https://ebird.org/wi/hotspot/L1086587
Habitat: Open Water, Mudflats, Successional Oldfield, Urban.
Best Birds: This area receives heavy use by resident and migrant birds, including all species of waterbirds. Habitats in the Impoundment area vary with dredging activity and lake levels and are often heavily used by migrant shorebirds, including Marbled Godwit, Willet and American Avocet, and this is probably the best site in the state to see Whimbrel, which stop each year in mid to late May.
Large mixed flocks of Bonaparte’s Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Tern and Forster’s Tern regularly linger in late spring and early summer, particularly when abundant food resources such as Alewife are present. Franklin’s Gull and Laughing Gull are regularly seen here in small numbers, and Little Gull is seen most years.
In winter, Great Black-backed Gull, Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull are regular.
Directions: 36 miles SE of Green Bay, in the city of Manitowoc near where the Manitowoc River enters Lake Michigan. The Manitowoc Harbor can be viewed from multiple locations, including the SS Badger Ferry Dock (44.08925, -87.65124), the parking lot at the YMCA (44.09482, -87.65173), and the parking lot across from the Manitowoc Public Library (44.09171, -87.65662). The Impoundment is located just east of the Manitowoc Marina, and parking access is off Maritime Drive at the north end of the site (44.10024, -87.64989).
Site Address & Additional Information:
Main areas include the open waters of Lake Michigan, mouth of the Manitowoc River, and Manitowoc Impoundment. The impoundment is an Army Corps of Engineers structure partly filled with sediments dredged from area harbors. Depending on the time of year and dredging activity, the area can vary from open water to open mudflats to dense oldfield vegetation.
205 Maritime Drive, Manitowoc, WI 54220
Joel Trick
