When the Saginaw River is frozen, sightings in all months of the winter at this location include many Mergansers (Common, Hooded, and Red-breasted), Mallards, American Black Ducks, and occasionally Horned Grebes, Northern Pintails, Canvasbacks, and other traditional Michigan ducks. The adjacent woodlands are also home to Bald Eagles. Views of the river from the Bay City Rowing Center and Bigelow Park, located north of Lafayette Street, allow excellent views of gulls, terns, waterfowl, Great Egrets, and Great Blue and Black-crowned Night Herons.

With a City of Bay City park, the Bay City Rowing Center, and the Michigan Sugar Trails mountain biking network, Middlegrounds Island is an outdoor recreation haven. Just south of Lafayette Street, the Michigan Sugar Trails site provides excellent opportunities to view warblers and other spring migrants. Although designed for mountain biking, the single-track trails are excellent for a birding hike right in the middle of the City. During the winter months, a small pocket of open water, created by a warm water discharge, located on the eastern channel of the Saginaw River provides a daily distraction for birders all winter long.