This is the fourth part of my blog for my Midwest statebirding trip – Indiana and one last stop in Michigan. The first three parts summarized the Ohio, Ontario, and Michigan parts of my trip.
Day 5 – Bloomington Woodlands
It was now early afternoon and time to make the long trek to southern IN to start working on that statelist. Most of my IN targets were birds typical of southern IN, with very few likely in the northern part of the state. So If I was going to get a significant number of new birds for my IN list, I needed to head far south. I had spent quite a bit of time coordinating with Lee Sterrenburg who is an expert on the birds of this part of the state, and especially Goose Pond FWA. Lee agreed to join me for my evening birding on Day 5 and at Goose Pond on Day 6.
The evening of Day 5 was spent just southeast of Bloomington in some excellent hardwood forests, with deep wooded ravines and riparian areas lined with majestic sycamores. There was very little song despite the nice habitat, so we felt lucky to hear a singing Yellow-throated Warbler after some effort (new IN statebird #1). IN was one of my last gaps in my coverage of this species.
And soon thereafter we heard a singing Worm-eating Warbler in a very steep ravine (#2). En route to the next stop I noticed some vultures perched on a cell tower. We finally got turned around and stepped out of the car just as one Black Vulture left the tower (#3). Ten seconds later and we would have missed it. My Black Vulture map is pretty closely matches this species’ range (but I still need it as a rarity in NH and ME!).
It was now sunset and we arrived at Lee’s favorite spot for Woodcocks. And with a bit of tape, 1 responded on cue (#4) – a great start to the IN leg of the trip.
Day 6 – Goose Pond FWA, and Beehunter Marsh, IN
Weather – Overcast, Afternoon Showers, Highs in the 70s with temps dropping in the afternoon
Lee and I arrived at Goose Pond soon after dawn, and started a day-long effort methodically birding nearly every one of the impoundments at Goose Pond and Beehunter Marsh. These areas are well-known for having both bitterns, small numbers of all the rare southeastern waders, and are good for shorebirds in season (a Redshank was at Goose Pond this spring). Some of the first birds we saw were the first of many nesting Black-necked Stilts (#5) – by far the easiest of my new IN statebirds for the day. Two early morning walks into wet vegetation and cattails yielded the first of 2 Least Bitterns (#6), and one late Sora (#7). I’m now only missing Sora in 5 mainland states.
That meant I met my objective of finding 7 new birds in IN, but I had a lot more birding time ahead of me. On that second walk we found a flock of Black-crowned Night Herons, a couple of which were carrying sticks as if in courtship. And speaking of waders, we found a number of Great Egrets in several impoundments throughout the day, though could not find any of the other white waders or other rare waders despite lots of effort. At another impoundment we ran into a few late shorebirds – Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Semi Plover, and of course Killdeer. And in several locations we heard or saw American Bitterns.
Midday we took a side trip to the nearby small town of Newberry to look for the resident small colony of Eurasian Collared Doves. However a 10-minute ride through town where we drove virtually every road in town did not reveal any ECDs. Lee had received a report of ECDs on the south side of town, but directions were a bit cryptic. We got to the likely spot, but didn’t initially find the birds. But a couple minutes later we heard an ECD calling from a corral and we were able to see 3 Doves there (#8) – in a much more natural setting than on town streets. IN is now my 36th state for Collared Dove.
It had now turned rainy and chilly, so after lunch we took a side trip for Osprey based on a local tip. And we quickly found one Osprey sitting on the nest (#9) – just like in MI. On the way back we found a rare Olive-Sided Flycatcher – not new for me but a really good bird for the area. As we returned to Goose Pond we made a second stop at a favorite field for Turkeys, and sure enough we found three at the edge of the field (#10) – likely they had only come out into the open because of the cool rainy weather. We made several other stops at Goose Pond finding more of the same, though one field with several calling Henslow’s Sparrows was nice. As dusk approached it was getting windier and rainier, and as a result we dipped on Chuck-will’s-widow despite being at a known location for them.
In a full day of birding we had a respectable 77 species, despite very limited landbirding, and got 6 new IN statebirds.
Day 7 – Southern IN
Weather – Highs in the 60s, intermittent rain (though a forecast of partly cloudy skies)
This was my day to pursue a small number of IN statebirds that have very limited distribution in southern IN – Fish Crow, Loggerhead Shrike, and Least Tern. I started at dawn at a spot in Vanderburgh County where Fish Crow had been reported frequently, and was likely nesting. When I arrived there were no crows present or calling. But just a couple minutes later I saw what looked to be a small but silent crow in the road. It stayed there for a couple minutes, and then flew off, never saying a thing. Could that have been a Fish Crow? A little later I had 2 other crows but both were giving Common Crow calls. After an hour and not feeling very satisfied about the possible Fish Crow sighting, I headed out to another recommended spot, but again just found Common Crows. This spot was a wooded swamp and lake with presumably great Fish Crow habitat, and had some classic southern woodland birds like Kentucky and Prothonotary Warbler, and my only White-eyed Vireos of the trip. Plus it yielded a late migrant Wilson’s Warbler . I hit yet another recommended wooded swamp, but again with no luck. A flock of 8 Mute Swans was a bit of a surprise here in this southern IN location.
It was time to move on with just a questionable possible Fish Crow sighting, and headed to a location where a single Loggerhead Shrike had been reported albeit infrequently. I spent a fair amount of time there without finding the shrike. But at one point I found 3 small crows in a fallow farm field – Fish Crows maybe? This was a dry farming area, so they had to be Commons, right? But a few minutes later two calling Fish Crows flew overhead – not the habitat I was expecting them in, but I’ll take it (#11 in IN). Many of states where I’ve now seen Fish Crow have been at the edge of a state near the limit of this species’ range, like OK, KS, IL, and now IN.
Next it was off to try for Least Terns at Cane Ridge WMA. En route, I had a long look at a cuckoo fly over the road – no rufous in the wings and mostly dark tail as it flew almost directly overhead. A Black-billed Cuckoo (#12).
After a bit of a drive I arrived at the area where Least Terns are nesting – as many as 60 had been reported that morning. The problem is most are nesting on a dike in a power plant lake that is inaccessible and not visible from the outside. Instead, in order to see the terns you have to go to the adjacent Cane Ridge WMA which is a man-made pond with 2 islands specifically managed for breeding terns. The problem is they really prefer in the inaccessible dike, so you have to get lucky to find them at Cane Ridge. When I arrived it was between rain showers, so I went to the observation platform with my scope to see if I could be lucky. The only birds on the islands were Killdeer and Canada Geese, but I noticed some diving ducks on the lake – 2 Lesser Scaup and 3 Ruddy Ducks (#13) – certainly not on my target list of possible new statebirds. A bit later I thought I heard a Least Tern but never saw it. Then about 5 minutes later I heard one again. This time I saw 2 birds fly into the area, circle overhead a couple times, and land on the island next to each other (#14). They were both moving some stones around as if to make a scrape for their nest, but 2 minutes later they flew off back into the lake. A short sighting but very successful with just a 15 minute wait. I’ve now seen Least Tern in a number of inland states, as well as throughout its coastal ranges.
I was starting the next day on the Lake Michigan lakefront so spent much of the rest of the day driving north. One brief stop in the rain was at Willow Slough in Newton County to try for Sandhill Cranes. Although I didn’t have any cranes, I did find a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves – that is quite far north for them in IN. That was a nice end to the day, featuring 4 new statebirds even though I started the day with just 3 possible targets.
Day 8 – Northern Tier of IN and One Last MI Stop
Weather – Highs in the 50s, constant rain (though forecast was for just showers)
I had an evening flight out of Detroit that day, so the plan was to start at Lake Michigan migrant traps, then make my way east through the northern tier of IN counties and southern MI to get back to the Detroit airport. I arrived pre-dawn at the Hammond Sanctuary in a light rain. After paying my $10 entrance fee (wow!), I entered the small park and began my slow walk through the woods. I’ve birded here a couple times before, and have had some pretty good birds at this migrant trap. But this time I only spent maybe 90 minutes there, with constant drizzle or light rain, and strong easterly winds. I only had 6 species of warblers, though I did get a singing Blackburnian (#15). I now have pretty good coverage of Blackburnian throughout the east – though still missing it in a couple states.
And the lake wasn’t much better - there were a quite a number of gulls moving east on the lake, and a few Caspian Terns, but little else. I then headed to nearby Forsythe Park and Wolfe Lake, not for migrants, but instead to look for a continuing Snowy Egret that was seen as recently as the day before. But no luck with the Egret, and more cold rain making it quite challenging.
In hopes of driving out of the rain, instead of making more lakefront stops I headed east to Pigeon River FWA to try for Cranes that are nesting there. Unfortunately the rain was moving East with me, so it was still raining when I arrived. Before I got to the marsh where they were nesting I lucked on a pair walking in a fallow farm field (#16). I was able to get this photo holding my iPhone up to my binocs.
I was way away of schedule, and I was tempted to try to get an earlier flight out, but instead decided to make one last stop in MI where there had been recent reports of Henslow’s Sparrows on e-bird. The area turned out to correctly located on the e-bird map (unlike a couple other birds I had tried to find on this trip), and was a very nice old pasture with a couple small shrubs. After a few minutes 2 different males were calling - #8 in MI. Although I couldn’t find any Grasshopper Sparrows in what seemed to be good fields nearby, it still was a great way to end the trip.
The Trip by the Numbers
All in all it was a pretty successful trip, despite the limited migrants at Magee and Pelee, and challenging heat at the beginning of the trip and rain at the end. Here are some key numbers for the trip –
· 70 new state and province birds –
o 12 in OH – now with 226 and 15 over the recent ABA threshold
o 8 in MI – state list is now 240 and 24 over threshold
o 16 in IN – now with 232 and 24 over threshold
o 34 in ON – province list now 181 – still a long way from the 240 threshold
· 194 total species for the trip featuring –
o 33 warblers
o 7 vireos
o 10 flycatchers including all the eastern Empids
o 12 sparrows
o 15 shorebirds species
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