White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Bonaparte's Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Snow Bunting, American Tree Sparrow, Common Grackle

Edwards Street leads east and north to a boat launch and a pathway out to the end of the jetty on the south side of the river. The mouth of the river and the beach to the south are excellent places to bird in late autumn, winter, and spring, when waterfowl often rest on the river inside the jetties; shorebirds use the beach in migration. This is also one of the better spots in northeastern Michigan to find Whimbrel.

The Au Sable National Scenic River is a 23-mile portion of the Au Sable River that stretches from Mio to Alcona Pond. President Ronald Reagan signed the law establishing the segment of the river as a National Scenic River on October 4, 1984.  By receiving this designation, this free-flowing segment from below Mio Pond to the upper end of Alcona Pond received national recognition for its outstanding and remarkable scenic, recreational, biological, and historical values and a national commitment to its protection.  People have enjoyed the scenic beauty of the Au Sable for hundreds of years.

In pre-European settlement times, Native Americans used the river as a travel route.  After the European settlement of the area, the Au Sable River was a major throughway for floating white pine to sawmills or waiting for barges at ports on Lake Huron. During those years many of the logs and fallen trees that littered the river were carried downstream with the harvested white pine. In recent years efforts have been made to replace logs in the river to help reduce erosion and maintain the world-class trout fishing river as an aquatic habitat.