Birding in Benzie County

Wood Duck (Photo by Carl Freeman)

With its rolling hills covered by forests and fields, and interspersed with numerous lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, marshes, and a long coastline along Lake Michigan, Benzie County is ideally situated for spring and fall migrants.

The spring migration begins slowly in March, builds from mid-April until early May and peaks in the middle of May. The Benzie Audubon Club hosts a Big Day Count each year and has recorded, as a group, as many as 168 species on one day. Individual birders have recorded as many as 132 species in a day. The Benzie Club and the Manistee Audubon Society just to the south have consistently recorded the highest species total on their Christmas bird counts of any other count in northern Michigan. After the peak, the migration winds up quickly so that by the end of May it is essentially over.

In the fall, migration actually begins as early as July when a few shorebirds, having already completed thier nesting in the tundra, begin a leisurely southward trek. The entire fall migration is much less frenetic than the spring migration and will actually last into December. The peak migration now is difficult to define as different species seem to peak at different times, but usually the best overall birding may be had from mid-September through mid-November.

Through the early part of the spring migration and most of the fall migration, weather is extremely variable and birders should be prepared for a wide variety of conditions.