A Big Day of Birding Michigan & Ohio

Aka Andrew's and my 2nd annual midsummer hot day of Michigan & Ohio birding

Aka birding in the "kitten" and the "mitten" (just kidding- no one really said that)

On 7/16/17, Andrew Simon and I embarked on a Big Day of birding in Michigan and Ohio. Last year's trip yielded me a few life birds (birds seen for the first time), including Lark Sparrows at Oak Openings in Ohio, Dickcissel along farm roads near Ann Arbor, and a Franklin's Gull and Black Tern at Pointe Mouillee in Monroe. 

This year, we wanted to start earlier and hit more places, hoping to pick up a few more lifers. Targets included a few birds that had popped up recently, a Wood Stork in Ohio and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in both states; a continuing Western Meadowlark in Michigan just north of the Ohio border; and reliable Summer Tanagers at Oak Openings. During the course of the day, we also found out we'd have access to a possible third lifer (for me), a Northern Bobwhite (thank you Lori & Bunny!), which made for an excellent bonus stop. We ended the day with 93 avian species, one lone pigeon being our last.

I walked away with three lifers, although I was unable to get decent pics of any of them:

#277 - Western Meadowlark (MI)

poorly lit photo

#278 - Summer Tanager (OH)

#279 - Northern Bobwhite (OH)

We did not find our targets of Wood Stork or Yellow-crowned Night Heron, though I did see some cute cats (sorry to those who might own these cats, if this is creepy let me know 😅).

I witnessed and photographed some cool moments and subjects, so I'll let them tell their stories:

"Follow me!" - a Wild Turkey with young

Why did the Wild Turkeys cross the road???

The Dickcissel who had no tail

This Turkey Vulture wanted to carrion with its business

Great Egret

Halloween Pennant dragonfly (possibly my fav photo of the day) 🎃🎃🎃

Pied-billed Grebe-lets! 💙💚

Purple Martin of House 14 provides well for his family

Part of the largest group of Trumpeter Swans I've ever seen (~70+)

The bird you'll see in the following pictures is a young Forster's Tern, a common bird around here during summer time, often seen diving headfirst into water to catch small fish. We were at this beach in search of a Laughing Gull, a rare coastal vagrant gull that would have been another life bird for me. 

Unfortunately, we missed the gull, but the antics of this young tern were enough to make the stop worthwhile. We watched the tern slowly and tentatively exploring the land, never straying too far from its parents. It picked and prodded through the sand, holding objects like rocks and wood chips in its bill, dropping them when they did not satisfy the role of food. At one point, I saw the young bird choose correctly and snatch a bug. 👏🐛

Playing fetch?

Sizing me up

Species of Birds We Saw/Heard:

1. Canada Goose
2. Mute Swan
3. Trumpeter Swan
4. Wood Duck
5. Mallard
6. Northern Bobwhite (lifer!)
7. Ring-necked Pheasant
8. Wild Turkey
9. Pied-billed Grebe
10. Double-crested Cormorant
11. Great Blue Heron
12. Great Egret
13. Snowy Egret
14. Green Heron
15. Black-crowned Night Heron
16. Turkey Vulture
17. Northern Harrier
18. Bald Eagle
19. Red-tailed Hawk
20. Common Gallinule
21. American Coot
22. Sandhill Crane
23. Killdeer
24. Short-billed Dowitcher
25. Spotted Sandpiper
26. Solitary Sandpiper
27. Greater Yellowlegs
28. Lesser Yellowlegs
29. Ring-billed Gull
30. Herring Gull
31. Caspian Tern
32. Forster's Tern
33. Rock Pigeon
34. Mourning Dove
35. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
36. Black-billed Cuckoo
37. Chimney Swift
38. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
39. Red-headed Woodpecker
40. Red-bellied Woodpecker
41. Downy Woodpecker
42. Northern Flicker
43. American Kestrel
44. Eastern Wood-Pewee
45. Willow Flycatcher
46. Alder Flycatcher
47. Eastern Phoebe
48. Great Crested Flycatcher
49. Eastern Kingbird
50. Belted Kingfisher
51. Warbling Vireo
52. Blue Jay
53. American Crow
54. Horned Lark
55. Purple Martin
56. Tree Swallow
57. Bank Swallow
58. Barn Swallow
59. Cliff Swallow
60. Tufted Titmouse
61. White-breasted Nuthatch
62. House Wren
63. Marsh Wren
64. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
65. Eastern Bluebird
66. Veery
67. American Robin
68. Gray Catbird
69. Brown Thrasher
70. European Starling
71. Cedar Waxwing
72. Common Yellowthroat
73. Yellow Warbler
74. Grasshopper Sparrow
75. Chipping Sparrow
76. Field Sparrow
77. Savannah Sparrow
78. Song Sparrow
79. Eastern Towhee
80. Summer Tanager (lifer!)
81. Scarlet Tanager
82. Northern Cardinal
83. Indigo Bunting
84. Dickcissel
85. Bobolink
86. Red-winged Blackbird
87. Western Meadowlark (lifer!)
88. Eastern Meadowlark
89. Common Grackle
90. Brown-headed Cowbird
91. House Finch
92. American Goldfinch
93. House Sparrow

Fav Lifer of the Day: Summer Tanager because I found it after a bit of a chase hearing it but not being 100% sure and wanting to see it. The chase made it worth it and super fun. Unfortunately with the Bobwhite we couldn't stay long enough to see it, so we only heard it.
Fav Non-lifer of the Day: Yellow-billed Cuckoos, seeing two together was really awesome. One had a dragonfly or something in its mouth. Then to see Black-billeds in the same small area was cool.

Andrew's Lessons Learned:

• Dulcimer Band =/= Dulcimer Brand
• Doves are not pigeons

My Lessons Learned

• Sometimes moon roofs are closed, in which case don't stick your head through them
• Nature makes trip wires

Photo Journal 2016: June

Common Mergansers (Mergus merganser)

As spring gave way to summer, the vernal ponds began to evaporate. Because of this, the changes this month were most evident in Spot 2. Although I welcomed the warm temperatures, spring will always be my favorite season, and I wished those ponds could stay.

June, Spot 1

Spot 1: June, 2016, Weeks 23-26

June, Spot 2

Spot 2: June, 2016, Weeks 23-26

June, Spot 3

Spot 3: June, 2016, Weeks 23-26

Other June Happenings:

Life Birds

This month brought 6 new birds into my life. This is great for June, which is not typically the best birding month. In fact, of the 16 FOYs I saw in June, 6 of them were lifers, which gave me a 37.5% lifer-to-FOY ratio for June. Alright, enough statistics (NEVER!), I'll get back to the storytelling. :)

Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea)

If you recall, last month's summary mentioned "Code Red, White, and Blue". This refers to my three target birds I set for myself this year. May brought Red, the Red-headed Woodpecker, and June happened to bring Blue, the Cerulean Warbler. Andrew Simon and I took a morning trip out to Port Huron State Game Area, which is a known summer site for these gorgeous warblers. As we followed directions outlined by other birders, we sat patiently waiting to hear the warbler's call, or to see a flash of blue. For a while, the only calls and flashes of blue were coming from the many Indigo Buntings in the area. After standing in the same spot for a time, we decided to head back to the car, as we had other spots to check and a storm was coming. In one of those wonderful moments where you just start to give up and let go, in flew a male Cerulean Warbler, allowing us to view it and get pictures. It was a lifer for both of us and we were so excited!

The near-threatened Henslow's Sparrow has declined in numbers due to habitat loss. Fortunately, our local area still supports at least one of these birds, as it was conveniently tucked into a field not far from home. In this same field were more Bobolinks than I'd ever seen in one place; and these birds always make me think of my Grandma, who says she grew up with Bobolinks all over her farm property. While standing in grasses up to my waist, scanning for small brown birds, this tiny sparrow happened to be sitting just in front of me! Its sparsely streaked breast and small size, along with its facial patterns and head shape, helped confirm this bird's identity. I was very happy with the sighting as well as the photographs I was able to capture.

Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii)

Henslow's Sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii)

As the break between spring and summer semesters came to a close, I decided I wanted to do a Big Day of birding before getting back to "the grind". So, on June 26th, friend and classmate Andrew and I decided to join forces and bird hard. We began our trip at Oak Openings in Ohio, which is a beautiful, huge park that I'd like to return to. Our first sighting was not of a bird but of a birder who was very helpful in providing directions to hotspots around the park. We were looking for Summer Tanagers and Lark Sparrows, and found the latter with little effort (thanks to our aforementioned friend!). Although we didn't find the tanagers, I was more than content to spot this distinctively marked, large sparrow which nests in sand dunes. This bird is the only member of its genus, and when compared to the Henslow's Sparrow above, it is obviously quite different in almost every way: size, shape, pattern, behavior, and habitat.

Lark Sparrow (Chondestes grammacus)

Our next stop was back in Michigan, to a farm road called Meyers Road, near Ann Arbor. This stop proved to be a winner, teeming with just about every meadow bird we could expect: Dickcissels (the lifer we were after, which we decided looked like a mix of a meadowlark, a sparrow, and a grosbeak), Eastern Meadowlarks, a Northern Mockingbird, Bobolinks, Horned Larks, Killdeer, Eastern Bluebirds, Barn Swallows, and more. I joked I was really glad we didn't drive all the way out to a dusty old farm road and strike out. It would have been a little harder to swallow than if we'd struck out at an "official" park, somehow.

Dickcissel (Spiza americana)

The final stop on our Big Day was Pointe Mouillee, a birding treasure trove located off Lake Eerie in Monroe County. Here we rode our bikes in nearly 90-degree heat, and covered much of the giant wetland territory. We found a lifer gull, a Franklin's Gull, which added to my pitifully short gull list. In my defense, gulls are arguably the most difficult of bird families to ID, with endless subtleties and variations in plumage. I was also lucky enough to see my lifer Black Tern, a beautiful bird which I hope to see soon in my home county, as they are known to fly around Harsen's Island during the summer.

Franklin's Gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan)

Memorable FOYS (first of the year sightings):

Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius)

Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)

This Piping Plover sighting was magical. My Love, Jason, and I spent almost a week up near Traverse City, Glen Arbor, and Pearl Lake. Of course there was some birding to be done! One of my main targets was the Piping Plover, which we tried for on multiple occasions before finding this one. As we crept along the shoreline at Sleeping Bear Point, we kept our ears open for "peeps" and our eyes open for movement. Out of nowhere came a single "PEEP!" which caused Jason and I to look at each other with excitement, then look around. It was behind me and right near the tide, a single Piping Plover standing there on the rocks. I was able to snap a few quick pictures and then, just as mysteriously as it had appeared, it flew off out over the open water and disappeared. We had to be there at that exact moment to have seen this endangered bird, and I was grateful for the chance. <3

American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos)

Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus)

For a comparison between the Black-billed Cuckoo and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, click here to read my first edition of "Two Birds".

Comparisons
Last year's January through June total species count: 181
This year's January through June total species count: 213

Common Loon (Gavia immer)