Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge; Refuge Manager Steve Kahl atop Big Sit! count site Grefe Tower. - FWS photo by Steve Griffin

Refuge Volunteers Steve Gasser (left) and Larry Abraham scanning for new birds for the list. - FWS photo by Steve Kahl

The view from Grefe Tower. - FWS photo by Steve Kahl

Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge participated in its first year of The Big Sit! on October 14, 2007.  Bird Watcher’s Digest organizes this international bird count described as "birding's most sedentary event."  The object is to find as many bird species as possible during the calendar day from within a 17-foot diameter circle.

Eight volunteers participated in the event and Refuge Manager Steve Kahl spent the entire 24 hour period at the top of the refuge’s count site, Grefe Tower.  Nicknamed the Shiawassee Blue Geese, the team was shooting for 72 species to break the state Big Sit! record.  The team at least hoped to give the Metro Munchers, Washtenaw Wingnuts, Erie Rockers, Chippewa Chirpers, and other Michigan teams some competition for state bragging rights.