Bird rarely found in Michigan seen among migrating birds in Upper Peninsula
A bird not seen before in Michigan's Upper Peninsula was among the songbird species seen during fall migration in recent days.
The Whitefish Point Bird Observatory, which is off Whitefish Point in Lake Superior, shared the sighting of a young purple gallinule at the Whitefish Point harbor in a social media post Tuesday, calling the news a "showstopper."
"This is the first-ever record for Michigan's Upper Peninsula — an extraordinary occurrence for a species typically found in the southeastern U.S.," the observatory said.
The arrival was part of a "substantial songbird migration event" noticed on Friday, when migrating birds flocked to and settled in around the lake. Many of those birds remained in the area at least for the short term. Given the weather forecast, the observatory expects migration patterns over the area to stay busy for the next few days.
Among the birds noticed and counted were an American white pelican, over 240 dark-eyed juncos, and a noticeable increase in purple finch and redpoll birds.
The purple gallinule was seen by several birders Friday evening, the observatory said, noting that another purple gallinule was sighted the same day in a marsh in western Lower Peninsula. The bird seen in the U.P. had distinctively long legs and toes with a grayish-purple color on its feathers. The species prefers freshwater marshes, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and normally migrates at night.
"With two of these normally secretive marsh birds detected in Michigan over a 24-hour span, we can only wonder how many more may be out there," the observatory said.
Clay Bliznick, a field ornithologist with the observatory, took the photo and included the sighting in a weekly bird report.
Whitefish Point Bird Observatory is a research program operated and funded by Michigan Audubon.