Birding Hotspots in the US: Maple River SGA

Maple River State Game Area (SGA) is a 8,000 acre State-protected Game Area (SGA) located just about smack dab in the center of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The place feels about as far as you can get from the big city - in fact, it’s practically equidistant from the four nearest major cities in southern Michigan - Lansing, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, and Flint! The closest major city is Lansing, but it’s still about an hour’s drive away from the State Capital. If you think this is just a place for hunters, though, think again. The Maple River Game Area isn’t just popular among hunters looking to set their sights on a wide variety of gorgeous duck species in the area’s well-preserved wetlands during hunting season. It’s also a something of a well-kept secret among southern Michigan’s birding circles. Perhaps not worth a trip from out of state, unless a known lister could be seen there, any residents of southern Michigan or nearby states would find this hotspot to be rippling at the seams with plenty of opportunities for great bird and wildlife viewing.

Various birds of prey can be found here, including in the wintertime - Hawks, Eagles, and Great Horned Owls are especially abundant. In fact, some birders say that winter is their favorite time to visit Maple River SGA. The spring flooding season is known as prime-time for seeing vast numbers of ducks, both diving and dabbling species, including the ever-popular Wood Duck. There is a fall flooding season as well, which brings an optimum chance for viewing large numbers of shorebirds anywhere in southern-central Michigan. The area has also been noted as a migratory stop for large numbers of Whistling Swans in early springtime, heading northwest towards Canada from their southern wintering grounds along the Atlantic coast. Mid-to-late spring brings migrating warbler flocks through the area, making this time of year popular with many visiting birdwatchers, especially the many warbler fans out there. A wide array of native duck species may be seen year-round. The pristine wetlands environment in the Maple River Game Area offers many opportunities for seeing rails, bitterns, and other wading birds, too.

Sadly, not a lot of official information is available about the Maple River Game Area. The Michigan DNR website lists the “Rose Lake Wildlife Research Station” in East Lansing as the contact for any information about Maple River SGA. From the official DNR sources available online it sounds as if Maple River Game Area and the nearby Gratiot-Saginaw SGA are in the process of being merged into one giant State-protected Game Area. More information about this as it becomes available. For a more detailed list of what species may be seen when, visiting times, detailed maps, and more info relevant to yourself as a birder, we suggest contacting the Rose Lake Wildlife Research Station:

By Mail: Rose Lake Wildlife Research Station, 8562 East Stoll Road, East Lansing, MI 48823
Phone: (517)-373-9358
Email: No address was found online

From the DNR’s website, here are some maps (including driving directions within Michigan) for Maple River SGA:
http://www.mcgi.state.mi.us/mapmichigan/map.asp?lat=43.125172&lon=-84.660325&action=xy
http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/huntingwildlifehabitat/sga/maplervgen.pdf
http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/huntingwildlifehabitat/sga/maplervwet.pdf

We were also able to find a few official PDF’s online with more information about the Maple River area:
http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs-p-14/5-nelson-p-14.pdf
http://ww2.dnr.state.mi.us/publications/pdfs/HuntingWildlifeHabitat/Reports/WLD-library/2800-2899/2844.pdf
http://www.friendsofthemapleriver.org/PDFs/Watershed_History.pdf

Posted by Dennis on 03/21 at 08:30 PM