By Carl Schwartz
NJCBC Program Chair
The Noel J. Cutright Bird Club (NJCBC), in cooperation with the Lake Michigan Bird Observatory (LMBO), held its 16th annual and highly successful Big Sit! at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve on Sunday, Oct. 6. Over the course of 10 hours, some 24 participants observed 57 avian species and a total of 451 individuals.
The count was highlighted by raptors (11 species), woodpeckers (6) and sparrows (7).
A Big Sit! is like a Big Day or a birdathon in that the object is to tally as many species as can be seen or heard in one day. The difference lies in the limited area from which you may observe: a real or imaginary circle 17 feet in diameter with good views of a variety of habitats. The Bill Cowart Memorial Hawk Watch Platform at Forest Beach fits the bill perfectly. The preserve is owned and managed by the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust and is the site of the former Squires Golf Club. Since 2022, the event has been promoted by the Ozaukee Washington Birding Coalition.
The count began shortly after 6:30 a.m. on the hawk watch platform at the northeast corner of the preserve, five miles north of Port Washington. Conditions for participants were better than average with temperatures starting at around 57° and rising to 68 over the course of the morning. When we arrived winds were variable from the southeast to the southwest but gradually swung around to the west and increased. By late morning gusts reached 40 mph with sustained winds of 10 to 15 mph.
By 8 a.m. we had already recorded 30 species and would add 10 more in the next 40 minutes and reach 45 species by 10 a.m. In late morning, the number of counters was bolstered by the arrival of participants from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology’s annual Hawk Watch field trip to nearby Harrington Beach State Park. They arrived at Forest Beach shortly after the winds shifted and the raptor flight picked up. Kate Redmond, who is the observatory’s Hawk Watch organizer and principal counter, said the day’s total of 138 raptors – including 66 Merlin – was the highest single day so far this year.
The late Noel Cutright founded the Observatory and launched the Forest Beach count in 2009 as a way for the Riveredge Bird Club (since renamed in his honor) to support the Observatory. The highest Big Sit! count was 70 species in 2014.
Since 2007, birders have recorded a total of 267 species at Forest Beach, with five new species recorded in just the last two years: Franklin’s Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Least Bittern, Yellow-crowned Night Heron and Common Gallinule. Previous rarities found on the property include Blue Grosbeak, Spotted Towhee, White-eyed Vireo, Grasshopper Sparrow, Common Raven, Trumpeter Swan, Swainson’s Hawk, Bell’s Vireo, Iceland Gull, Brewer’s Blackbird, Eurasian Collared Dove, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Eastern Whip-poor-will. The 116-acre site is one of the largest tracts of open land remaining in Ozaukee County along Lake Michigan. Its geography -- and the extensive habitat development and creation of 27 wetlands begun in 2009 -- have achieved a significant part of Cutright’s vision for the preserve: diverse habitat and abundant seed and invertebrate sources for migratory birds. Its large species list demonstrates what excellent stopover habitat makes possible: a place for a diverse group of migratory birds to rest and refuel – as well as a great place to stage a Big Sit.
Here is a complete list of birds observed:
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 40
Wood Duck 3
Blue-winged Teal 2
Wild Turkey 5
Mourning Dove 1
Sandhill Crane 7
Wilson’s Snipe 1
Ring-billed Gull 2
Double-crested Cormorant 1
American White Pelican 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 35
Cooper’s Hawk 3
Bald Eagle 5
Broad-winged Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 9
Belted Kingfisher 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Red-headed Woodpecker 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
American Kestrel 4
Merlin 66
Peregrine Falcon 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tree Swallow 12
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
European Starling 4
Eastern Bluebird 4
American Robin 27
Cedar Waxwing 4
House Finch 20
Pine Siskin 1
American Goldfinch 20
Field Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 3
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 6
Red-winged Blackbird 100
Common Yellowthroat 1
Palm Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Special thanks to all those who participated:
Kate Redmond
Marilyn Bontly
Carl Schwartz
Steve and Rachel Holzman
Lisa Burr
Jeff Bentoff
Kira Dayton (OWLT)
Kristie Dayton
Megan Manning
Jenny Bardeen (LMBO)
Kathy Gallick
Gisela Zelenka Drysdale
Beth Phillips
Dan Sweeney
Emily Larsen
Mike and Loretta Emery
Tom and Wendy Schultz
Jim Portlance
Leslie Andrich
Mary Schumann
James Ritzema
and to OWLT Stewardship Director Ryan Wallin and his crew for readying the platform.