May + 40 Species for 480 total (almost at my goal of 500!)
213 Species and 10 Lifers
Austin and Texas Hill Country
After the three day guided trip in High Island, Texas, I returned to my timeshare in Austin for my last few days in Texas. My guide, Jesse Huth, graciously texted me pins for parks where Golden-cheeked Warblers and Black-capped Vireos were reported. On my drive to Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge I saw an amazing sight. Flying over the highway was a flock of around 45 Mississippi Kites! They were acrobatically swirling around a large tree and I had never seen anything so cool. I've seen Mississippi Kites before, but never a migrating flock. The Balcones is large and I was thankful for Jesse's pin to the Shin Oak Observation Deck. I got there early (7:30) and Black-capped Vireos and Painted Buntings were singing everywhere. Before leaving the park, Merlin picked up a Golden-cheeked Warbler across the road (on private property). Not to worry, Jesse had given me a pin for the GCWA at a different entrance to the Balcones aptly called Warbler Vista. What a scenic drive and walk, however the amount of mud I collected in my On brand hiking boots was epic. There were several more Painted Buntings singing and I also picked up a Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a Black-crested Titmouse. I had traveled to Texas several times in the past, but I had never visited Hill Country. What a scenic place!
Black-capped Vireo. Best photo I could get with my phone, but saw many. Jeanne Peabody @ Balcones
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Golden-cheeked Warbler singing away as if on cue at Balcones Warbler Vista
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With the Texas heat building, I made my way back to the Austin area to bird another place I discovered while searching on ebird: Hornsby Bend. Birding has taken me to a lot of different habitats, but I did not expect to bird a wastewater treatment plant. Yes, you read that correctly. The retention ponds attract an amazing variety of water birds and the wooded area around them attracts plenty of interesting songbirds. I only spent an hour there, and I saw 674 individual birds within 52 species. Very birdy!
Time to return home for Great Lakes Spring Migration!
May has always been my favorite month. The birds come back. Summer break is on the horizon. The snow is finally gone. What's not to love about Michigan in May?! This May was going to be really special because my sister and I had secured spots at the Black Swamp Bird Observatory's Biggest Week in American Birding Festival in Maumee, Ohio. We had birded the Magee Marsh Boardwalk and the surrounding areas for several years during spring migration, but we had never taken part in the festival. Over the years I have participated in several festivals. I can tell you, there's nothing quite like this one. For us it was an easy drive from SE Michigan, but many people journey from great distances. Like all the big festivals, one must register within the first ten minutes on the first day AND join the supporting organizations or pay extra to get early registration in order to get coveted spots on van trips. The guides were the best of the best and everything ran like a well-oiled machine, despite the size (3,200 participants!). Much of the success can probably be attributed to the lovely couple pictured with my sister and I below, Kim and Kenn Kaufman.
My sister Janet and I birded from sun up to sun down from May 8 - 17. In ten days we had 187 species and five were lifers for me. Some highlights were both cuckoos on the same day, and a sleepy Northern Saw-whet Owl that decided to roost inches off the boardwalk - a situation that warranted a park employee to set up caution tape and stand guard as photographers clicked away. In the pictures below, a Golden-winged Warbler and Mourning Warbler were seen on the side of the road and a park ranger had to do crowd control to keep people out of the road. While the atmosphere might seem chaotic and congested, it is actually a fun group. Everyone is respectful of space and helpful to put a newcomer on a bird. Everyone is smiling and in awe. In a word, it is "joyful" regardless of your birding skills or experience. The other cool aspect of birding along the southern shore of Lake Erie is that you never know when an off course migrant is going to fly to the lake and say, "Nope, I'm too tired and this isn't right." Such was the case for this off course Harris's Sparrow hanging around the parking lot considering his life choices.
While the boardwalk remains one of my favorite places on earth, the festival van trips or self-drive trips never go to the boardwalk. I was excited to travel to other birdy places in the area. My favorites were Ottawa NWR, Catawba Point Preserve, Marblehead Lighthouse, and Pearson, Oak Openings, Howard, Metzger Marsh Metroparks. All the parks are free and they are all wonderful and clean. Another cool thing about participating in the festival trips is that you get to some birdy places you wouldn't otherwise be able to go. Those trips included being able to drive around the dikes at Pt. Mouillee SGA in Michigan and entrance to the Winous Point Shooting Club. Another fun part of the festival was attending book signings and presentations. I thoroughly enjoyed the BirdCast presentation with Meteorologist Ross Ellet and Adriaan Dokter from Cornell. The presentation by Scott Weidensaul called The Return of the Oystercatcher - Saving the Birds to Save the Planet gave me hope in what feels like dark ecological times. Rosemary Mosco made everyone laugh with her "Bird Words - An Adventure through Birding Terminology." And of course a highlight of the festival was birding with and getting a signed book by Big Year birders Nick Komar and the Reiser Brothers.
Quinten and Owen Reiser (and a friend of theirs whose name escapes me) with my sister Janet and me.
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Lots of opportunities to talk with birders who have written books.
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Back home to Michigan!
Two warblers that I didn't get in Ohio were the Cerulean and Connecticut. Cerulean Warblers nest near my childhood home next to the Port Huron State Game Area (PHSGA), so I knew exactly where to go. I closed my car door in the parking lot off Beard Rd and hadn't even put on my bins before one was singing in the tree above me. In total I saw three during my 50 minute walk. I then spent 45 minutes at another entrance to the PHSGA at the end of my former road (Shoefelt) and walked the path to the river that I've walked a thousand times. I would've stayed longer, but ticks and mosquitos are thick in the area. I treated my clothes, hat, backpack, and boots with Permethrin before the Ohio festival and I even sprayed my clothes with a fresh Deet treatment. Despite those precautions, I still had a tick on me when I got home and took a shower. Yuck!
I came down with a nasty virus for the next week that turned into a sinus infection. Completely exhausted and without a voice, I finally started to feel like the antibiotics were kicking in. On the morning of May 27 I sat on the couch to drink my morning coffee planning absolutely nothing else for the day. Then I looked at my phone. On Discord a local birder reported a Connecticut Warbler a few minutes earlier at my local park, Lake St. Clair Metropark. I was dressed and out the door in about two minutes. When I arrived at the park five minutes later, the birder was still there and told me that he had to leave, but he was confident that the CONW would return to the underbrush at that spot. Trying not to cough, I waited alone for about twenty minutes and he finally started singing again. I knew to look on the ground and I could hear him within three feet of me, but I couldn't see him! As I was fumbling to find my sound recorder on my new phone, another birder arrived at the end of the path. I quickly motioned for him to come to my spot and together we finally found him. What a beautiful bird! A lifer right by my house! The picture below is what the original birder posted to EBird.
I came down with a nasty virus for the next week that turned into a sinus infection. Completely exhausted and without a voice, I finally started to feel like the antibiotics were kicking in. On the morning of May 27 I sat on the couch to drink my morning coffee planning absolutely nothing else for the day. Then I looked at my phone. On Discord a local birder reported a Connecticut Warbler a few minutes earlier at my local park, Lake St. Clair Metropark. I was dressed and out the door in about two minutes. When I arrived at the park five minutes later, the birder was still there and told me that he had to leave, but he was confident that the CONW would return to the underbrush at that spot. Trying not to cough, I waited alone for about twenty minutes and he finally started singing again. I knew to look on the ground and I could hear him within three feet of me, but I couldn't see him! As I was fumbling to find my sound recorder on my new phone, another birder arrived at the end of the path. I quickly motioned for him to come to my spot and together we finally found him. What a beautiful bird! A lifer right by my house! The picture below is what the original birder posted to EBird.
Connecticut Warbler, Kip Cotter, at Lake St. Clair Metropark
Birders. Have I told you how helpful they are? The man that I saw the CONW with at Metro, Brian, talked briefly with me and I told him I was doing a Big Year. He asked how he could help. I told him I still needed a Bobolink. He immediately pulled out his phone and showed me on a map a reliable place to look that wasn't far from my house. On May 31 the Reluctant Birder and I took a ride and had them right away. I love the sound Bobolinks make! It reminds me of sounds from Star Wars. It was also sort of interesting to see the protected grassland in the Chesterfield State Game Area. There is just so little of that habitat left in Macomb County! I finally figured out my new phone and created a pin for the Bobolink spot and have shared it on Discord for those who ask. I'm learning from the many guides I've met!