Are you interested in a detour along the St. Clair River, I asked my husband as we drove south from the Upper Peninsula last week.
We had spent an extended weekend in the Upper Peninsula, birding and catching the beautiful fall colors along Lake Superior as well as some of our favorite back roads.
The St. Clair River is a good two hours out of our way to where we live in the western suburbs of Detroit, which meant we’d get home after dark, rather than late afternoon.
Why? he asked.
You won’t believe this, but there are half-dozen sea birds hanging out in a park in downtown Marine City.
Let’s go! he replied.
Which meant at just after 6:00pm last Monday, we discovered what had birders all over Michigan traveling hundreds of miles to downtown Marine City: six Brants lazily grazing in the grass along the St. Clair River.
We weren’t sure where to find the birds.
They had been reported along the shore in the park, in a parking lot, out on the river as well as across the river in Canada.
But it didn’t take long to find a birder and a photographer standing along the river, looking at the group of birds.
Sea birds that breed in the high Arctic, typically found along the Atlantic Coast and Pacific Coast, the six Brants were grazing the grass along a river that connects Lake Huron to the Detroit river.
And the birds didn’t seem to mind the people taking photos and staring at them through binoculars.
They’re a bit smaller than Canada Geese, note the faint white necklace around their neck.
What a treat to see the birds! No one’s sure how long they will stay, Brants are occasionally seen along the Great Lake during migration.
They’ve been spotted along the river in Michigan for the past six days.
Birders who weren’t able to see them during the week have made the trek this weekend to the area and were glad to find the birds are still hanging out.
