For those eager to see these birds and others up close, local birding enthusiasts say the easiest thing to do is to find a local spot and start looking.

“You can just go down to Duck Park and Island Park and walk around and look at the birds out on the river and you can see ducks and blue herons,” Karen Tetzlaff, president of the Thunder Bay Audubon Society, said.

For almost six decades, the Thunder Bay Audubon Society has dedicated itself to getting Northeast Michiganders interested in bird watching and helping to conserve the region’s wildlife and natural beauty.

The organization is the Alpena-area chapter of the Michigan Audubon and one of nearly three dozen chapters around the state. It was first established in 1965 and gathers for monthly events, including an April Birding AutoTour in Presque Isle and a June bird walk along the Thunder Bay River.

News Photo by James Andersen Thunder Bay Audubon Society board members Barb Cole, standing, and Karen Tetzlaff examine one of Tetzlaff’s bird books during a recent afternoon in Alpena.

Currently, there are around 75 paid members, including a wide range of birding enthusiasts, or birders, and the organization welcomes anyone who wants to join, regardless of their level of birding expertise.

“We have members that are very beginner birders; they know the chickadees and the robins and birds that you see all the time,” Tetzlaff said. “Then we have a few people that are master birders that while we’re talking like this, they’ll go, ‘Oh, there’s a hawk, you know, a black-throated blue up there in that tree.'”

Tetzlaff’s foray into bird watching started with a newspaper article and some yard feeders at home.

“I’ve always enjoyed birds and we’ve always had a feeder at our house when that was logistically possible,” Tetzlaff said. “I retired in 2008 and then I was kind of just kind of looking around for something to kind of get more involved in. I happened to see a little article in the paper that said Thunder Bay Audubon was meeting at such and such time and if you had any questions call this number.

Well, I really like birds, that might be interesting. So I called the number and went to the meeting and I kind of hung in there ever since more or less.”

News Photo by James Andersen Thunder Bay Audubon Society press relations head Barb Cole displays the Merlin Bird ID app on her phone. The app allows users to identify birds with a song feature and works in conjunction with another app to allow birders to photograph and to record their bird findings.

Barb Cole, the Thunder Bay Audubon Society’s head of press relations, joined in 2020 and has been a long time admirer of birds, especially raptors or birds of prey.

“I’ve always enjoyed birds, but my biggest thing was raptors,” Cole said. “I love raptors and when I lived down in Florida for eight years, I was an eagle watcher for three years….It’s not a huge passion but it is a passion and I do love to go out there and just enjoy watching the birds.”

One of the biggest draws of birding, Tetzlaff said, is that it’s a relatively inexpensive hobby. As a person’s interest in birding grows, they can invest in a good pair of binoculars or a scope to see birds better, but much of the money spent on birding may involve travel costs if someone is eager to explore other areas beyond where they live.

Technology has also made birding easier too with mobile apps like Merlin Bird ID and eBird — both put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Birders can use Merlin’s song feature to identify which bird (or birds) are around them just by holding their phone aloft wherever they are. Birders can also add maps of the areas where they’re searching for birds.

The two apps work in tandem, allowing birders to listen to, photograph, and log what they see.

Courtesy Photo Members of the Thunder Bay Audubon Society gather for bird watching events in these courtesy photos. Established in 1965 as the Alpena-area chapter of Michigan Audubon, TBAS currently has about 75 members and hosts monthly events, depending on birding patterns and weather.

“I can take a photo of that bird on Merlin, listen to the sound of it on Merlin and then it’ll say, ‘Is this your bird that you’re looking for? Yep, that’s my bird and it’ll take me back over to my other website to eBird and let me document it,'” Cole said.

Anyone interested in birding in Northeast Michigan has many options to see a wide range of birds, including the Alpena Wildlife Sanctuary and the Sunrise Coast Birding Trail.

The sanctuary — which includes both Duck and Island parks — is a 450-acre natural wildlife area on Alpena’s north side along the Thunder Bay River where birders can see mute swans, great egrets, Canadian geese, American goldfinches, and many other birds.

Opened in 2015, the Sunrise Coast Birding Trail covers nearly 145 miles along U.S.-23 in Northeast Michigan and is the result of a partnership between several local Audubon chapters. The trail starts at the end of the Saginaw Birding Trail on the Au Sable River and extends north up to Mackinaw City, offering birders a chance to explore miles of shoreline and a variety of habitats and inland sites to see different bird species.

“There was only one or two other birding trails in Michigan,” Tetzlaff said. “One was farther south like in the Saginaw area and then there was one over somewhere on the western side of the state. There was a gal from AuSable Valley Audubon, which is in the Tawas/Standish area. She was very instrumental and kind of saying, ‘Hey, we have enough birds around here, we should do our own birding trail.'”

Courtesy Photo Members of the Thunder Bay Audubon Society gather for bird watching events in these courtesy photos. Established in 1965 as the Alpena-area chapter of Michigan Audubon, TBAS currently has about 75 members and hosts monthly events, depending on birding patterns and weather.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Thunder Bay Audubon Society or wanting to join can contact Karen Tetzlaff at tetzlaffk@gmail.com or by calling 989-464-6573. Information about the club is also available at thunderbayaudubon.com or on Facebook by searching Thunder Bay Audubon Society.

Local Sunrise Coast Birding Trail Hotspots

Alcona County

Harrisville State Park

Sturgeon Point Lighthouse State

Recreation Area

Alpena County

Negwegon State Park

Partridge Point

Lake Besser

Alpena Wildlife Sanctuary

Presque Isle County

New Presque Isle Lighthouse

Hoeft State Park

Sea Gull Park

Source: Sunrise Coast Birding Trail Map Guide

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