Dove

Ruffed Grouse

Sandhill Crane

Spotted Sandpiper

Killdeer

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Double-crested Cormorant

American White Pelican

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Belted Kingfisher

Great Blue Heron

Broad-winged Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Hairy Woodpecker                                                                                                                            

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Least Flycatcher

Alder Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher

Eastern Kingbird

Red-eyed Vireo

Blue Jay

American Crow

Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Winter Wren

Northern House Wren

Tree Swallow

Purple Finch

Gray Catbird

Brown Thrasher

Eastern Bluebird

Wood Thrush

American Robin

Cedar Waxwing

American Goldfinch

Chipping Sparrow                                                                                                                                               

Field Sparrow 

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow                                                                                                                                

White-throated Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Bobolink

Eastern Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird                                                                                                                                         

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle

Nashville Warbler  

Pine Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson’s Warbler

American Redstart

Magnolia Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler                                                                                                                                             

Bay-breasted Warbler                

Blackburnian Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Palm Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Ovenbird

Scarlet Tanager

Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting

Notable Mashkiigaki bird identifications in May 2024, not yet identified in 2025

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

American Woodcock

Red-shouldered Hawk

Grasshopper Sparrow *

*As a species of Special Concern, the identification of Grasshopper Sparrows on Mashkiigaki upland fields in 2024 was reported by botanist Liana May to MSU:  https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/species/description/11220/Ammodramus-savannarum.