Michigan Big Year Vol. 3: Dipping on Rarities

Birding is a fickle thing, and is all about timing. You might get word within minutes of a rarity showing up at someone's feeder, only to get there and miss it by 30 seconds. You might drive hundreds of miles to see a bird that's been at a location for weeks, only to be unable to locate it. Then, you'll be walking to your home office and hear one calling in the trees above your feeder. It's a bit like poker--while there is certainly skill and planning involved, a lot depends on dumb luck.

January 13

I spent yesterday planning a route that would take me to six different locations in southwest Michigan. Each location had been reporting rarities, and I hoped to pick up a couple of them. This would be my first day devoted specifically to birding, without other errands attached to it, and would involved hundreds of miles and hours of driving. My route and available time allowed for a half hour in each location, starting at Gull Lake in Kalamazoo.

The lake was remarkably unfrozen, as so many are this winter, and seemed to be opening up more in the 42° "heat." Right off I picked up Hooded Merganser and Trumpeter Swan, but these are species I'll likely see here at home this spring. I searched the lake for scoters, cackling geese, and especially the Barrow's Goldeneye and Greater White-fronted Goose that had been seen there. Nothing. There were plenty of ducks I could see, but many more out too far to identify. After over a half hour staring intently at every duck, I decided to head out but then spotted a pair of Canvasback ducks, a good find as it's not a species we would see at home, but not the rarity I'd hoped for. On the way back to my car I heard Sandhill Cranes in the field across the road.

From there I went to the Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery, about a half hour away, but didn't find any rarities there either. I did see a Song Sparrow but they are nesters on our lake and certainly not what I was hoping for. I did manage to get a few digiscoped shots of Trumpeter Swan, but that was it.

A short drive south brought me to Maple Lake in PawPaw, which was filled with Canada Geese. There had to be a couple thousand of them. I walked out to the island and scanned those geese twice, looking for cackling or g. white-fronted. Nope. Nada. There were lots of Common Goldeneye and I got to watch some of the males practicing their courtship dances, but I saw nothing new and nothing certainly nothing rare.

Common Goldeneye

At this point it was 2:00 pm and I had to decid if I was going to continue with my plan and head to the coast, or change it up and go back to Gull Lake. My gut was telling me to return to Gull Lake because of the number of birds there that I couldn't identify the first time around. My head said stick to the plan, and that's what I did. It was a lovely day on Lake Michigan, and I did find a Lesser Scaup in St. Joseph, but that was it. However, back at Gull Lake, at least one of my target birds was seen by another birder that afternoon. Ah, hindsight--and listening to your gut.

January 14th

I decided to stay home, even though it's another mild day. I should have planned an outing, but after dipping on four species yesterday, my heart isn't in it. I took Bailey for a walk around the lake and managed to find a Brown Creeper for bird #60 on the year.

January 15

I was not planning on birding today as it was windy and wet, but after lunch I decided to chase a Ross's Goose that had been reported at the Hart Wastewater Facility, about 45 minutes away. Basically a smaller version of a Snow Goose, the Ross's a rarity in Michigan, and had been seen there multiple times.

The dirt road the facility is on was a quagmire, thanks to the rain and the warmer temperatures that had allowed the road to begin to thaw. I was afraid I was going to slide right into a ditch. As I neared the facility I saw an American Kestrel on a wire, and managed a few shots before he flew off.

At the gate I saw a sign directing  birders to a specific parking area, stating that all birding had to be done on foot. It also said they wanted us out by 2:00 pm--and it was already 1:40. I parked, grabbed my binoculars, and started to walk towards one of the nearby pools that I could see had some open water. As I neared I could see waterfowl, but because of the high berm I couldn't see who was there. 

I got close enough to see over the edge and stopped, probably 40 feet away, but I had also been seen by the hoards of Mallards that were perched on the edge of the ice. A few heartbeats passed as we had a stare down, then on some undetectable (by me) cue they took to the air in unison. NO!!! I frantically scanned the ducks as they flew every which way, and did manage to identify a handful of American Black Ducks as they flew overhead, but that was it. That is not a bird we get on our lake so it was a good find, but not rare.

I continued to the far side and looked out over the stubbled cornfield that lie between the facility and an orchard and saw that it was stuffed with Canada Geese. It's hard to believe these birds were nearly hunted to extinction because they are freaking everywhere. At least a thousand were scattered across acres of stubble. I felt utterly defeated. 

I hurried back to the car and exited the facility, but realized I had a good view of the fields from outside the gate, so I pulled over and set up my scope, and spent the next 30 minutes scanning the fields, looking for a little white blob amid the browner, larger blobs and the corn stubble. Tucked up under my car's open rear hatch I was mostly out of the light rain that had begun to fall. I scanned that field over and over, but did not find a Ross's Goose. 

So that's five rarities I've chased in three days and dipped on. I know it's never a given when chasing birds but this was a very disappointing streak, and makes me start to question my decision to do a Big Year. Sure, I picked up other species, but missing so many after spending so much time might make me more reluctant to chase the next rarity. I will need a few days to rebuild my enthusiasm.

Gull Lake, Jan. 13

54) Hooded Merganser

55) Trumpeter Swan

56) Canvasback

57) Sandhill Crane

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery, Jan 13

58) Song Sparrow

Saint Joseph Pier, Jan 13

59) Lesser Scaup

Home Jan. 14

60) Brown Creeper

Hart Sewage Treatment Facility, Jan. 15

61) American Black Duck 

Homer to Seward, Alaska Day 5

Alaska 2014 continued:

Day five of our ten day birding tour of Alaska was a very full day, to say the least. We started the day at 7 am with a quick breakfast, then drove the spectacular Sterling Highway along Cook Inlet from Soldotna to Homer, where we were treated to amazing views of five volcanoes. Then three-plus hours on a boat in Kachemak Bay where we saw a stunning array of pelagic birds and, of course, sea otters.

We left Homer around 3:30 pm and drove back north along the Sterling Highway. There's no direct way to get from Homer to Seward as there are three large lakes and this little thing known as the Harding Ice Shield between the two. Then again, in Alaska, this is about as direct as it gets.

The route from Homer to Seward, mostly on Sterling Highway.

We stopped again at Anchor Point for a late lunch. The tide was out but there were still very few Bald Eagles on the flats. Fishermen use the launch here and often leave gut piles from their fish on the beach, but apparently the pickings were slim this day.

Some of our group getting ready to pose in front of the sign.

I took five minutes to just lay in the grass at the picnic area, soaking up the sun and relaxing, and to admire once more the view of Mt. Redoubt. I had never seen anything like it.

Mt. Redoubt revisited, because why not? Simply stunning.

I don't recall there being many songbirds around, but there were a number of crows. I didn't think right away to get pics until I realized this was a new bird for me. Duh!

Northwest Crow at Anchor Point.

The rest of the drive to Seward seemed to take forever. We got caught up in traffic as there was some construction on the two-lane highway. While we waited we rolled the windows down and someone heard a Townsand's Warbler on the side of the road. Bill wouldn't let us get out and I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, so I couldn't count it for the day.

We finally arrived in Seward around 7:30-8:00 pm. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express, then walked over to Chinooks for dinner. What an amazing view of the marina and the mountains beyond Resurrection Bay.

Evening in Seward, overlooking the marina.

After dinner about half of our group climbed back in the van to do a little late evening birding. There is a woman north of town who puts out many feeders and brings some interesting birds in, like the Rufus Hummingbird. On the way we stopped at a marshy area to look for waterfowl. The lush greens and dark spruce with the snow-tipped mountains and blue sky were painfully beautiful. We got out for a little while to enjoy the serenity of the place.

North of Seward.

We didn't see much here, just a pair of Ring-necked Ducks and a pair of Trumpeter Swans. Mama was on the nest but dad was a bit closer to the road, preening and stretching.

Trumpeter Swans have amazingly large feet.

There wasn't much to see at the feeders. We didn't get out of the van--who wants a group of gawking birders in your front yard?--but we did see a couple female Pine Grosbeaks, among some other more common (for us) birds like Downy Woodpeckers. But on the way back we stopped on the side of the road near some spruce and managed to entice a Varied Thrush to come for a visit. It's a lousy photo but it was a first, so....

Varied Thrush.

In all I saw 30 birds on day five, 15 which were new to me:

Black-capped chickadee
American Robin
Varied Thrush*
Yellow-rumped warbler
Pine Grosbeak
Pine Siskin
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Violet-green swallow*
Trumpeter Swan
Ring-necked Duck
Common Raven
Northwestern Crow*
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant*
Surf Scoter*
Barrow's Goldeneye*
Bald Eagle
Spotted Sandpiper
Herring Gull
Glaucous-singed Gull*
Black-legged Kittiwake*
Aleutian Tern*
Common Murre*
Pigeon Guillemot*
Horned Puffin*
Tufted Puffin*
White-winged Scoter*
Marbled Murrelet*
Harlequin Duck

Next: Day six, and an all-day boat trip on Resurrection Bay!!

Swan Lake

 PIRO/Seney NWR continued and concluded:

As we neared the end of the drive we came across a small traffic jam. We waited patiently to see who was getting so much attention. When we finally pulled up we found a family of Trumpeter swans; mom, dad and six signets.

Such gorgeous, graceful birds, trumpeters are much less aggressive than the non-native Mute swan, who is known for chasing boaters, as well as native swans, off the water.  The trumpeter even look less threatening, being smaller and slighter than the mute.


I imagine tannins in the water color the head and neck feathers of these swans, much like iron in the mud used for preening colors the feathers of Sandhill cranes.

We watched for quite a while as they splashed about, feeding and preening.

Makes me think of the Aflac duck.

The afternoon light was soft and the air was warm. It was a wonderful end to a fun, if short, adventure.

 

I'm excited to get back on the trail, and to get back to doing some birdwatching. It's been a brutal summer here, as it has been in most places, although the weather has recently broken and we've seen highs in the 70's and 80's in addition to some heavy rain (four inches in one 36 hour stretch last week). I don't tolerate the heat well, so combine the weather with my busy show schedule there's been little opportunity or desire to get out of the house. Autumn is my favorite time of year though and I am looking forward to another trip some time soon!

Grasslands and More

Saturday dawned wet and windy. I drove down to the hotel to meet the car pool group for the grasslands birding tour. I had run into a couple of friends at the dinner the previous night, Kathleen and Hartley. Kathleen is a biologist and works for Oakland County Parks and knows a great deal about birds. Since I have a conversion van that seats something like 57 people I invited them to ride along with me. That morning I ran into two ladies in the hotel lobby I had met on day one (Karen and Mary? again it has been too long and I have forgotten their names!) who joined us on the trip.

We met up with our guide, a first-timer named Matt, and we caravaned out to the old air force base in Oscoda. He proved to be quite adept at finding and identifying birds, especially by the their song. During the 20 minute trip Kathleen read to us about all the birds we could potentially see at the airport grassland--larks and sparrows of various kinds, Bobolinks and the elusive Upland Sandpiper. We were all a-twitter by the time we got to the airbase, excited by the prospects of what we might see.

We parked on an old concrete slab near the tarmac and poured out of our cars. It was 45 degrees, drizzling, with a wind from the north east at 25 mph. I could think of worse conditions to be birding in, but would be hard pressed to do so. Even so our enthusiasm wasn't dampened. Matt began briefing us on the birds that might be seen and then stopped and said, "I hear a Savannah Sparrow over there somewhere" and pointed to his left. All I could hear was the wind-driven rain against my slicker so I took his word for it.

As usual the group shuffled off one way and I went another. I guess I am just not one to follow the crowd. I saw two brown dots off at some distance moving through the green grass, which at this time was only about four inches tall. My camera was in the van so I got my glasses on the birds--through my binoculars they just looked like bigger brown lumps. So I said, again to no one in particular, "There are a couple of birds out there." The group came running. "Where? Where?!?" "There, just forward from that utility pole." The glasses and scopes went up, and after some careful consideration Matt announced "Upland Sandpipers!!" The group was elated. I looked again. Yep, brown lumps, but I was willing to take Matt's word for it, and made a mental note to check them off my list.

We moved a ways down a dirt path then stopped again. This time I got my camera out, and crouched in the lee of the van. Someone pointed out a pair of Bobolinks in the grass--this was the best I could do. There was also a Meadowlark on the fence but it was even farther away so I didn't bother with a photo.


As we watched the Bobolinks some else pointed out Horned Larks at the edge of the road. This was another new bird for me, and one that I had really hoped to see. I think its horns were plastered to its head by the rain, but here it is. Never did turn and face the camera.


I did eventually see the Savannah Sparrow, perched on a twig along the other fence row. Another new bird! Very similar to the White-throated but paler and with a longer yellow eyebrow. I noticed many of the grassland birds had yellow on them. Hmmm.....


We eventually bailed on the open fields in favor of a more sheltered area. Near the air base was a marsh that had only recently been opened to the public. This was the first place on this trip where I felt like I was up north--boggy with birch trees, black spruce and bearberry, I took a moment here to soak it in.



A pair of Trumpeter Swans glided across the water. They moved with such ease and speed it seemed as if they were being pulled across the water by strings.


I guess we were boring them....


After the grasslands tour Kathleen, Hartley and I stopped at a Mexican restaurant for lunch, then decided to skip the presentations that day and head back to the campground and hike the point. We parked near the lighthouse and picked up the trail head. A volunteer maintains an oriole feeding station near the trail head and the place was filthy with them. The two ladies who had ridden with us that morning had pulled into the lot five minutes before us and said they had been watching an Orchard Oriole from their car but it had just flown away. Darn it! I did get some nice poses from the Baltimore Orioles, though.



Not too long into the hike we saw the Ring-necked Pheasant cock that I had heard on previous jaunts. He hurried along the other arm of the trail.



The weather was still pretty nasty, and we talked about turning around and heading back, but I was determined to walk the loop. I'm glad I did. Just around the corner was a Swainson's Thrush, another first. Cute little bird with long legs and a buffy face, he did not seem too bothered by us.


Around another bend and this Blue-gray Gnatcatcher posed prettily among some branches.


But the most exciting moment for me came out on the point. The trail was turning to head back but a short off-shoot went out towards the water. I followed its call. There among the grasses was a female American Redstart, hunting bugs in the rain.



I followed her, trying to keep her in focus as she hopped and fluttered. Finally she landed on this branch and flashed her tail feathers at me.



The end!