ANN ARBOR, MI — A funky duck on the scene at Ann Arbor’s Gallup Park attracted a crowd of birdwatchers from throughout the region Wednesday, June 1.
The unusual sighting of a black-bellied whistling duck here is a first, according to avid birders who track and report such rare observations using apps like eBird.
“It should be down in south Texas or Mexico,” said Dan Ezekiel, a retired Ann Arbor science teacher who is among those fascinated by the duck’s presence here.
With word of the bird circulating Wednesday morning, the curious eagerly grabbed their gear and traveled to witness the occasion, some even skipping work to do so.
Lake Orion resident Daniel Bernard said he planned to spend the day birding in Lapeer County but shifted course when he learned about the small duck making a big splash in Ann Arbor.
“I’m trying to see as many birds in the state as I can for the year. It’s always really exciting when something like this shows up,” he said, calling it a gorgeous bird. “Especially that sort of flanking line they have through them is very vibrant. They’re also, I think, one of the funniest-looking ducks — very long-necked and just sort of goofy looking. Obviously as a birder, I’m a bit biased toward thinking all birds are awesome and beautiful, but black-bellied whistling ducks are just so funky looking.”
As of mid-morning, over a dozen onlookers with binoculars, telescopes, cameras and tripods — among other passersby — watched as the waterbird with the pink feet and orange-red bill mingled among the geese and mallards along the Huron River, resting riverside between land ventures to snack on grass.
Some of the birdwatchers who came out to observe the rare sighting of a black-bellied whistling duck at Ann Arbor's Gallup Park on the Huron River on June 1, 2022.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News
While there have been a handful of sightings of black-bellied whistling ducks in Michigan in recent years, it’s rare and this is a first for Washtenaw County, watchers said.
“For a long time, no one ever saw them in Michigan, but with climate change and stuff, a number of birds are turning up more frequently and this is one,” said Curt Powell, an avid Ann Arbor birder who took photos using a telescope lens. “Sometimes there’s groups of them, but this one’s alone.”
Powell mentioned the blue grosbeak and the neotropic cormorant as some of the other species now showing up in Michigan. Local birders also delighted in the rare sighting of a pink tropical bird called the roseate spoonbill in Saline last year.
“There was bird called the spotted redshank from Europe that was on the other side of town a few years back,” Powell added.
Among Wednesday’s crowd was Juliet Berger, Ann Arbor’s official city ornithologist who spends her days observing birds.
“It’s my job to survey the parks and keep track of the bird life,” she said, indicating she does that 40 hours a week, tracking which birds are nesting in which parks.
Berger, who was shadowed by an intern, agreed it was a rare sighting. She has seen black-bellied whistling ducks wintering in Florida, and they also can be found in Texas and Mexico, but one here is not normal, she said.
“This one is a rare vagrant or it’s an escapee from a farm,” she said, noting she didn’t see any sign of leg bands, though she did observe the bird looked “a little scruffy.”
Juliet Berger, Ann Arbor's official city ornithologist, shows a map of the native territory for the black-bellied whistling duck spotted at Gallup Park on June 1, 2022.Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News
Birds are classified as vagrants when they’re outside their normal wintering or breeding areas.
“It happens every year or two that we get something that’s kind of mega rare,” Berger said.
Steven Gurka, a local chemist, said he heard about the duck and decided to make a pitstop while running an errand.
“I just got into birding during the pandemic,” he said. “So, last year I really spent a lot of time trying to see as many birds in Michigan as I could. This year, it’s more or less the same story.”
Noting there was a black-bellied whistling duck that hung around Southfield for months, Powell said the one in Ann Arbor may stay for a while and attract a good number of people.
MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:
Rare pink bird is still in Michigan and continues to draw a crowd hoping to catch a glimpse
Birdwatchers from across the Midwest flock to Scio Township for spotted redshank
Construction begins on downtown Ann Arbor’s first curbless street
Ann Arbor discount program has helped 430 homes go solar in over 2 years
Smoking garbage truck dumps hot trash in Ann Arbor’s Burns Park
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