A large portion of the divers,particularly redheads, cans, and greater scaup, that migrate through the Saginaw Bay system migrate across Lake Michigan from southern Green Bay or down the St. Mary's River, originating in Ontario and the north central Lake Winnepeg areas. A cohort of hese birds migrate the northern coast of Superior, with fewer flying the southern coast to cut through to Lake Michigan.
I checked the Whitefish Point Bird Observatory sighting records, stratified by date. It appears the big pulses of divers entering the St. Marys River system traversed through VERY early this year, as well as in reduced numbers. They (Audobon Society) have made it quite difficult to do sorts and make comparisons of the data due to a controversy that hunters were using the data to target effort... they require written permission to use their data as well now, so I won't be cutting and pasting it in here.
I'm ooking forward to the Sandhill Crane season debate in Michigan;a well reasoned and sensible discussion will surely take place!
