Avian Tendencies

Learning DSLR photography

2012-01-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

So, I recently acquired a Canon 60D, a 300mm f/4 IS Canon lens, and 1.4 converter. However, I had basically no idea how to use it when I got it. Goal was to learn as quickly as possible, and to get to a point where I have a really nice backlog of copyright free materials at my disposal, and perhaps to start scoring some nice flight shots of birds unlike anything I could do with digiscoping gear.

I am still quite terrible, but I have made enough mistakes that I am beginning to get it, I think. When I was shooting the Purple Sandpiper in a previous post, I was forced to use f5.6 (the largest aperture possible with the 1.4 converter) because of the low light conditions. Little dd I realize that a bird at the close extreme of my focal distance, that the face and wing would not ever be in focus together. Will try not to make that mistake again next time! Perhaps I should have removed the converter and attempted a smaller aperture to allow a greater depth of field and still accomodate a good shutter speed at such low light?

Here are a few shots I have taken recently which are getting slightly better, though I still find myself unhappy with essentially every shot that comes off my memory card. This is going to be a long process!

White-breasted Nuthatch, one of my favorites I've taken yet:

Rare wintering White-throated Sparrow at Richmond Park in Grand Rapids
Black-capped Chickadee (VERY tough to photograph!)
Red-tailed Hawk

I find photography extremely difficult. Perhaps I am not alone?

Finches

2012-01-09T10:49:00.001-08:00

It has been quite amazing to see that White-winged Crossbills seem to invade the south every winter now, at least in small numbers. They have done so each winter since 2008/2009 when we had the largest invasion in recent decades. While searching for Red Crossbill at local cemeteries this weekend I had what I am almost sure was a Type 1 or Type 2 Red Crossbill fly over, giving the 'toop' call rather than the standard 'tik-tik'. It gave the note 3 times spaced out by 2 seconds+ each time, then was never heard again. It did not land, apparently. Here is the checklist for that day:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9539984

So today I returned to check if the putative Red Crossbill might put in another appearance. It didn't, though Randy Vandermolen and I were able to score some awesome closeup experience with a flock of 6 White-winged Crossbills. They clearly preferred the smaller spruce cones (not sure of species, but the cones were 1/3 the length of Norway Spruce cones). Enjoy:

And finally, here is the checklist from today:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9544943

and a hugely valuable resource for those of us wanting to learn the differing vocalizations, bill sizes, and tree preferences of the various types of Red Crossbills:

http://research.amnh.org/vz/ornithology/crossbills/diagnosis.html

It's NOT a misnomer after all

2012-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

There aren't too many occasions where a relatively common species that I know well produces a revelation. But not only did this happen to me today, it also happened to a compadre of mine with me at the time. Someone sporting a roughly equal resume of bird experience and study.

Let's back up for a second. Ever wonder why Red-bellied Woodpeckers are named as such? Why aren't they called Red-crowned Woodpecker? You not only never see red underneath, and the first thing you notice when you see the bird is the red on the top of the head. So what gives? The answer has to do with the fact that the folks who named them didn't observe them in the field so much as in the museum drawer. And in the museum drawer, birds are laid out on their backs, so that the belly of the bird is what you see when you open the tray. Sure enough, Red-bellied Woodpeckers do have a red belly patch, but it is not something you'll ever see in the field unless you go way out of your way to look for it. There are plenty of other species for which I've always considered the common name to be a misnomer or at least a strange choice, including: Ring-necked Duck (how about Ring-billed Duck?), Blue-winged Warbler (c'mon, there is no blue there), Orange-crowned Warbler (who ever really sees the orange?), Purple Finch (Rose Finch?), etc.

So another bird I'd always considered a member of this list was Purple Sandpiper. Despite the cool name, all of my efforts to establish that "surely this name must have some merit: there must be SOME purple somewhere on this bird" were unsuccessful. Furthermore, I've never even heard anybody say to me that it actually does have it. So it was with a fairly great shock that I looked at my fresh closeup photos of 7 Purple Sandpipers at Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon MI only to see a fairly bright purple iridescence!! Exhibit:

And that ain't no pseudo-purple. That is the real deal. Yes, it is clearly an iridescence as opposed to a pigmentation, but wow! Skye and I were totally blown away by this. The coloration is visible on at least the tertials, scapulars, mantle, proximal wing coverts, and even on the crown (!). Here are the other best views of this:

It is really neat to finally know, after all these years, that the Purple Sandpiper really is purple... Who knows what I'll learn next.

(and oh yeah, here is the eBird complete checklist for the site: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9527037)

A little out-of-county jaunt

2011-12-15T13:14:00.000-08:00

But this was no ordinary chase. This was a bird (Slaty-backed Gull) we've been thinking about for many years now, but haven't even had a candidate to chase after anywhere in Michigan. The only existing Michigan record is from 1981, a one day wonder at the Sault Ste. Marie dump which was not chasable. This bird has provided little solace. Especially in light of the rash of recent records in the Great Lakes region, notably multiple records from Minnesota and Wisconsin, and at least one from the Illinois/Indiana area of Lake Michigan. Anyway, not a few of us state listers have dreamt of finding our own adult Slaty-backed Gull at our local dump. It just seems SO identifiable, and just a matter of time. But in this case, Dan Duso of the Saginaw Bay area found himself in this enviable position while birding the Republic Landfill near Standish, Bay County, 2 days ago. His initial reports and photos of a possible Slaty-backed Gull started to trickle out on the 13th, and the first chasers arrived on scene yesterday, posting these tantalizing photos which appeared to clinch the ID issue (with a mantle this dark one really only had to assess the extent and position of white in the outer primaries to make a confident ID).

So, the chase was on. I arrived mid-morning and was able to get some pretty amazing views as this bird hurtled over the dump with 1000+ Herrings, ~10 Glaucous, 1 Great Black-backed, at least 2 Iceland Gulls, and a handful of Ring-billeds:This was a long-awaited life bird for me, and will represent a 2nd state record if accepted by MBRC. I won't go to the mat on ID other than to say that every assessable field mark I checked appeared to be pretty classic for Slaty-backed Gull. In terms of age, it may not be quite fully adult, as evidenced by the dusky bill and obvious brownish cast to the primary coverts and primary bases. The tail of this bird conclusively shows no black (we had thought from Dan Duso's initial photos that it did have some black). So it could plausibly be either only a 4Y bird which has not quite reached full definitive plumage (like some Great Black-backeds often do), or a full adult (=after third year [ATY]). Pyle Guide II mentions that 4Y (of which less than 5% are assignable confidently to this category) is best identified by "outer primary coverts with more extensive blackish markings" (vs. slate gray or with "limited blackish on outer webs" in A4Y), and small p10 mirrow with no p9 mirror (vs. either just p10 or both p9 and p10 with "distinct white mirrors".) I don't think we have enough to confidently call this a 4Y, but would like to hear others' opinions. Here is today's eBird checklist:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9341848

Kudos to Dan Duso for finding this amazing record, Myles Willard and others for checking up on it, and getting the word out, and to Karl Overman for being sure we all knew about it.

The joy of long-distance Thayer's Gull identfication

2011-12-05T19:29:00.001-08:00

One of my easiest remaining Kent Co. ticks is Thayer's Gull. Problem is, the only location in our lovely county which has a gull concentration is the Kent Co. landfill. And the viewing at this location is about as inopportune as it gets for gull watchers. The closest vantage is about .35 miles from the dump site, or 567 m (~5.67 football fields):Thayer's Gull identification is a quagmire in and of itself, so trying to do it at this distance is doubly troublesome. Some basic background: Thayer's and Iceland Gulls clearly constitute a clade, but instead of fitting nicely into 2 bimodal categories which we can easily separate (as suggested by the names), they form a cline of variation from black-primaried birds (=Thayer's) in their western arctic breeding areas to white-primaried birds in the European arctic (=nominate Iceland [glaucoides]). The 'in between' birds in the eastern N. American arctic, are grayish-primaried and are called "Kumlien's" Iceland Gull. The challenge with this group is deciding which phenotypes to classify as pure Thayer's, which as pure Kumlien's Iceland, and which to classify as unknown. Some of the birds between Thayer's and Kumlien's Iceland are even referred to as hybrids/intergrades, though on what basis (and what such a moniker actually connotes: if the bird looked exactly like both its parents how is that a hybrid/intergrade?!?) I don't claim to know. So to get to my bird from today let's start here: a plate comparing the wingtip pattern of large adult gulls, from "Gulls of North America, Europe, and Asia" by Olsen and Larsson (2003). Birds 13-16 are given to show the range of variation of acceptable Thayer's from darkest above to palest below, while bird 17 defies identification (would genetics show this bird to classify easily as one or the other when there's a cline of variation? I personally doubt it, but am not a geneticist so someone please relieve me of my ignorance), and plate 18 shows the extreme dark example of Kumlien's Iceland:
Long story short: I observed 2 adult kumlieni/thayeri today that were close to bird 17, but never could get an extended study of either bird, nor photos. But I did attempt to get video. I thought I had failed to capture my target, but in going through the video clip , I was shocked to see that the bird actually did unwittingly enter my screen, totally unbeknownst to me at the time (watch the upper left corner between 1:32 and 1:46). This bird, seen well, was darker gray above than Herrings, with dark eye and bright pink legs, as well as diffuse neck and head streaking. But n order to study the wingtip pattern of this bird I have created the following screencaps from the original clip, which are higher resolution that what you'll get on the youtube video (analysis to follow):

First off, the bird clearly applies to either bird 16 or bird 17 in Olsen and Larsson. How to decipher which? Well, the book doesn't really say in concrete terms. The caption to bird 16 reads: "Outer wing appears streaked blackish. Note black extension on outer webs of p9-p10, emphasizing white mirrors. Shows blackish markings as far as p5. Upperwing darker gray than in kumlieni." The caption for bird 17 says: "This example could represent minimal dark streaking in thayeri, with no dark markings on p5, or maximal dark streaking in kumlieni." How's that for hedging! Let's analyze this bird's outer primaries in more detail. I went into Photoshop and labelled each primary tip from the 2 best screencaps: It does appear that my bird lacks any markings on p5 (assuming I've labelled the feathers correctly), and that it lacks the black terminal markings on p10 shown on bird 16. The outer web of p9 pretty clearly lacks black in the area of the mirror, but so do both birds 16 and 17. The only other field mark I can garner from the plate would be the color of the pigmentation on these feathers: blacker on bird16 and slate gray on bird 17. I am not sure the answer to this one (nor the value it has as a definitive field mark!).

So, in the end, as so often happens, I think this is a bird we need to let go, as much as I would like to have a Thayer's Gull for Kent County. I left this and the other adult like it as Thayer's/Iceland Gulls on my eBird checklist. Birds like this may or may not "qualify," even with genetic data, as either species. But even if it did, we'd be hard-pressed to do so when its phenotype is so close to bird 17. Or perhaps we humans would do better to classify all birds in this clade as Thayland Gulls or Iceyeri Gulls? Alternative opinions here are welcome, of course (comment box below).

Fortunately for me, with upwards of 1,200 gulls present of late, as well as the influx of Thayer's in the western Great Lakes: I think the chances for finding a bird more like birds 13-15 (or heck, even a 1st or 2nd cycle bird) will be pretty good in the coming weeks. Let's hope that any such bird poses as well as this one did!

Black Scoters!

2011-12-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

Left the house around 10:30AM to begin checking local lakes for Black Scoter (one of my most wanted Kent Co. ticks in the waterfowl category). But since I live in Montcalm, I've made a habit of checking my local Montcalm large lake: Whitefish Lake daily, and this morning was no exception. First duck I saw was a White-winged Scoter (after an absence of 2 days since seeing 1 and possibly 2 of these 3 days ago (see http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9227889). I quickly realized there weren't a lot of ducks present due to the duck hunters chasing them around. But a scan to the south revealed a single, white-cheeked duck, in with 3 Common Goldeneyes, which was larger than them. Body size ruled out the last contender: Ruddy Duck, and sure enough, I had found my target bird within 10 minutes of leaving the house. Here is the checklist, with photos of both scoters: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9260032 . For those looking to chase here is the map with access points and approximate locations of the scoters as of 11AM.All of this made me believe I had a good shot of finding Black Scoter in Kent as well: there must have been an influx last night as these birds were not present the past 2 days and the dreary, rainy weather is good at 'knocking down' migrants. But I planned on having to reach Kent Co.'s larger lakes, such as Lincoln Lake and Wabasis Lake in order to maximize my chances for this rare sea duck. But astonishingly, only 1.5 miles away I found ANOTHER Black Scoter on a much smaller lake: Sand Lake. Sand Lake is bisected by the Kent/Montcalm Co. line, and almost all of the time the Aythya flock (primarily Ring-necked Ducks) are on the north shore of the lake, well within Montcalm. At first this is indeed where the scoter was, but it quickly flew south, and swum to within 50-60 feet of the Kent shore! Even the Ring-necked Ducks rarely if ever do this, so my luck was out of control today. (side note: had this not happened I was prepared to grab my kayak and attempt to push the bird into Kent, fortunately I didn't have to do this). This map shows the location of the county line, as well as where I saw the Black Scoter. I took this video clip to show conclusively that the bird was in Kent Co., from the locations labelled on the map (note the peninsula which will be visible in the background of the video clip):Here is the Kent Co. checklist with photo: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S9260054
and a better video clip for ID purposes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn3bMD4cyxI

What a day! Heading back out to check Lincoln Lake as we speak, who knows what I'll find on a day like this.

Another county tick

2011-10-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Not sure why birding is this way, but like shooting a basketball or playing a slot machine, the hits often come in bursts. (Is this not the true definition of mathematical chaos?). But after a several month drought of new county birds from May through October, I have now hit upon my 2nd county tick in 10 days. This time, I was out checking the ag fields of far NE Kent Co. for American Golden-Plover habitat, when I came upon a field freshly covered in manure and containing 6-10 inch high corn stubble. This field was absolutely awash in the standard open country species such as American Pipit, Killdeer, and Horned Lark. Mixed in were smaller #s of Snow Bunting and Lapland Longspur, and it really felt like an overall good spot for American Golden-Plover. But amongst the 20 or so Canada Geese were 5 swans. Now, swans in a muddy ag field are, in my experience, guaranteed to be Tundra Swans. And we have just now begun to enter the migration period for this species in Kent Co. So I assumed the birds would be so. But upon my first glances I noticed they were in fact a family group of Trumpeter Swans (!), 2 adults and 3 juveniles. This is the first observation of this species away from water and perched on the ground that I have ever made. Realizing the strangeness of the sighting I took extra steps to photograph and videotape the birds, and here they are:

A good Kent Co tick, and not the age class I expected

2011-10-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Got a call from J Lau (aka Jonathan Lautenbach) yesterday morning which I knew was going to be a rare bird. Indeed, he reported 2 White-rumped Sandpipers at Millenium Park. This is a long-awaited county tick for me, so I shot down and was fortunate to find the birds with his help. First the location:

The birds frequented these 3 locations throughout our visit.
Here are the best photos I could manage of them:The big issue of course is not ID, but age. At this late date, i assumed theses birds would be automatic juveniles. However, I was struck by the lack of obvious juvenal markings on the tertials and wing coverts. Furthermore, when I got close looks, I realized that the terts and especially the wing coverts were heavily abraded. Juvenile White-rumpeds begin the preformative molt in November (Pyle Guide Part II), and even if they hadn't replaced their juvenal tertials and wing coverts by now they would be much much fresher and less abraded than those of this bird. Here is an example of a young bird from 19 Nov 2009 at Muskegon Wastewater. Note the juvenal patterning and broad, rounded edges (unabraded) of the already 5 month old juvenal terts and wing coverts.

So, I believe these two birds have to be adults. I would love to know when is "too late" for this age class at such a northerly latitude. I would expect adults to clear out of Michigan by mid September at the latest, but perhaps I need to rewrite my expectations. Thoughts on ageing and molt timing would be appreciated.

Kent co. tick 238! Looking forward to moving into the 240s sometime soon...

Sandpiper fun

2011-09-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

So I received a call and the following screen captures from Randy last night, who was at Millenium Park looking at a sandpiper he thought might be a Sanderling. But he was not sure whether it couldn't be a Semipalmated Sandpiper, and asked to me help him work through the ID before announcing the bird to anyone (good gut instinct, man!). (Sidenote: Sanderling is a much-sought-after county tick for all of us Kent Co. listers as they don't often land away from the Great Lakes shores.)
My gut reaction when seeing these was that it was probably a Semi, but I had enough doubt given the strongly contrasting face pattern, attenuated look to the rear end, and the suggestion that the bill shape was being skewed to look skinny by some photographic artifact (both SAND and SESA have relatively blunt-tipped beaks so the photo couldn't be taken at face value), that I decided to check it out. Plus I received opinions from 2 birders that they felt the bird was probably a SAND based on what they saw in the photos. I did not find the bird at dusk last night, but did have it at the same location this morning at about 7:45AM. Upon my first scope view in the rainy, gloomy weather, I felt it looked like a pretty clearcut Sanderling, based primarily on the overall black and white patterning, frosty upperparts, and overall shape and jizz. So I made the phone calls to let everyone know (woops). But quickly upon getting better looks after the rain subsided and the light came up, I was troubled by the bird's size (too small) and the lack of an obvious wingstripe. So I checked the primary projection (primaries beyond tail substantially in SAND, even with tail in SESA) and the bird clearly showed a long projection, at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch, probably on the longer end of that range, as evidenced by these 2 photos:
This primary projection was apparent at all angles, and was symmetrical. I realized that some Semipalmateds (apparently females) do show a slight projection here, but this was so substantial that I felt it strongly favored Sanderling. Here is an example of the primary projection I am used to on normal SESAs. The Millenium Park bird has more projection than I've seen on SESA personally. But again, several things seemed at odds with this putative ID: the bird's upperparts seemed strange as SAND typically shows strong spotting along the mantle fringes, not just a pale fringe as in SESA. And a final nail in the coffin for SAND was that the bird clearly displayed hind toes (!), something which took me a while to document clearly:A final mark I wanted to check out was the wingstripe, which thanks to my new DSLR setup I was able to capture as it took flight. I guess the stripe looks pretty typical for a SESA, confirming my suspicion that the wingstripe was too dull for SAND.At this point I made all of the phone calls again (in reverse order) to recant my ID. All in all the bird seems OK for a juvenile SESA, though on the dark/contrasty side, and with longer primaries (both beyond the tertials and beyond the tail tip) than any other SESA I've personally seen. I do not know if this is in the normal variation for the species (if so I need to expand my definition) or whether some additional explanation would be necessary (extra primary? [something known from godwits in the literature], hybridism, etc.). This bird, if a pure SESA, would extend the Kent Co. eBird bar chart a week father into the fall than it currently goes. Apologies to Randy who has had yet another self-found county tick squandered away (ROGO being the other): keep trying man, one of them will stick! A final parting shot:

An update

2011-09-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

I figured it was high time for an update since I've been out of it for so long. Things are beginning to settle down which should make regular posting easier.

First dibs goes to the 2 juvenile Long-billed Dowitchers Neil Gilbert found at Caledonia Sewage on September 13. I was unable to chase and assume I had missed them, but they were still there on the 26th (quite a layover!)
Back a ways, on 12 September I made a rare journey to Huff Park and was treated, as we often are late in summer, to both Sedge and Marsh Wrens side by side along the boardwalk. The Sedge Wren was actually singing his head off, despite the cattail/loosestrife habitat.

Marsh Wren:Sedge Wren:

A new blog worth mentioning

2011-07-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

Excuse my "on again, off again" presence of late on this blog. I hope to be at a point soon where it is "on again, on again", but you know how life goes...

A friend of mine recently started a bird blog called "Avian Frontiers", and the first post really caught my attention. Admittedly, there are a few things missing from the map (ie. Kirtland's Warbler from Michigan, Florida Scrub-Jay from Florida, etc.), but it is extremely interesting nonetheless. It shows, for each state, which species of bird is represented by the highest percentage of that species' numerical population within the state boundary. Not only is this biologically interesting, it is also just a fun way to quiz yourself, and there are plenty of surprises on the map. Enjoy it:

http://avianfrontiers.blogspot.com/2011/07/map-of-statewide-bird-abundance.html

Long time no post

2011-05-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

And not for lack of good birds- just for lack of time! I will not go into a ton of detail with this post, but just provide some bullet points for what has happened in Kent Co. the past 10 days or so.

First, a tight group of 16 young Bonaparte's Gulls with 3 Common Terns mixed in, which were present on Reed's Lake briefly this morning. All of the Bonaparte's are last year's young, which is not surprising given this very late date. After the flock flies behind the trees in the video, I never refound them. Trying to find terns in this county is very difficult b/c the few birds that make it rarely stick around for more than 15 minutes. This was my second observation of Common Tern in the county after getting my county lifer last week at the same location.

Next up are a group of Brewer's Blackbirds at a NEW location: some black earth celery fields in NW Kent Co., which I bumped into yesterday evening:

Next a brief diversion from Kent, a very-difficult-to-chase California Gull found by Tim Baerwald at Tiscornia Park. I was very lucky to arrive shortly before it left and was not seen for the rest of the day:

Next, one of my neatest Kent Co. listing experiences was had several days ago when I pulled up to one of the county's best fluddles (=flooded field X puddle, coined by Sean Fitzgerald), at 13 Mile and Berrigan Rds NE of Rockford. As I pulled up this is what I saw in terms of habitat (the best in memory):Note the bird flying over the mudflat (more in a second). There were LEYE, SOSA, and 3 Least Sandpipers working the mud's edge, literally the first arctic shorebirds I have had here all year! As i was watching these birds I heard the local Starling imitate a Black-bellied Plover perfectly. Then I heard another Black-bellied Plover whistle, but coming from overhead, not in the tree the starling was sitting in! Indeed, it was the real deal, but he wasn't stopping- the bird was beelining NE very high up, probably 400-500 m. So, I rushed back to the car, fired up the iPod and wildlife caller, and blasted the recording of Black-bellied Plover. To my astonishment, the bird, which was nearly 1 mile away, did a quick 180 and buzzed my head, briefly landing on the mudflat, then settling in across the street in a dry ag field. This is a GREAT bird for Kent Co. given our paucity of habitat, and several were able to chase it.

And two final loose ends. I have been chipping away at the less common breeding species in between targeted chases of the rarer life county birds such as Black Tern and Yellow-breasted Chat, and this also included the following two local breeders: Prothonotary Warbler (at the only Kent breeding location: the Grand River near Millenium Park):

and this cooperative Hooded Warbler (near Cannonsburg SGA) which I learned of through Jill Henemeyer via her recent eBird post):

Searching for Goshawks (& a surprise whip)

2011-05-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

There aren't too many species of breeding birds I still need for Kent Co., but Northern Goshawk (NOGO) might be one of them. Problem is, nobody knows if they nest in the county. They prefer the largest possible stands of contiguous forest with very large bole trees for nesting, and Kent Co. is on the far southern edge of the breeding distribution, so the only solution to search for them is to systematically survey the largest single tract of large trees in the county: the Rogue River State Game Area. This several square mile tract is a gem, with acres and acres of large oaks which would purport to host this rare raptor during the nesting season. I learned from Michigan Natural Features Inventory staff that the best way to survey such a property is to break up the core areas into 1/4 mile grids, then hiking in and broadcasting the call of the NOGO for a minute or two and waiting for a response. Here is what I have covered so far:
In looking at this area as an ecological unit, it was apparent that several 'fingers' of suitable habitat extended outside the MDNR boundary:One that seemed particularly good is the Long Lake County Park, especially the forest that the public largely doesn't know about and which is WEST of Long Lake Rd. This was the part I wanted to survey today. It was tough going, as the forest was very flooded and swampy in :The habitat I was really interested in, and one which this site has in common with the Rogue River SGA, is that of tall upland deciduous trees:OK now to the point. I did not, and have not yet encountered a NOGO anywhere in these properties, and am seriously starting to doubt that they are present currently. (sidebar: it is still very plausible that this species nests occasionally but not in all or most years). But it is still very interesting to get off the roads and explore the varied habitats within these larger forests. Today I flushed a bird from the ground in the middle of the swampy forests which my brain took 10 seconds to fully process and identify. It was brown and about grouse size, so I immediately thought it was going to be a Ruffed Grouse. However, it flew silently and much slower than the grouse, with frequent glides and overall slow flight. Further, there was obvious red in the primaries, almost reminiscent of Great Crested Flycatcher or Inca Dove. The bird flew about 30 feet, cautiously and clearly out of its element, then landed on the ground. It finally hit me: Whip-poor-will! Or what is now known as Eastern Whip-poor-will, a species I have only recorded in eBird 7 times in my life, and had only actually seen a single time. I knew I had to track the bird down and try to get a good look and photo. It took some effort and another flushing, but I did manage to get on the bird and diginoc it. Here's the best I could do:

This is a magnificent bird, exquisitely blended to look like a log/leaves, and totally unflinching as it sat there watching me through the thin slit of its eyelid (like a potoo, it nearly completely closes the eyelid but keeps it just slightly open enough to watch for predators).

A final note: for anyone wishing to chase this bird, go at night to the main parking area at Long Lake County Park and listen to the west. I do have GPS coordinates for this bird but getting in there is a total pain and it's better not to disturb it from the day roost anyway.

Surf Scoters

2011-05-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

I had the better part of the 2nd half of the day Sunday to bird Kent Co. for county birds, and it was a good one. I had thought the strong SW wind and warm temps would bring a strong hawk flight, but 30 minutes at Fisk Knob failed to produce any obvious movements, so I moved on to lake scanning. Targets were terns (esp. Common and Black) and Scoters. Scoters aren't often thought of as a mid spring bird, but the truth is that the inland counties have one of their best chances of getting these sea ducks in early May. Amazingly, while checking Reed's Lake at sundown (after checking at least 9 other lakes throughout Kent!) I indeed found a pair of Surf Scoters, a male and a female.

Light was very sparse, and these videos were all I could get.

In this video you can see the spots on the female's face, and the white nape patch of the male:

And in this video the male briefly puts his head up at the end of the clip, after 10 minutes of waiting! Lighting is so bad you almost cannot see anything! The other birds in these clips are Ruddy Ducks.

Another learning experience

2011-04-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

I have long thought that the main way one learns moth worthwhile skills is by doing it the wrong way for a while. Birding fits this rule to a tee. Tonight I pulled the trigger and made all the phone calls for what I thought was an adult Common Tern (a decent bird for Kent Co. and one I and several other Kent listers still need). I had first scanned the lake for 15 minutes without seeing any terns, so I packed up my gear and jumped in the car to leave. At this moment I noticed a tern flying just offshore from my car, got my binoculars on it in flight, and easily saw that it had a dark wedge in the mid primaries, grading from blackish around p6 to gray at p10, plus a fully black cap. This combination of features struck me as unique to adult Common Tern, so I began calling right away.

However, I never got a scope look at the bird in flight, as it was halfway across the lake by the time I got set up. I watched it land on a green buoy at the far NW corner of the lake, then drove up and was able to get a look from 300-400 feet, where I took these shots (below). The photos show a bird which structurally is a dead ringer for Forster's Tern (large bill with strong gonys, long, thick legs, heavyset appearance). Plumage (except for the primary pattern) also looks good for Forster's and wrong for Common: no gray on the underparts, and lots of white above the gape and below the front of the cap. Look for yourself:

So, how to reconcile the apparently contradictory traits? First off, these photos are enough to put me entirely in the Forster's Tern camp, regardless of primaries. This bird's structure and head/underparts plumage cannot be shown by any Common Tern of any sex and age that I am aware of. So what is going on with this primary pattern? The best explanation I have heard (from Adam Byrne) is that this is a third calendar year Forster's Tern with outer primaries which are older than what they would be on an after third calendar year Forster's Tern, and resultingly darker from the more advance state of wear. In a nutshell, adult Forster's Terns breed in May-July, then initiate primary molt at P1 in a descendent wave, which pauses around p5-p6 in September for fall migration. Once arriving on the winter grounds, primary molt resumes at p6 and also restarts at p1 (aka. serial descendant molt, or staffelmauser). The outer wave proceeds most slowly and is not completed until late in winter. Contrast this strategy with a second calendar year Forster's Tern, which begins molt in the early summer (since it is not breeding) while the adults are tending young and holding off on starting molt. This gives them a jump start of perhaps 2-3 months on the adults. I assume that this could easily translate into an early finish to the outer primary molt wave, perhaps by early winter? This would mean that as of April, a third calendar year bird might have outer primaries as old as 5-6 months, whereas the adult would only have 2-3 month old outer primaries. This could easily mean the difference between fully white outer primaries (as are standard on all fully adult Forster's) and gray outer primaries. This is the best explanation I can think of for how a bird could look like the one I found at Camp Lake. I would be very interested to hear additional alternative explanations, or from anyone who has seen a bird similar to mine.

Take home message: an all black cap and mid-primary black wedge in April does not necessarily translate to a Common Tern...

Another Eared Grebe- ALMOST in Kent Co. (200 feet away)

2011-04-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

To think just a week ago I was hoping (and not expecting) to see Eared Grebe in Kent Co., and now I am posting about my second in a week, not including a visit to Muskegon Wastewater, mind you. That said, this particular bird was not in Kent Co., but 200 feet to the west of the county line in Ottawa Co., where it is also rare. First the location, Cranberry Lake, bisected by the Kent/Ottawa line between 8 and 9 Mile Rds. The bird's location on the morning of 25 April was here:
Here are my best photos and video I could manage. The bird did not lift its head a single time during my visit:

Several Ottawa Co. listers I informed about this bird apparently have had no luck refinding it today (26 April). What a year for this species in the southern lower peninsula of Michigan, and perhaps regionally? (one birder in Wisconsin is reporting a banner year there as well here).

Eared Grebe at Reed's Lake

2011-04-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

I barely know what to say anymore. Ask and ye shall receive? That was about what it was like to pull up at Reed's Lake this evening, literally scanning through the Ruddy Ducks saying to myself "how about an Eared Grebe, please?," when this came into my view:

The bird then proceeded to spend the better part of an hour along the west shore of the lake, within 30 feet of me several times. These are unquestionably the best photos I've ever gotten of this species, normally wary. Maybe I need to start asking for Ross's Gull instead...

WHAT a year it has been- Kent tick #232 and counting!

2 Kent Co. bitterns at the same place and time

2011-04-22T07:10:00.001-07:00

Headed back to Chase Lake (please note that this site is accessible only with the permission of the landowner) last night to try to get the Least Bittern for several of us who still needed it as a lifer and/or county bird. Antoher primary focus of mine was the Night-Heron which I was unwilling to call to species; I was hoping to nail it down to Black-crowned once and for all, in the rare event we get a Yellow-crowned eventually, so that I could count both species.

Many of the 'expected' participants in this tour had to grudgingly turn it down at the last second, but the 6 of us who showed up probably had an average age of less than 20 (!). It is strange being the 'grandpa' of the birding community as of a sudden...
The lake is gorgeous, with pitcher-plants and a very diverse flora. Neil had the utter joy of being the only person without a kayak. Instead he was reduced to kneeling in a very wide canoe which cut through the water about as well as a barge. Nevertheless, he did a good job of keeping up with the much faster kayaks.The Night-Heron ended up being a no show, despite much effort at the location of the sighting from 18 April:
The Least Bittern, thankfully, was still on location and singing his heart out. I was able to get a couple of much better video clips of him singing (we did not actually see the bird despite much effort to do so):

And finally, an even rarer Kent Co. bird, and another of our premeditated targets for this trip, was American Bittern. This species migrates through in small numbers each spring and fall but is not known to breed in the county (Least Bittern does). At dusk, as we were watching intently for a Night-Heron to emerge, this bird lifted from the marsh and circled around extensively. This is only the second time I've seen this species in Kent Co., the first at Roselle Park on 3 October 2007 while searching the grassland for Nelson's Sparrows. Here is some digibinned video of it in flight:

A final sidenote: at first when I saw the American Bittern in flight I thought it was going to be a Night-Heron based on body size. However once I got the binoculars on it it was easily apparent that it was an American Bittern. The Night-Heron from 3 nights ago had broader wings and a much less apparent neck in flight. Additionally, the Bittern's head and bill are very differently shaped, being tapered from the relatively thick neck, to a long, thin point at the bill tip (the Night-Heron is much more attenuated here). Finally, the Night-Heron was missing an inner primary or secondary on its right wing but not its left wing, while the American Bittern was missing no flight feathers. These were clearly two different birds.

Yet another county tick

2011-04-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

When it rains it pours...

Got a call from Curtis Dykstra around 5PM that he was on a highly-sought-after (for me anyway, everyone else seems to already have it) flock of Kent Co. Brewer's Blackbirds! Since we have no sod farms in the county and few huge, contiguous agricultural fields lacking forests (like Snowy Owl wintering habitat), this species has proven elusive to me for over a year now despite much searching. Fortunately it came to an end today (#231 and counting). There were at least 11 birds on the celery flats at 84th and Wilson near Byron Center. This is a spot I have long thought might host Pluvialis plovers during spring and fall migration, and might also be one of the better potential places in Kent for a late August Buff-breasted Sandpiper. I will be back at this very interesting site in the first week of May to search for both plovers, no doubt. Here are my best photos of the birds. The conditions were AWFUL, with strong sustained winds and approximately 35 degree temperatures. (aside: you're welcome to arrive any time now spring...)

Adult male
presumed second calendar year male (yellow eye but brownish body)Adult female (note the dark eye).
Video 1: male and female

Video 2: male displaying (note: the BRBL calls at the beginning are from my speakers, not the actual birds!)

Let's keep the county birds coming.

Knocking em down (record early Least Bittern?)

2011-04-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

We are entering that time of year where the number of possible county birds increases greatly. Instead of spending 2 weeks just working on Great Black-backed Gull or Long-eared Owl, I am now having to concentrate on any of 3-5 species, soon to be 10+. My current foci have been Black-crowned Night-Heron, Forster's Tern, and Northern Goshawk. The heron appears not to breed in Kent Co., and so must be scored as a migrant or post-breeding disperser. Both of these possibilities present difficulties, but there are several records for the county over the years. The window for this species appears to open up around April 10-15 based on past occurrences, and close by early to mid May. So I have been out listening and playing tapes at key wetland sites the past few evenings at dusk, so far without luck.

That changed last night. I joined Neil Gilbert and Jonathan Lautenbach for an evening tour of Chase Lake (privately owned and not accessible without permission). We were also interested in trying for American Bittern, a similarly rare migrant in Kent Co., not often recorded. But we were shocked when the first rarity we discovered was not either of these species. This came out of left field (the song is faint but turn the volume all the way up and listen carefully at 0:01, 0:05, 0:08, 0:12, and 0:35):

I didn't believe Jonathan when he called out "Least Bittern", but quickly was convinced by the bird itself, which sang repeatedly for a 10-15 minute period! Typical arrival dates, I had thought, were in the first week of May, or the final week of April at the earliest. I am still researching this, but the eBird chart for MI indicates no records prior to the final week of April, and I have been informed that Berrien Co.'s earliest record is around April 25! So it seems that any way you slice it this is a very early arrival. It was bizarre to observe snow and a Least Bittern in the same day!

A short time later we were treated to a flyby Night-Heron, which I wasn't willing to call to species. I couldn't make out much in the way of plumage (backlit, low light, etc.), nor did it vocalize, but it went right over our heads at about 30m height, and was not seen again. This was my 230th Kent Co. bird.

Finally, we did not have American Bittern despite much effort, but did have Sora and Virginia Rail, including one Sora which flew overhead about 20m height repeatedly (a first for all of us). It was an epic evening to experience!

White Wagtail at Pointe Mouillee

2011-04-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

If only one could chose his/her location at the time of discovery of rarities... This time I found myself in Petoskey MI when I received the frantic call. Adam Byrne had discovered a White Wagtail almost 5 hours' drive to the south at Pointe Mouillee. And thus my detour home began; the 3 hour drive home turned into an epic 8.5 hour drive with a 4 hour stop for the bird. Fortunately, despite the miserable weather (at least 20-30 degrees colder than the shorts and tee-shirt weather of Petoskey yesterday morning), upon my arrival at Cell 3 around 4:50 PM the bird was immediately visible, though from very long range, perhaps 400m. The bird turned out to be one of the most skittish passerines I have ever encountered, flushing as a result of being approached by 'predators' over 200m away. The Killdeers weren't nearly as skittish as this bird was; at one point I had a Killdeer halfway between me and the Wagtail stay put as the Wagtail flushed. This, in combination with the wind, made for very difficult digiscoping conditions, but I was able to get these relatively decent shots as I gingerly approached the bird with the final group of birders late in the evening to probably about 150-200m at the closest.
Here are my two best video clips of the bird, taken when the wind had died down slightly.

I don't have time for a completely detailed post about the bird's identity, but after looking through "Pipits and Wagtails" by Alstrom and Mild, it is clear that this bird is either the ocularis race ('Swinhoe's' White Wagtail) or lugens race ('Black-backed Wagtail') of White Wagtail. Both forms are from e. Siberia, so it is interesting to note that this bird didn't cross the Atlantic to get here, but the Pacific and most of North America!

Had these former species (ie. White and Black-backed Wagtails) not been lumped many years ago, this bird would possibly have been an identification conundrum which could not be resolved ("Black-backed/White Wagtail"). Fortunately for us now, it is merely an issue of subspecies. Relevant traits for separating these two are complex and beyond my level of knowledge (this was a life bird for me- the first wagtail of any species I've seen). But in my quick reading of Alstrom and Mild at 2AM last night, rump and uppertail covert pattern appears to be an important trait: lugens showing a blackish lower rump and uppertail covert area and ocularis showing gray concolorous with the mantle extending all the way down to the base of the tail. My final photo in the series above seems to establish that the Mouillee bird possesses the latter condition, but there appears to be at least one caveat (as for most of the important traits!) allowing for a small percentage of lugens to show this as well. So, for the time being I am only willing to call this an ocluaris/lugens White Wagtail, and would love to have the input of birders more experienced than I.

Details of median coverts were simply not viewable due to the long distance of observation and skittish behavior, though I can confidently say there was a substantial amount of white in this tract. Greater coverts were thickly edged in white and had a substantial amount of dark on the inner webs, with perhaps some of this dark bleeding laterally into the outer web; at rest this tract appeared all or mostly white, like the white wing patch of male Bullock's Orioles in alternate plumage. We also judged the eyeline to be relatively even width in front of and behind the eye, a trait which may be suggestive of ocularis. In any event, please leave your comments on subspecific ID if you have anything to offer!

Short-eared Owl in flight

2011-04-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since discovering several Short-eared Owls at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in early December, several of us have returned to the airport throughout the winter, not only to score a county tick, but also to see how long the birds were spending on site. I have not had the chance to visit at dusk since December. That is, until 2 April, when I made sure to visit the s. Kraft access lot to check on the birds. My expectation was that wintering Short-eareds would likely leave their winter quarters by mid to late March (Long-eareds in s. MI leave on this time frame), and I wasn't really expecting to get the bird. However, right at dusk I was happily surprised to see at least 1 Short-eared patrolling low over the runways, straight out from the overlook. Birds such as this in low light are usually very difficult to photograph, but I have become more and more a proponent of video mode in such conditions, which does an admirable job of capturing the subject. Here is what I was able to capture of the 1 definite Short-eared I saw (I saw another Asio sp. too far to identify to species):

Youtube link

It will be interesting to see when these last few birds leave. (Aside: it should be mentioned that it is conceivable that the birds I saw on April 2nd were not of the wintering group, but were spring migrants which wintered further south and were stopping over on their northward migration, though I think this is less likely the explanation).

Riverside Park Red-necked Grebe- a caution

2011-03-12T10:37:00.000-08:00

Everybody who has chased the Barrow's Goldeneye to date seems to have gotten it- which is great news and not at all a sure bet for March Barrow's in this state. The Red-necked Grebe at Riverside Park has been considerably tougher, though many are reporting it. This difficulty in finding the bird was further confounded today by the presence of an impostor Horned Grebe at the south boat launch.

The impostor looks very much like a Red-necked Grebe: but it is a transitional Horned Grebe with an unusually pronounced gray cheek patch and a slight reddish on the neck side, etc. At first myself and several others were convinced it was going to be the Red-necked, but inspection proved its bill lacked yellow, had the pale whitish tip, and was too small/short for Red-necked (no photos, sorry!). This bird was only about 300 yds north of the south boat launch from at least 8AM to 10AM. The real Red-necked was actually seen this morning at the same time at a different location (by Josh Kamp and Randy Vandermolen): at the middle boat launch (closed to car access) nearly 1 mile north of the south boat launch. Here is a map of these locations for clarification:Both Josh and Randy walked from the south lot all the way to the middle launch to see it, and it was tucked up under the far riverbank and not easy to see. At this location the bird is not visible even with scopes from the south lot. This bird has a long, yellow bill and lacks the obvious white coloration seen on the impostor. The best photos of the actual Red-necked I have seen are here .

Anyway, something to be cautious about should you chase the Red-necked!

Barrow's Goldeneye video

2011-03-12T09:58:00.001-08:00

Checked on the bird again this morning, and was happy that many out of towners were able to see the bird. I was treated to my best looks of its visit at Canal Park, with low sunlight behind me and the bird only a couple hundred feet away. I was able to capture this neat sequence on video:

Youtube video hyperlink

New Barrow's Goldeneye pics plus map

2011-03-11T06:55:00.000-08:00

Well, despite the bird not being present at Riverside Park at dawn this morning, it was refound a short distance to the south around 7:30 by Jon Van DeKopple, at Canal Park just south of Leonard St. on Monroe St. We raced over and were treated to much better looks and photography conditions than yesterday. It is moving around a bit between the Leonard St. and Newberry St. bridges. Here are today's shots:
What a stunner! Here is the location:And for kicks here are the 2 least terrible shots of the Red-necked Grebe, taken seconds before we discovered the Barrow's. Also this bird was seen again this morning around 9:15AM at the south parking lot at Riverside by Randy Vandermolen.

BARROW'S GOLDENEYE!!

2011-03-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

While viewing our first ever Kent Co. Red-necked Grebe in rapidly fading light this evening, Curtis Dykstra and I were **blown away** to see a male Barrow's Goldeneye scoot into the same scope view as our grebe!! These birds are at Riverside Park at the south parking lot, located at Knapp and Monroe. This story is an epic one to be sure, but for lack of time at the moment, let me forego the story to address the ID issue which will be on people's minds. The goldeneye is not a hybrid or intergrade with Common, as evidenced by its facial crescent at least twice as tall as it is wide (markedly thin, even compared to some male BAGO I am familiar with in Montana where I lived for 4 years), coming to a sharp point above the eye. The scapulars consisted of half a dozen small, well-spaced spots. The black of the upperparts came down to the water's level at the side of the breast (the 'spur'). Here are the best photographs I could muster given the very poor light and heavy wind:
And here are the best videograbs I could get from my 5 videos I took (video mode way outperformed photo mode in the low light):

And finally, here is the best video clip I could muster. Blogger definitely downgrades the video quality, so I have also uploaded the video to Youtube here.

"Ross's Goose" update

2011-03-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it appears this bird is not passing muster. I received the opinions of several experts and about half were of the opinion the the bird's bill base/facial junction would not be good enough to pass a records committee vote. Specifically, they judged that the rearward incursion at the gape (the corner of the "lips") makes the feathering above it to bulge forward into the bill base, such that it appears to have a slight influence of Snow Goose genes. It is possible that the bird is transitioning from a curved bill/facial interface as a juvenile into a flat one as an adult, and that the incursion is a vestige of this changeover, but this is anecdotal and not enough to rule out the hybrid/intergrade explanation. So, it looks like we'll have to wait for the next potential Ross's before we add it to the Kent Co. list. Helluva find regardless, Randy!

Putative Ross's Goose

2011-03-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

Received a call today from Randy Vandermolen (up and coming Kent Co. birder extraordinaire) that he had briefly viewed and photographed a small white goose in with 20 or so Canadas, which landed out of sight. After some deliberation, and based on his description, I decided there was a decent chance the bird was a Ross's candidate. Upon meeting Randy and looking at his photos from his SLR screen, I was convinced the bird was far too small for a Snow Goose. We found the bird around 3PM and snuck up on it, getting these photos:

As with all Ross's Geese, one must consider and eliminate all possibilities of Snow Goose X Ross's Goose hybrids and backcrosses in order to count such a bird. This one is no exception. My analysis is still underway, but currently goes about like this:

Pro Ross's traits:
1) Body size (not as small as some Ross's, but not too big to cause alarm as there is sexual dimorphism in this trait).
2) Blue base to bill, extending from bill base to nares
3) Lack of a grin patch on the tomium of the bill
4) Beak not too long or bulky overall

Indeterminate traits:
1) Verticality of the bill base/facial junction.

To me, this bird's ID hinges upon this latter trait. The classic Snow Goose trait here is a long, regular, sloping curvature to the bill base, especially where it meets the upper mandible. The classic Ross's trait is a perfectly vertical junction. This bird is somewhere in between, but I think it is much closer to the Ross's condition, and probably within the range of variation of that species. Specifically, if you take away the small incursions at the gape and the upper lobe of the bill (perhaps relicts of juvenile bare parts? [this bird is last year's young based on the retained juvenal gray crown and mantle feathers]), the feathering which meets the upper mandible is indeed vertical. So at this point I am leaning that this is a pure Ross's Goose. That said:

There is no universally agreed upon definition for where to draw the line between "pure Ross's Goose" and "slightly introgressed SNGOXROGO", so each records committee member who votes on this species will draw their own line and vote accordingly. (An aside: Michigan no longer reviews this species, which turned regular several years ago.) But in this case, the final answer may differ for different individual birders. I am soliciting the opinions of several experienced observers and will update this blogpost with their opinions once I hear back.

Ruffed Grouse!

2011-03-05T12:51:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, not a big deal for most of Michigan, but Ruffed Grouse is a declining species along the southern periphery of its range, due mainly to the alteration of the forested landscapes to increasingly fragmented patchworks of suburbian desert. Plus by the time I really got serious about Kent Co. listing last summer, it was already past drumming time so I wrote the species off until 2011.

Regarding the species' decline: consider Berrien Co., where the species is now down to a precarious few individuals which are very difficult to find now. This is what the situation looked like during the first breeding bird atlas during the 1980s, just 25 years ago:This map will include at most one block for the second atlas period, shockingly. Kent Co. is not nearly as far along in the fall to oblivion as this, but reports from staff at Howard Christensen Nature Center in the Rogue River State Game Area, as an example, indicate that they were common each year until about a decade ago when they stopped seeing them on site. However, based on reliable hunter reports that they are still present in the Rogue, I have been snowshoeing in to look for them over the past 2 weeks. (An aside: Why, you ask, don't I wait until April and just listen for them drumming? The answer: impatience and an obsession with increasing the county list ASAP. Plus I need the time in April to find 3 species of terns here!).

Ayway, today was my third foray into the alder/tamarack swamps off 20 Mile Rd to try to locate one of these elusive birds. The first trip, about 10 days ago, yielded fresh tracks, droppings, and even a roost site of a Ruffed Grouse, but no bird (I did see 4 very unexpected White-winged Crossbills, however!). The second trip yielded no sign and no birds. Which led me to today. I hiked in at least 1 mile through dense alder thicket, still mostly snow covered, in search of signs of this species. It really is beautiful habitat:
This habitat consists of Whorled Loosestrife tufts along Spring Creek (in summer this would be nearly impassable even with waders). Although greater than 95% of the ground is still covered with over a foot of snow, the numerous seeps in this area (which apparently feed the headwaters of Spring Creek) have melted out small pockets of the forest floor such as this:In fact it was exactly at this location where I flushed, at the very end of my walk and not far from 20 Mile Rd, my Kent County Ruffed Grouse. I was basically about 6 feet from the bird (unbenounced to me) when it flushed underfoot in an explosion of wingbeats. It had been roosting silently underneath this snow bank:
It happened so fast I couldn't document the bird itself (I did not see it again as it flew long range). However droppings were present where it had apparently been standing for some time:No wonder I couldn't find tracks in the snow anywhere- the bird(s) seem to stick to the seeps! I also found droppings in one location apart from this. The bird appeared to likely be a "red" morph (as opposed to the gray morph), as I thought I was seeing a rufous background color to the tail (its black subterminal band was obvious as it flew) during my brief view. Here is the wingprint left by the bird as it flushed along the snowbank:
A final excitement for the day was finding my first flower of spring, what I assume is a young Skunk Cabbage (please correct me if I am wrong all you botanists out there!):
#226 and counting! Onward and upward!

County listing; new arrivals

2011-03-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

For almost a year now I have, for the first time in my birding "career," become interested in county listing. Like with state listing, the game is primarily about longevity, with a lesser role played by money and time, the two primary limiting resources. But in the end, it's primarily a matter of being around for as many chasable rarities as possible, with a smaller amount of self-finding involved. At the county level, finding one's own birds becomes more important because birds which are not state birds are more likely to remain county needs, and finding them by one's self is less of a "needle in the haystack" game.

Anyway, because I am planted in Kent Co for the foreseeable future, and because the of the paucity of local interested birders (hey, maybe I can actually "win" at one of these listing contests!), I decided to start building my list here. At the time I started I had only around 170 species for Kent Co., and was still missing stuff like Northern Pintail and Redhead (ouch). But with one year's effort I have buffeted up to 225 and eliminated the majority of the common species. Here are my newest county additions starting with the most recent:

1	Long-eared Owl
2	White-winged Scoter
3	Long-tailed Duck
4	Golden Eagle
5	Northern Saw-whet Owl
6	Northern Shrike
7	Iceland Gull
8	Glaucous Gull
9	Short-eared Owl
10	Greater Scaup
11	Northern Pintail
12	Lapland Longspur
13	Redhead
14	Stilt Sandpiper
15	Caspian Tern
16	Semipalmated Plover
17	Baird's Sandpiper
18	Long-billed Dowitcher
19	Least Bittern
20	Clay-colored Sparrow
21	Dickcissel
22	Marsh Wren
23	Hooded Warbler
24	Eastern Whip-poor-will
25	Acadian Flycatcher
26	Semipalmated Sandpiper
27	Ring-necked Pheasant
28	Dunlin
29	Pectoral Sandpiper
30	Least Sandpiper
31	Lesser Yellowlegs
32	Wilson's Phalarope
33	Common Moorhen
34	Orchard Oriole

25 of these were found without chasing. For these I searched out available habitat and hit it hard during the right time of year, and got a little lucky (LBDO!). Most of the remainder from this list were found by chasing someone else's bird. Speaking to that, we do have a budding county listing crowd building in this county. I know of at least nine birders who are part of the phone tree now.

Anyway, I have several species in the bullseye for finding in Kent Co. over the next couple months. One of them, Northern Goshawk, not known to be a breeder here, (but possibly nesting somewhere in the deeper woods of Cannonsburg or Rogue River SGAs), could also be scored as a migrant at some place with excellent visibility. One such place, Fisk Knob, was brought to my attention via eBird. It was described as having Kent Co.'s highest elevation, at 1,075 feet, with good visibility of the horizon. I finally made it to this location today while traveling through, and was amazed by the view. Here is the property (a Kent Co. park) from the parking area:
This video give a good idea of the quality of the vantage atop the "knob":
This location is 3/4 mile south of the Newaygo Co. line, but fortunately the greatest visibility (over 20 miles!) was to the south, where every bird you see is in Kent. So, to the birds. Despite heavy winds and well subfreezing temperatures, the place was VERY birdy. Before I had even exited the car I had this bird in sight:Birds were plentiful throughout the watch, and included 3 MI year birds, 2 of which are here:The final year bird was a lone Killdeer, winging north through the icy wind, silent as could be. I have a feeling I am going to be seeing some neat species up on this hill in the next 2 months!

Lake Michigan waterfowl and reviving the blog

2011-02-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

All- (assuming you're still out there checking this blog!), I first have to admit being negligent on updating the blog. Usual excuses, yada yada. I will say this, however: I will be updating it more regularly now that a few important deadlines are behind me. Let today be the first day of a new era for Avian Tendencies!

So, I was lucky to bird all day today, from Traverse City (for the male Harlequin Duck which has been seen for some time now and the 9+ year long Eurasian Collared-Dove "colony" south of town) down the Lake Michigan shoreline as far as we could get before dark, scanning for Barrow's Goldeneyes and other rarities at various vantages. It was a beautiful day, with light winds, mild temperatures, and generally lots of birds. First off, I missed the Harlequin in Traverse due to freezup of most of the bay, but this was made up for later in the day (read on). Our stop at Chums Corner to check on the status of Eurasian Collared-Dove at this site was successful in locating a single Collared-Dove, and one which convinced us adequately that it was neither an African Collared-Dove, nor a hybrid/backcross African X Eurasian Collared-Dove. The underside of R6 featured extensive black in the outer web (though not extending laterally all the way to the edge, but very close to it). Importantly, this black extended farther toward the tip of the feathers than the black of the inner web of R6 and the black of the other rectrices. Furthermore, the undertail coverts were darker than the surrounding feathers, and the primaries were considerably darker than the upperparts. Here are some photos.Here is the undertail pattern, which was perfectly symmetrical.
Next it was on to a slew of stops along Lake Michigan, starting at Frankfort and ending at Pentwater. We were very interested in searching for the possible adult male Barrow's Goldeneye reported 2 weeks ago at Manistee and not seen since. Unfortunately, despite looking through 1000+ Commons, we did not find the/a bird. We were treated to over 900 White-winged Scoters (and 0 Surfs!), including at least 500 at Portage Point in Manistee Co., possibly a lot more than this in actuality. Ring-billed Gulls put in a good showing, at a bare minimum of 1300 birds for the day (mostly at Ludington Harbor, where 950 were present).

A real treat has been checking the Ludington Storage basin outflow twice in the past couple weeks. The angle of viewing from the bluff is spectacular- you are overhead of the waterfowl a couple hundred feet with perfect frontlighting (sun behind you). The distance and lightinging (late day, overcast) were not great today but I just had to try a digiscoped video of displaying Red-breasted Mergansers.

But of course the real excitement at this site were the 3 Harlequin Ducks which were still present despite not having been reported since late January by Brian Allen and David Dister. The 2 gorgeous males and single female were still present, though very distant, and this video and photo was all I could manage.

This is the most Harlies I've seen in Michigan at one place.

All in all this was a much-needed, very relaxing day with a good friend. I need to do this more often...

Apparent intergrade Flicker in Kent Co.

2010-09-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 days I have hosted a Northern Flicker at my house which appears to be an intergrade Red-shafted X Yellow-shafted. The former subspecies occurs in the American west, while the latter is found in the east, with a fairly narrow band of intergradation in the Great Plains states. I have not hears of any records of Red-shafted Northern Flickers in Michigan, nor of any intergrades, and would appreciate knowing of any such records.

The bird in my yard is certainly mostly a Yellow-shafted Flicker (red nape patch, yellow inner primaries, incoming black malar, etc.). But the pro-Red-shafted features included obviously reddish rectrix shafts and inner webs, at least some outer primaries with reddish inner webs, and gray from the nape invading the rear of the auricular. I was somewhat surprised to read in Sibley (2000) that intermediate birds are "frequent over most of the continent." I had though they were more limited to the Great Plains and adjoining states. I have certainly seen intergrades in eastern Montana, but not western Montana during my four years there (1999-2003). Anyway, here are the photos:

This photo shows the gray of the nape invading at least the back of the auricular, rather than the typical all-brown auricular sharply demarcated at its rear by the nape typical of Yellow-shafteds.Here you can make out the red/orange inner webs of the rectrices, all of which appeared to share this coloration. It was difficult to make out the exact shade of these feathers, but whether it is orange or reddish, it stands out very obviously against the yellow webs of the inner primaries and secondaries.

Here you can see the obviously reddish/orangish rachis of the rectrices, and how it contrasted to the yellow shafts of one secondary and some of the primaries. I was unable to photograph the outer primary shafts, but I saw them clearly several times and at least 1-2 of the outer primaries had a coloration similar to that shown here on the rectrix rachises.
As always, thoughts on the provenance of this bird are solicited. Can a "pure" Yellow-shafted ever show this coloration on any of its flight feathers?

Frigatebird

2010-09-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today I got my coolest birthday present imaginable: a frigatebird at St. Joseph, Tiscornia Park. Received the call upon waking up and was pleased to see that the bird which had been found in flight 1-2 miles out over Lake Michigan had come in to land on the lighthouse!! Upon arrival it was still there, where it sat for a few hours before taking flight and putting on quite the aerial show.

I believe the bird is an adult male, either Magnificent Frigatebird (leaning to based on size) or Ascension Frigatebird, both of which lack alar bars (which the Berrien bird clearly does). Of course, as there are no ABA area records of Ascension, I would assume this bird is most likely Magnificent, but need to do some more research before calling it with certainty. I will say the this bird felt every bit as large as the Magnificents I have seen in Florida and Belize and the Caribbea Here are my best photos and video clips of this incredible record. (and a big thanks to Tim Baerwald for getting the word out yet again!)

Today I

another 1st state record

2010-07-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Just before noon today I learned of a putative Long-billed Curlew, a long-awaited state first for Michigan (pending MBRC acceptance), reported by a crop duster operator at the South Haven airport in Van Buren Co. For years we have pondered just how this species would show up, and ask why it hadn't already done so. Many of us pictured small flocks being found in early May in ag fields in the w. UP, others preferred to imagine a New Buffalo or Lake Erie Metropark flyby in early August. So this wasn't exactly the setting we thought it would occur in, but once we heard the curlew had been present, by itself, since Monday (we later learned it was actually first noticed on Tuesday), we realized it almost certainly wasn't a Whimbrel (this species sticks to coastal beaches and rarely stops this time of year for very long). By 5PM I reached the site, long after many of the first visitors had already left having seen the bird.

The bird was immediately obvious on the grassy areas amongst the runway, at times approaching to within a few hundred feet, but mostly farther.

Many thanks to the multiple birders who allowed me to use their scopes (mine is still in the repair shop; this is the second very rare bird I've chased since losing it- what timing!) today, and especially to the crop duster operator and his family who found, reported, and ultimately allowed private viewing access to all of us. Another great record for the books...

a summer adult Long-billed Dowitcher, a rare inland Michigan treat

2010-07-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Long-billed Dowitchers are somewhat of a treat in Michigan at any place and any time. Probably the most common way to accomplish seeing one is to look for late July or August adults at Pointe Mouillee, where adults often (but not annually) arrive and linger as they molt their flight feathers (indeed, the focus of adult Long-billed's lives this time of year is to locate suitably predictable, large mudflats where they can count on habitat being present throughout the late summer period so they can molt) . Juveniles, which first show up this far south in early September, are uncommon to rare, but occur most years at scattered sewage lagoons and mudflats throughout the state, and can be chased pretty reliably most years.

But seeing a spring migrant anywhere is more notable (I've done it twice for Michigan, 12 May 2007 and 19 April 2009 at Muskegon Wastewater), as most seem to overfly us as they rush north to their NW Alaskan and Russian breeding grounds. Another relatively rare category is the July adult, at least away from the larger coastal wetlands such as Nayanquing Point and Pointe Mouillee. Presumably, they are tougher to find at small, inland wetlands because they are actively seeking only the larger wetlands for flight feather molt, and overflying all other habitats. Such birds are not likely to stop for very long at any other sites while en route to the molting locations, since they are such strong fliers and can go straight to the preferred sites.

So not surprisingly, the first time I have ever seen a summer adult away from Mouillee was yesterday at the Caledonia Sewage Lagoons. I had been hoping to add Short-billed Dowitcher to my Kent Co. list and thus was happy to notice a single dowitcher as we (Curtis Dykstra and I) arrived. I assumed that since something like 99 out of 100 Michigan dowitchers are Short-billeds that that was what I had. However, despite my efforts I could not make it such. First off, voice was clinching: the bird always gave single, repeated, and well-spaced "keek" notes, each a high pitched whistle (at roughly 9, 13, 14, and 15 seconds into the clip).

On a couple occasions, as it flushed and flew around with 100+ Killdeer and 10 Lesser Yellowlegs, I heard other variations: once it gave a 2 noted "Kek kek"(exactly matching the note at 0:05 into the Stokes eastern track for this species), and once a flustered burst of similar notes, not at all like the clear "tu-tu-tu" notes of Short-billed Dowitcher. Both of these variations are acceptable for Long-billed Dowitchers.

Now to plumage and structure. The bird was long-billed (making it a female, which is also parsimonious since females leave the breeding grounds before males, as soon as the chicks emerge), and long-legged, with a tall, arching back and the "swallowed a grapefruit" body that Kevin Karlson et al. have made famous.
Its upperparts were relatively dark, though not as dark as many other specimens and wild birds I've seen.
Its underparts displayed the classic Long-billed condition: horizontal, thin, bars on the tips of the lateral breast feathers, moderate spotting across the middle of the lower neck/upper breast, and no markings at all on the middle of the lower breast and belly.
The tail was rarely visible (the predominant feather tract showing here is actually the uppertail coverts, not the rectrices themselves). But if you look carefully just beyond the end of the uppertail coverts you can see the tops of the middle rectrices, and that they have wide black bars and thin white ones. This trait is supportive, not diagnostic, as confirmed by my own specimen review and the literature.
The tail is visible here, slightly, as well, and you can also get a good feel for the bill shape, which Karlson et al (the Shorebird Guide) use to separate the dowitchers but I am still working out.Finally, it is worth noting that this bird was NOT missing any flight feathers. This is not surprising, because these birds are molt migrants, who select out a very small percentage of the wetlands on the landscape for molt, in Michigan including only Nayanquing Point (formerly) and Pointe Mouillee (formerly and currently). Other than that, molting sites in the eastern US are rare, limited mainly to Ottawa NWR and surrounding wetlands in NW Ohio, and Bombay Hook DE. The fact that this bird stopped in Michigan at such a small site makes me hypothesize that it is more likely to be of the latter group, otherwise why wouldn't it have just flown the extra 150 miles to get to Ottawa NWR and start molting? In any event, such a bird would not be expected to molt flight feathers as it is actively migrating, which is supported anecdotally by this individual. Very likely, once it arrives at its molting destination in another few days to week, it will immediately drop its innermost 3-6 primaries.

A rare Kent Co. Least Bittern

2010-06-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

For some spoiled birders (Berrien County birders come to mind [Smith lakes]), this may seem trite, but for me seeing and hearing a Least Bittern is a rare treat. Even more challenging has been trying to add this rare species to my Kent County list. I have been scoping habitat on Google Earth now since early May, looking for suitably large cattail wetlands with pockets of protected coves with small openings. I have found several longshot candidates (and at least one good one) but so far all of my 10+ attempts have been fruitless. Until tonight. After hearing about the US Fish and Wildlife Service's new National Wetlands Inventory, which allows users to see the exact distribution of wetlands across the country using Google Earth, I found such a place. It is called Muskrat Lake and it is in the east central portion of the county near Grattan. tonight I put the boat in to give it a try. At the SW extension of this lake is a small, protected cove lined with cattail and what I believe to be Whorled Loosestrife:

And other portions lined with cattails:

I pulled in as it became overcast with a threat of thunderstorms, and was instantly surprised to hear a singing Least Bittern right about 8:10PM (watch the end of the clip for the bird to fly):

After some waiting the bird finally perched in the open, but the light was so bad I couldn't get a better picture than this:

Anyway, this serves as my 207th Kent County species, and is only the 9th time I've ever observed the species, and the second time I've heard it sing. Absolutely priceless.

One of those days (and weeks)

2010-05-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

So, after a Cinnamon Teal was found yesterday at Pointe Mouillee (at a time when my family had arrived from across the state, thus my inability to chase), I was hopeful upon arriving at first light that the bird had not moved on. Mike Overway and I arrived at the same time and began biking the dikes to the teal spot to begin our search. However, we were interrupted by this sound a short distance from the dike:

This being a species I've never heard sing in person (the time in FL as a 8 yr old doesn't count!), and never seen (the adult, that is- my state bird being a downy juvenile at Maple River SGA in Aug 1998), I had to stop and spend some time with this bird. After some waiting and listening to its intense singing, it eventually emerged, swum across an opening, then flew to the dike and walked across the dike I was walking on:The only way to describe this experience is that it was one of the most memorable ones I've had in a long time. I have waited a LONG time to get a good look at this species, and the payoff was immense.

So, finally we pulled ourselves away from this bird and began our Cinnamon Teal search. For the first 30 minutes the bird was not present, and then, it appeared in flight from the middle of Long Pond and landed not far from us, but in horribly backlit conditions in zone 3:
It then flew low to the northwest, into the interior of the Nelson unit, where we could not see it at all. After another 5-10 minutes it again appeared in flight, heading southeast back into the interior of the Long Pond unit where it hid apparently for much of the day. When it retires to this area, the bird is absolutely not visible from any vantage, so chasers will have to be patient. We again had the bird briefly in flight around 11:30AM and lost it again in the middle of Long Pond.

To cap off this incredible day, instead of having to chase my state Kentucky Warbler in Berrien County, right as I was getting ready to leave Mouille for the daunting trek, I received word of a new Kentucky in Hillsdale County, much closer. I arrived on the spot at 1:30PM and had my fourth state bird of the week! Here are the final two state birds (the Purple Gallinule from Tuttle Marsh on May 15 and the Western Kingbird from Tawas Point on May 16):What a day, and what a week it has been! This is the kind of stuff that keeps us birders going...

Purple Gallinule

2010-05-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

As has happened 2 years straight now, while on my way to Tawas Point for the birding festival I received a phone call letting me know of a really rare bird just found near Tawas. Last year it was a Painted Bunting at a feeder in Mikado, which I missed by about 10 hours. This year, it was this beauty which Karl Overman clued me in to:

The bird was seen well between about 9:40AM and 11:00AM when I took these photos. Some final searching tips for those interested in chasing it. First, the location on the dike from which to search is shown in this photo, where a 10 foot wide break in the willows on the east side of the dike allows the greatest visibility for viewing east across the ~80 ft wide channel.
The location of this vantage is: 44.36690N 83.47276W (at google maps you can copy and paste these in to get an aerial view of the location), and it is approx. 250-300 feet prior to the second wooden structure you encounter as you walk north on the dike. As stated by Jim Lesser, the bird was east across the 80 foot wide channel, foraging surreptitiously in the grasses along the edge of the 'canal', and was repeatedly lost from view for up to 15 minutes at a time. It also moved several hundred feet north and south along that edge, to the point that it wasn't visible except through the dense willow foliage on at least one occasion. To the north of the 10 foot wide opening is another, smaller, opening where the bird roosted last night. Leonard Graf marked this location on the trail with this willow tree and stick assemblage:In any event, this bird is well worth going after. It is a beaut, as well as a great rarity (a would be 9th state record pending acceptance by MBRC).

HUGE flock of Long-tailed Ducks, and Western Grebes

2010-01-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

Had the opportunity to spend the majority of Monday on the lakefront, checking gull flocks and waterbirds from Holland to Muskegon. A clear highlight was a pair of Western Grebes at the Muskegon lake channel, only my second and third for Michigan (!). Further, since returning to Michigan in 2003 this is the first fall in which a chasable Western Grebe has been present in SW Michigan, and not only 1 such bird has done so. This is at least the 5th or 6th separate report. It was also shocking given that I was aware of a single Western Grebe having been reported at this location from the evening prior, but not 2.

Another highlight was the gigantic offshore flock of Long-tailed Ducks at Grand Haven Pier totalling conservatively 3,500 individuals, likely many thousands more. The flock was circulating north to south in the air, landing on the water, foraging and drifting north, then flying south again. In a single swipe I estimated 2,500 flying birds, but most were on the water during this time, and I could not count them. The birds were about 1-1.5 miles offshore, and at some point someone needs to get a boat or aircraft out there to get a good handle on this amazing phenomenon. Here is a digiscoped video of these birds:

It appears that there are very few data on these large flocks in Lake Michigan, except for shoreline counts by birders which occasionally document up to 20,000 to 30,000 individuals. It seems we have no idea what the total number of birds using the lake is, nor how far out into the lake they go. This is especially important because wind power in the middle of the lake is already being proposed, and it will be vital to figure out its possible effects on birds such as LTDUs as soon as possible.

Yellow-billed Loon epic chase

2010-01-01T13:17:00.001-08:00

Today consisted of no sleep, a 14 hour marathon chase, 5 people stuffed into my Honda Civic, and 1 awesome first state record bird at point blank range. Not to mention the single digit temps and 25mph headwind we faced as we scanned the St. Mary's River. Here are the best photos I managed of this incredible bird:

Yellow-billed Loon (photos) - Sault Ste. Maire power plant

2009-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

I just received these 2 photos of a Yellow-billed Loon taken by Don Martin. The bird was seen at the Sault Ste. Marie Power Plant on 31 Dec 2009 at 8:40AM. Here is the Mich-listers post detailing the sighting:

"Yellow-billed Loon at the Soo power plant.  We had views at 20 yards.  
When we left at 8:40 it was 75 yards south of the southern property 
line where theblue fence ends and construction fence begins.  I don't 
have the ability to post.  Thought you may want to post the 
sighting.    Don Martin"

Wastewater gulling (& Blue-winged Teal in Dec!)

2009-12-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Had a chance to check the wastewater briefly this morning, and was pleased to find my first ever December Blue-winged Teal for Michigan along the center dike, a drake.

Also was treated to six gulls species including Glaucous, Bonaparte's (only 1, a youngster), Herring, Ring-billed (still 350+), Iceland type (not seen well enough to be positive thayeri was ruled out), and Thayer's. The Thayer's was a nice adult seen at close range near the dump, allowing for close study:

Note the black subterminal markings on p5, a sure sign of thayeri in any adult kumlieni/thayeri candidate.

Finally, I also had a strange Ring-billed Gull adult with a black bill with a small yellow tip. Not sure what to make of this.

Arctic Tern in Berrien Co.

2009-11-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Ancient Murrelet

2009-11-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

Well, Tim Baerwald has done it again, with an Ancient Murrelet at the now famous Tiscornia Park. Much to my amazement this bird stuck around long enough to allow me to get it (1.75 hr drive!). Plus, it lingered at least until 2PM when I left. Simply amazing.

In this clip you can hear the bird's call note twice (at 6 sec, and 7 sec) just before I say "called".

Franklin's Gull at Muskegon Wastewater

2009-08-06T11:33:00.001-07:00

Dave Slager called this morning to report a young Franklin's Gull (he suspected it was a first summer/2nd calendar year bird) out in the middle of the east lagoon. I made a quick run for the bird and was eventually treated with some very distant views as it floated with Bonaparte's Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. I now think the bird is likely a juvenile, based on the suggestion of brownish tones to the mantle and scapular area, a lack of large white primary tips and the lack of any white between the dark primaries and gray/brown wing coverts, and the apparent lack of any molting flight feathers (inc. tail). I am still looking into the possibility of a delayed 1st summer (second calendar year) which had a very incomplete 1st prealternate molt (which occurs Dec-May, and can include none to all of the primaries) and is still yet to begin its 2nd prebasic primary molt, though this option seems like more of a stretch. The obviously darkish centers to the bird's tertials also seem to suggest a young of the year more than a 1st summer.

As far as viewing the bird is concerned, a good place to start is from the north dike of the east lagoon- looking south to east into the middle of the lagoon. Additional views were had from the west end of the dump on the south dike of the east lagoon:

Banded Semipalmated Sandpiper!

2009-07-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today I found a rarity. Not a rare species, but a rare banded individual shorebird, an adult Semipalmated Sandpiper at the Muskegon Wastewater Complex. The bird was hanging out with a large group of Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and other than its 2 yellow color bands on its left tibiotarsus and aluminum band on its right tibiotarsus, it did not stand out. Here are the best photos of the bird I could manage, given the late afternoon overcast skies and distance.

I anxiously await hearing of this bird's origin, and will report back once I learn it.

Other highlights from today's visit include the following:

-Melanistic Ruddy Duck (1): 1 with 217 normal Ruddy Ducks birds in the east lagoon viewed from the center dike. Presumably the same bird seen on and off for months now. Photo:

-Pectoral Sandpiper- 1 adult, south central infiltration basin. Photo:

-Semipalmated Sandpiper- 15 adults, mostly in south central infiltration basin

-Least Sandpiper- 15 adults, south central infiltration basin and aerator basins

-Lesser Yellowlegs- 15 adults, south central infiltration basin and aerator basins

-Semipalmated Plover- 3 adults, south central infiltration basin

- juvenile Horned Lark- 2 in westmost aerator. Strange plumage, often mistaken for Sprague's Pipit. Photo:

A Non-Avian Post

2009-07-13T02:51:00.001-07:00

Over the July 4th weekend, with bird singing behavior beginning to subside and the resulting long hot afternoons, I spent quite a bit of time catching dragonflies at Pine Lake in the northern Manistee National Forest. I am a decided beginner when it comes to these creatures, but it is really fun to not know what I am holding and be forced to figure it out.

The clear highlight was my first ever Dragonhunter (long-awaited), which I had in th

e net within 1 second of spotting. What a beast!

The Prince Baskettail was quite common, most individuals appearing much less heavily marked than those in my books (someone please correct me if the ID is wrong).

As often seems to be the case with clubtails, I was unable to arrive at a confident ID with this one. It was dying (cause unknown), and was quite small (about the size of the body length bar for Least Clubtail in "Dragonflies of the North Woods"), but did not seem to match up with any of the species in that book. Does anyone know what this is?

Finally, on a kayaking trip near Cleveland OH (Cuyahoga River) the weekend prior I caught my first ever mosaic darner and was pleased to identify it as a Cyrano Darner. Its flight pattern was more obliging than most others I have seen. The book seen in the background is the fantastic Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio, a must have title for those in our region.

More on the strange "Cerulean"

2009-06-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

My to my excitement I received an email from William McHale who decided to follow up my strange Cerulean and was rewarded with the incredible series of photos below. It is very clear now (to my eye) that this is not a hybrid, at least one assessable by phenotype/plumage, but that it is a male Cerulean Warbler with an injury to its left side of its face. The apparent white wing panel I thought I was seeing was actually the white outer flank feathers.

All this still leaves the question "why does this bird sing the way it does?" Allen Chartier suggested to me that an injury to its syrinx, esp. if only to one side of the syrinx, could produce such strange songs (perhaps the facial injury extends to the syrinx?). Another possibility would be that this bird learned the strange song (it is an oscine, afterall) from another bird, but what other species sings like this? I am aware of no species which sings this way.

What age is this Common Tern?

2009-06-14T16:19:00.001-07:00

While surveying Pointe Mouillee State Game Area on Saturday we came across a strange medium-sized Sterna tern which I am still trying to age. I am sure the bird is a Common Tern, but I am not sure how old it is. At a glance it looks much like a basic adult Common Tern, except that the lower breast and belly are gray and the cap is fully black. So I'd just call it an adult except that it has an ALL-BLACK bill, carpal bar, and dark outer primaries much like those of a 1st summer bird still retaining its juvenal outer primaries (though not as dark/worn as most 1st summers). So we appear to have a montage of features not normally shared by any one age class. To me, the bird is likely an advanced 1st summer bird which has developed an all-black crown (most if not all have less than a fully black crown according to Maling and Olsen [Terns of Europe and North America]) and gray underparts. Or could it be a retarded third calendar year?

The possibility of a longipennis Common Tern (the subspecies in the eastern Old World) was considered, a contention seemingly supported by the all-dark bill and dark legs, however this subspecies in adult plumage would not have a dark carpal or dark outer primaries, so it seems unnecessary to invoke this. Thoughts would be appreciated.

Mystery warbler

2009-06-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

While kayaking the Black River in Port Huron State Game Area today, 13 June 2009, I came across an unfamiliar song which sounded somewhat like (though clearly different from) the latter portion of the song of a Field Sparrow- in other words like a "bouncing ping pong ball" but without the slower lead in typically given by Field Sparrow.

But the song was coming from a largely deciduous riverine forest canopy (with some nearby upland hemlock and white cedar)- not the kind of place you find territorial Field Sparrows! With some effort I was able to get limited viewing of the bird with 8 power binoculars in terrible backlighting as it sang at the very top of the canopy, probably 60 feet high or more. I was able to see that it matched fairly closely the plumage of a male Cerulean Warbler, except that it appeared to have white "panels" on the greater coverts (because of the viewing conditions it is possible that what I interpreted as a greater covert panel was due to fluffed out flank feathers or some other cause), similar to the pattern on an adult male Blackburnian Warbler. It had the necklace of a Cerulean Warbler, heavily streaked flanks, and otherwise fully white underparts, with bluish crown and face and upperparts. The tail was short, appearing to my eye just like that of Ceruleans which I often see in similar conditions. I was unable to assess the presence or absence of streaking on the upperparts.

Here are the best photos (digibinned with Nikon Coolpix p5100 through Leica Trinovid 8X32 binoculars) and video clips (the song is clearly audible twice in both clips).

My feeling on this bird was that it was likely a hybrid Cerulean Warbler X _______, with perhaps Blackburnian Warbler as the other parent. But this is of course highly speculative. I suppose there's an outside chance that this is a normal Cerulean Warbler with a strange song, though if it learned this song I am not sure from whom it learned it, as I know of nothing that sings like this. All opinions appreciated!

For anyone interested in observing this bird it appears to be on territory (and judging by its incessant mid morning singing) is likely unpaired. It is approximately 7 miles west of and 2 miles north of the city of Port Huron. It is found on the west bank of the Black River accessed from Abbottsford Rd just south of its intersection with Imlay City Rd. This will require a 0.4 mile hike through brambly, hilly forest which will be challenging and dangerous for most birders. I would recommend wearing Carhartts and bringing a GPS receiver as well, but be advised that the closed canopy could make satellite reception difficult. If you go, please try to record the bird and get better photos, especially of the wings and upperparts, and please let me know! Here is a GoogleMap showing the exact location of the bird (43.03379N, 82.58364W):

Tim Baerwald does it again- Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow!

2009-05-28T09:28:00.000-07:00

Tim Baerwald just called from New Buffalo marsh where his continued searching for Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow has produced its second hit. This time it was a single bird in the New Buffalo marsh shortly after noon. Here is a map showing the approximate location of the encounter, based only on Tim's verbal description to me. The location is accessible only by boat (he put in at Red Arrow Hwy), but you could paddle upstream from New Buffalo beach as well.

Fish Crow recording analysis

2009-05-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have spent hours trying to manipulate my (what I thought were decent) recordings of the Fish Crow, with little success. The versions in the blog post below are ambient captures of the recordings played through my computer- long story...

Anyway, to begin to look at these recordings more technically, I used RavenLite to produce sonograms of the single caw note this bird gave repeatedly, and to compare with know

n Fish Crow recordings and calls of American Crows as well. Here are the two recordings posted yesterday. First, the single caw note by itself (the caw is the blob directly below the re

d box):

All of the tones here are in the 1.2-1.8 kHz range, with an obvious downlur and 2 overtones. The duration is about 0.127 seconds.

Here is the second recording, in which several American Crows are calling before and after the caw is heard (again the FICR caw is directly below the red box):

Here, all of the tones are in the 1.2-1.9 kHz range, downslurred, and with 2-3 overtones as well. Duration of the call is about 0.115 seconds. In the field, the "caw" note sounded the same each time I heard it, and it was the only sound the bird produced. I heard it in a series of at least 5 calls on one occasion and at least 3 calls in another. The only time I heard a double call I was unable to record it unfortunately.

For comparison, here is a recording from the MaCaulay Library, recorded 25 May 1980 by Thomas H. Davis in New York state (ML AUDIO 26

138):

I selected this recording because it was a single note (not the caw-aw sound) given repeatedly that sounded similar to what I heard, and not some kind of aberrant or context-specific call given singly. Here the sound occurs in the 1.2-1.8 kHz range, also downslurred and with 2-3 overtones and duration about 0.20 seconds. The harmonic above this call is not visible in my recordings, and is likely due to a much better sound quality of the latter recording.

Finally, here is an American Crow (ML AUDIO 105346) recorded 7 May 1994 in Maryland b

y Geoffrey A. Keller:

Note the very different shape, duration, and especially the modulation of each tonal stripe which is absent in the Fish Crow calls. The range of frequencies here is 1.0-2.3 kHz (or possibly higher depending on which tones you "count"), with duration 0.47 seconds.

Finally, here is a comparison of the first American Crow (left), the Berrien Co. bird (middle), and the New York Fish Crow (right). I'll let you make your own conclusions:

Fish Crow!

2009-05-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

After reluctantly waiting over 1 week (sans positive chase reports, no less) to chase the putative 1st state record Fish Crow found by Tim Baerwald and Matt Hysell last weekend, I finally made it to the Forest Lawn Landfill in Berrien County this morning for a try. By the end of the day I had encountered the bird 5 times and recorded its call note twice, and am convinced that it what it is. The bird appeared to be running a clockwise circuit from the top of the center of the dump to a crow roost (which was also attended by multitudes of American Crows) somewhere south and east of the dump, then back, at least 7-8 times during my visit, which spanned 6:30AM to 4:10PM. Here is a map to show the locations I am referring to:

My encounters with the bird occurred at the yellow arrows, 3 from "Vantage 1" and 2 from "Vantage 2". My recommendation to anyone chasing would be to start at Vantage 2 to see if crows are traipsing back and forth between the dump and the south roost. If they are not, only then would I try vantage 1.

Except for a single call, the bird was heard giving only single "caws" which were immediately identifiable in each encounter. This call was very different from that of American Crows, being lower pitched and more nasal. Here are my best two recordings of it ("caw" occurs at ~2.5 seconds into the first video, and ~9.8 seconds in the second video):

Finally, it was often difficult to be sure which bird in the line of sight was responsible for the Fish Crow-like calls. If I thought I had a bird possibly making the calls I tried to get photos of it. The first example is this bird. p7 on the right wing appears to be growing (perhaps this proves that this is NOT the Fish Crow?- any comments on this?):

This silent bird was observed to be noticably smaller than an adjacent American Crow, and was not heard to sound like a Fish Crow, but nonetheless confirmed my impression that at least 1 noticably smaller crow was present amongst the 30-40+ American Crows.

Here is the same bird in flightIn short, it appears that this 1st state record bird may stick around for a while, and will likely be chasable.

Be prepared to spend some time waiting if the dump is noisy or it is windy, as hearing the birds is tough. The Fish Crow and others were often frustratingly silent as they flew over as well, further confounding things. With patience, however, it seems likely that effort will be paid back with a sighting or two. Good luck!

Woodtick Peninsula weekend 5/1/09-5/3/09

2009-05-04T04:53:00.001-07:00

Ever since first laying eyes on the map of the Woodtick Peninsula I have become intrigued by the possibility that the site could represent a top notch landbird migrant trap. My first exploratory trip to the area was on 31 May 2008, and although there were plenty of migrants present we did not hit it during a big push of birds. So I decided to put together a full weekend camping trip to the area to explore the habitats of the area and try to see some migrants. Curtis Dykstra and I made this happen from 1 May-3 May 2009. We kayaked out from the west side of North Maumee Bay and camped near the tip for 2 nights.

The Woodtick Peninsula is located at the SE corner of the lower peninsula (Monroe Co.) and juts SSE about 3-4 miles into Lake Erie. It borders the Lake Erie Gun Club to the north and North Maumee Bay to the south and west. Within the bay are a number of uninhabited small islands covered with forest and other habitats. The white circles represent areas we birded.

Habitat-wise the whole area feels much like Magee Marsh (Ohio), with a canopy of deciduous trees (lots of cottonwood) and plenty of understory and even some wetlands. Grapevine tangles are pervasive. However, there are no trails except game trails, of course.

Much of the area is strewn with litter, surely from stuff that made it into Lake Erie and got pushed in by wind and wave.This tombstone was unexpected.

We essentially had the place to ourselves except during Saturday afternoon when the boaters came out in force. The tip of the Woodtick and the first unnamed island to its west (where we camped) are apparently very popular drinking (and fireworking) locations for boaters.

Now for the birding: Birding was disappointingly modest for each of the three days we were there, with most of the early migrants in but very little of the mid-May contingent present. We did have a few species of note, including 2 American White Pelicans (several were present in May 2008 as well), 23 Cattle Egrets (flying north over the Erie Gun Club on May 1), 2 Trumpeter Swans, at least 8 Black-crowned Night-Herons at the tip, 60 Dunlin at Erie Gun Club, 1 White-eyed Vireo, 1 Gray-cheeked Thrush, 2 Sandhill Cranes (not an easy Monroe Co. bird!), & 1 Great Black-backed Gull. Here are the 23 Cattle Egrets in a very distant digibinned shot (look carefully!):

And here are the pelicans:

We had only nine species of warblers, basically the same mix as being reported at Magee, with Prothonotary and Parula (both singles) being the most notable. Yellow-rumpeds and Palms were everywhere. Here is the female Prothonotary:

There did appear to be a significant movement of northbound raptors present each day, including Harrier, Broad-winged, Red-tailed, Cooper's, and Sharp-shinned Hawks, and Osprey and Peregrine Falcon. Presumably this means that these birds are avoiding Lake Erie to its west, much like birds migrating past Lake Erie Metropark are doing in the fall. Best viewing appeared to be from the tip of the Lost peninsula.

Perhaps as interesting as what birds were present was what birds were not present. Tufted Titmice are simply not there! Brown-headed Cowbirds were nearly absent, and Chickadees were quite rare. Disturbingly, not a single rail or bittern was observed during the entire stay (we even tried tapes at night), surely related to the Phragmites monoculture which dominates every marsh present. Very little cattail was observed.

On the float back to the marina on May 3 we kayaked to the Lost Peninsula, another little-birded gem. The habitat at the tip of the peninsula is very nice for migrant landbirds, though likely privately-owned. Fortunately for us, however, it is easily birded by boat. But my main reason for wanting to check out this location was that in my quest to locate good searching areas for Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows I had overlooked one very interesting spot. On the southeast corner of the marina is a 300 yd spoil which juts into Lake Erie (the white circle in the middle of the photo):

It is covered in grassy vegetation and has some areas of standing water as well. These are important habitat requirements for this species in the fall. But most important is the overall geography of the site. First, it is located no more than 50 miles SW of Point Pelee and 67 miles NW of Lorain OH, both sites which get this bird annually, so it is likely as close as one can get to the core migration corridor for alterus (Hudson Bay breeders) in Michigan. Secondly, grassy-covered peninsulas jutting out into Great Lakes are the #1 setting for finding this species in most surrouding states, as elucidated in this post. So, anyone with the ability to visit this site during Sep 20-Oct 20 (esp. after big sparrow pushes) is highly encouraged to beat the bushes here. I know I will be trying! Here is a photo of the habitat:

I would of course also encourage anyone who can gain access to a boat to visit the Woodtick area as migration picks up, and in the fall as well. I really do think that this place is likely Michgan's version of a Magee Marsh or Point Pelee, and it is a shame the place is so inaccessible. Imagine what rarities we have missed by having no one out there. What I wouldn't give to be there the night after a huge flight...

Probably my most enjoyable Michigan birding experience ever

2009-04-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

And I don't use those words lightly. For years I have wanted to see a Smith's Longspur anywhere in the world, but have not been privileged to do so. This includes searching on the e. Denali Highway in Alaska where they breed. In recent years, I have suspected that they might be more common in MI than the available evidence suggests, and that we're missing them due to low abundance, low detectability, and the low frequency of birders targeting the microhabitat during the appropriate window of time. This still remains unresolved, but against this backdrop I was only mildly surprised that a flock of these birds was found (by Alison Village) yesterday in Berrien County. In recent weeks there has been a flock of 35 of these beauts hanging out in w. central Ohio, and I couldn't understand how such birds could make it to the arctic without passing through Michigan.

In any event, when I caught wind of Alison's sighting I immediately began building contingencies to chase. At first light this morning I was able to be at the location, where I was greeted with overcast skies, intermittent drizzle, and cold winds from the north. I was ALSO greeted by the songs of at least 4 male Smith's Longspurs from less than 100 ft! Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the birds were displaying! The display involved the birds crouching until their bellies hit the ground, then lifting their tails straight up into the air, and finally fluttering their wings. It was SHOCKING to witness this behavior in Michigan, to say the least.

These birds are absolutely GORGEOUS. To me, they are right there with Painted Buntings in terms of their striking, colorful, clown-like pattern. I wanted to call them Harlequin Sparrows. The face pattern at times recalled Lark Sparrow, at times even Harlequin Duck. And the salmon-tinged orange underparts constituted a color I have never before witnessed on a bird.

Put all this together, and you have easily one of my most memorable birding experiences in my Michigan birding career, and probably my life. I nailed a nemesis and saw a very rare and strikingly gorgeous bird, in unprecedented numbers (at least 20) for Michigan (previous record is 3 individuals from Chippewa Co in 1994). This would be Michigan's 15th record if accepted, only the fourth from spring. Will flocks such as this become more regular in s. MI in late April in future years?

With no further adieu, here are my photos:

No words necessary.

At times the males appeared to have a more intense buffy color on the nape than on the underparts reminiscent of Chestnut-collared Longspur.

Clown-like face pattern.

The only acceptable photo of a female all day.

Note the extensive white in the outer tail (2 feathers on each side rather than 1 in Lapland)

A rare spring Long-billed Dowitcher and 2 oddities

2009-04-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Comments on each of these birds are forthcoming...

Laplands in spring

2009-03-29T11:35:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy updating the 09yardbirds blog lately that I haven't been able to post here for a while. It was really nice to get out to the wastewater for the first time in a long time this morning. Though the weather was very cold and unpleasant (intermittent snowflakes, even), the wastewater is totally thawed out and spring is in the air. Had many new yearbirds including Greater Yellowlegs, Tree Swallow, Cackling Goose, Wigeon, Shoveler, Redhead, and Canvasback, but the highlight of the trip were the 40+ Lapland Longspurs along Swanson halfway between Apple and Laketon. It's not their rarity that got me going today (I was trying to make sure there were no Smith's Longspurs in the group, believe me). It's the unusually nice looks (and listens) I was treated to. Typically, my experience with spring longspurs is that they rarely sit still and when they do, it's most often way out in fields where good looks are impossible. This time, I picked up on them in flight by the rattle and followed them to the ground where they fed at length, probably less than 200ft away. The birds blended in fantastically well and often I couldn't see a single one of them, but eventually when they became alert and upright, I was able to score a couple shots of the flock with their heads up.

As you can see, most of the males are in transition or have already attained their alternate plumage, making them very striking birds indeed! This is not a plumage I often get go

od looks at anywhere in Michigan, so I spent a lot of time taking it in. Also, much to my surprise, I actually heard at least 1 bird belt out a weak version of its song, which I've never before heard (in Michigan or elsewhere). It's reminiscent of both Western Meadowlark and Chestnut-collared Longspur, definitely a grassland-ish sound, kind of "twinkling" and ethereal (lack of better words).

Here is a little better looks at these beauts highly cropped:

A REAL green-morph Pine Siskin (I think)

2009-01-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well, after waffling on Friday's unusually pale Pine Siskin, today I had another individual (not the same bird) which appears to be the real thing (!). This bird is also considerably more washed-out on the underparts than normal Siskins, but its upperparts appear to be largely as dark a shade of brown as the others, not the washed-out, diluted, color of Friday's bird. What's more, this one has immense amounts of yellow in the bases of the remiges and rectrices which were striking even to the naked eye, in addition to the strongly yellow undertail and uppertail areas. There was a definite greenish tint on the mantle (stronger in some views than in others), and some yellowish in the flanks and neck as well. Thoughts on this bird would be welcomed in the comments box.

Here is the only comparison shot which includes a normally-plumaged PISI.

Variation in Pine Siskins

2009-01-23T07:27:00.001-08:00

Year after year I continue to notice strange-looking Pine Siskins in small numbers amongst the larger flocks. And year after year I wonder whether they could be the so-called 'green morph' Pine Siskin. Typically, I end up unsure and move on, usually wondering exactly what a green morph Pine Siskin. Case in point, this extremely washed-out bird which just showed up at my feeder with about 15-20 others.

Could this be a green morph Pine Siskin? A recent post to Ohio Birds showed photos of 1 such apparent individual, and more importantly included a link to the definitive article on how to identify these birds, focusing on how to distinguish them from the very similar female Eurasian Siskin. From what I can gather, green morph Pine Siskins are essentially duller brown, washed-out versions of the typical form, with reduced streaking (esp. on the flanks and underpars), greenish coloration in the upperparts, yellow in the undertail and uppertail coverts (not all birds), more extensive yellow in the underparts, and a more extensive yellow patch on primary bases.

McLaren et al say "... greenish Pine Siskins look like ordinary ones that have lost their heavy brown streaks, revealing an underlying pattern of gray and yellow that blend into green hues overlaid by a fainter remnant of the original streaking. This may be interpreted as an example of schizochroism, in which the phaeomelanin (brown) is reduced or absent while both eumelanin
(black) and carotenoids (yellow) are retained (Campbell and Lack 1985)."

So, back to my bird. It clearly appears to be a washed-out version of a typical Pine Siskin, with major reductions in streaking below, and very pale brown plumage overall. But I see no green hues in my bird at all, no yellow in the undertail coverts, and no more yellow on the bases of the remiges and rectrices than a typical Pine Siskin. It also seems to show no yellow in the underparts. Is this in the acceptable range of variation of green morph Pine Siskins? I don't know (a familiar answer!), but I certainly am not prepared to claim that it is. I have seen enough faded-out individuals similar to this one that I think it may just be a pale variant Pine Siskin, perhaps even one with minor hypomelanism (see "Color Abnormalities in Birds: A Proposed Nomenclature for Birders" by Jeff N. Davis, Birding 39(5):36-46.), a condition in which Davis states there is an "abnormal reduction of melanin concentration from the plumage, skin, eyes, or all three areas". A photograph of a hypomelanistic Common Grackle is seen on page 41 of that article, and seems to be similar in pigment reduction to my Siskin.

Nelson's Sparrow- YES!

2008-09-27T14:07:00.001-07:00

There will be many more details to come, but I am happy to announce that today (27 Sep) Tim Baerwald found an inland weedy, flooded field which held at least 2, probably more Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows in Berrien County this morning! My 2 years of searching for the species in Michigan have finally led to a hit- although not one I found on my own.

Here are photos of 1 of the birds and several of the habitat. If you join Tim in his search tomorrow morning (public access is still being worked out), be forewarned that the water is knee-high in many areas, and the whole area is weedy and mucky!

Enjoy the photos, more analysis to come...

A late Cerulean & the beauty of kayaking

2008-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

The thing I like most about kayaking is the opportunity to explore otherwise unexplorable places. In the spring and summer of 2007 I and several of my friends used this strategy to survey several river drainages for the rare Cerulean Warbler, and we made some neat discoveries. Among other things, we found and GPS'ed the territories of 18 different male Ceruleans along the banks of the Muskegon River and Big Cedar Creek within the Muskegon State Game Area. This is a very wild area that remains unexplored in many ways. The banks are lined with mature canopy forest:
This morning I took the opportunity to get my first taste of fall at this site. When I arrived at above location (an area of particularly high density of Cerulean territories) I noticed a few chickadees and was able to get a mobbing flock going with pishing and Screech-Owl whistles. Much to my amazement, I noticed a male Cerulean Warbler high in the canopy overhead checking things out. He never came closer than about 60 ft overhead, and so I only managed these poor shots:
This struck me as a fairly late date for this species, especially because it appeared to be on territory (and not a lingering migrant in inappropriate habitat). Chartier and Ziarno have this species present in the s. Lower Peninsula into mid-September, and the Birds of MI claims that a few linger into September with 2 Oct 1962 (Kalamazoo Co.) constituting the latest report on record. I would be curious to know others' late dates for this species, and especially others' late dates for birds on territory (my bird was in the exact location of a June 2007 territory, was an adult male, and was there for at least 30 minutes [i.e. apparently not wandering]).

For those who haven't had the pleasure of floating the Muskegon State Game Area here are a few more shots of birds and habitat.

Pte Mouillee shorebirds, 30 Aug

2008-08-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

I was able to get out to Pte. Mouillee State Game Area for the first time in a while yesterday, and as usual for this time of year it was loaded with shorebirds. Most conspicuously, cell 3 had hundreds of individuals of at least 16 species. An additional three species put the day's shorebird total to 19. Here's a map for those who don't know the cells by name.
Most unusual was a juvenile Dunlin just beginning its preformative molt (cell 3). This was a very unfamiliar looking creature not easily identified at first glance, and constitutes my first sighting of this plumage in my life! This species typically molts out of juvenile plumage and into formative (formerly first basic) entirely on the breeding grounds, such that all young of the year Dunlin are in the gray-colored "basic" body plumage (save a few retained juvenal tertials and flight feathers) by the time they reach our latitude. Here are a few shots of this neat bird:At first we wondered if this bird had some influence from White-rumped Sandpiper genes, but the short wings (primaries falling short of tail tip), typical Dunlin bill length and shape, body size (at least twice the bulk of Semipalmated Sandpipers it was with), and overall jizz feels good for a pure Dunlin. I think it's just the strangeness of the juvenile plumage coloration which had me wondering.

Other highlights were a brightly-plumaged adult Buff-breasted Sandpiper in cell 3:and:

Black-necked Stilt- 1 adult male with 3 juveniles in Cell 5 (pic below)
Red Knot- 1 in south Lead Unit
Long-billed Dowitcher- 5 adults in heavy prebasic molt, including flight feathers, in n. Lead Unit.

Here is a Stilt photo. Note that the adult female hasn't been seen in some time, and the fourth juvenile which was present earlier in the season also was not seen today.

Fall songbirds- a kick in the rear!

2008-08-23T18:13:00.000-07:00

You know, it always amazes me the way birds surprise me. I was out for what felt like a lazy summer's kayak this afternoon, when I happened into a flock of fall migrant songbirds while watching chickadees and titmice. Maybe it was just that the calendar caught up with me, but for some reason I normally associate the species I saw today (except Blue-winged) with September and October (and cool crisp mornings) rather than August (and its warm soggy days) .

I spent a few minutes with the flock and was able to get these poor photos (digi-binned)
Philadephia Vireo

Blue-winged Warbler

Northern Waterthrush (nice and popcorn yellowy below!)
A fine reminder that no matter what it feels like, it is already autumn for the birds!

On birding and month-long smiles...

2008-06-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Birding can be one frustrating endeavor. Target birds can fail, weather can bum you out, or good ole lady luck can just get the best of you. But the birder who perseveres is sure to be rewarded sooner or later. June 6 happened to be one of the latter types of days for me and a group of 12 intrepid birders from Ft. Worth, TX, who joined me for a full-day tour of the eastern U.P. targeting the following commonly-sought species:

Connecticut Warbler
Spruce Grouse
Black-backed Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Gray Jay
Boreal Chickadee
several other more common species

During the summers of 2005 and 2006 I had led more than 10 such tours for Michigan Audubon Society, meaning I had a good feeling for how to get large numbers of people on each of these birds. So, my hopeful group arrived on the evening of June 5, when we jumped right into the search by trying to get Spruce Grouse at Vermilion Rd. north of Paradise (unsuccessfully). Not exactly a banner start toward my goal! However, we did luck onto a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher which the whole group saw. As for our other target, the Clark Lake trail just west of Tahquamenon Falls State park lower falls yielded us a displaying male "Sproose Groose" in the waning hours of dusk, opening up much of the following day to focus on other species. Birders 2, birds 0.

Fast forward to 5:30AM the following morning. I must say, for a bunch of folks not necessarily used to the upper peninsula's June mosquito clouds, birding here had to be quite an experience for the TX 12. I had warned them to bring headnets, and they heeded my warning (see below)! Still, as I quickly learned, this was no light-hearted group- these were serious birders willing to happily brave the elements for good birds. Here we are as we prepared to enter the bog where the elusive Connecticut Warbler nests. (Note the moderate smiles and hold onto that thought).Despite starting at the exact location where a Connecticut had been singing the previous morning, we failed to hear anything but the swarms of mosquitos around our heads and a few non-target birds for over 1 hour! Concerned, but not dismayed, we walked over 0.3 miles across the squishy, wet, substrate of the bog toward the far side of this bird's territory when we finally began to hear him singing! We approached quietly, and after another 10-15 minutes of pursuing this bird, we finally zeroed in on his tree: Bingo- high in the top of a jack pine he sat singing:
Here you can listen to his song as we look on

And here you can watch his bill open as he sings.

Score: Birders 3, birds 0.

We were doing great! Only two more primary targets and then virtually the entire afternoon was opening up for some more relaxed birding, perhaps even a nap. We stopped next at the large Sleeper Lake burn (from Aug 2007) just north of Newberry, where we immediately got onto a Black-backed Woodpecker busily drumming and scaling a burnt jack pine, amid many oohs and aaahs. That species out of the way, we returned to the Clark Lake Trail where we got excellent looks at another cock Spruce Grouse at close range right on the road! Then, in an amazing display of good luck a Gray Jay presented itself at close range right above our cars in the parking lot. I explained to the group how very lucky this is at this time of year given the surreptitious brooding behavior of these guys during chick rearing. But this strung of great luck, unfortunately was unable to produce perhaps the hardest boreal species during May and June: Boreal Chickadee. Not that we had the right to complain!

(Sidenote: for a triplist and discussion of this tour see the Ft Worth Audubon forum and this full Flickr album of one of our participants, Barbara Tompkins)

Score: Birders 5, birds 1.

By now each of these 12 birders (and the guide) had developed an increasingly large grin, but little did we realize the best part of the day had not yet come. A nice lunch break in Paradise (the pasties hit the spot!) was followed by a jaunt to Whitefish Point, where migration was not yet completely over. Flocks of Blue Jays in the hundreds were wheeling their way back and forth, much to our amazement. A few hummingbirds, warblers, and other species were working the point, when I received a phone call. A homeowner in Grand Marais (1.5 hours away) had just confirmed the presence of a Michigan mega in his backyard: a NORTHERN WHEATEAR! Given that all 9 of Michigan's records are from the fall, I almost couldn't believe it was for real, but several other expert birders were on it, and it was the real deal. I won't repeat the story here, (see my previous blog post for photos and video) but we all raced over and were treated to 2 hours of continuous viewing of this incredible first spring/summer record for the state- an ABA area bird for 1o of the 12 Texans! It was also my 330th Michigan bird (woohoo!). I ended our now incredible day by offering the following proposition: instead of having a weeklong smile for getting most of your target birds, it was now necessary to hold that smile for a full month. Needless to say, my call to action was not rejected...

Here is the happy group toward the end of our trip.

Wheatear, Grand Marais

2008-06-08T06:29:00.001-07:00

On Friday June 6 I found myself in the eastern upper peninsula near Paradise when I received a phone call that a homeowner in Grand Marais had a bird which he thought was possibly a Northern Wheatear. Given the paucity of spring Wheatear records, and the possibilities for confusion of Mockingbirds, Pipits, and Loggerhead Shrikes, etc., I felt it was a real longshot. However, within 2 hours several birders had confirmed the improbable- it was for real!

So, I immediately drove straight to Grand Marais and was treated to the following:

True to form, this bird was not seen the following day, like most Michigan Wheatears, making this one of the state lister's most frustrating species to chase. I feel extremely lucky to have been in the area when it showed up as I certainly would not have seen it otherwise. Michigan has 9 previous records of this species, all in Aug-Oct, so this is a first spring Michigan record! One must imagine that this represents one of very few spring records regionally as well.

Many thanks to Pat McConeghy, the homeowner who not only found and successfully identified this amazing rarity and then kindly allowed more than 18 people to visit his property during most of his daylight hours. That meant a LOT to a lot of birders!

Black-capped Gnatcatchers

2008-05-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

On the last day of my Arizona trip, May 13, I took the opportunity to chase the rare Black-capped Gnatcatcher for the third time during my trip. The first two (unsuccessful) chases involved birds at Montosa Canyon and Proctor Rd at Madera Canyon, and the final chase was to take place in the early morning hours to pursue a wandering family group which was reported 2 days earlier moving around its territory at the latter location. Amazingly to me, after 1 hour searching the mesquite habitat, I suddenly came across the call notes of a gnatcatcher- indeed, a family of them, and of course they were the Black-cappeds. Digi-binning this hyperactive species proved difficult, but the rapid fire mode of my Sony Cybershot W-80 proved helpful. Out of several hundred photos taken were the following decent shots:This was a wonderful way to end my trip- my 17th lifer for the week!

Final AZ photos

2008-05-12T22:02:00.001-07:00

Painted Redstart
Lazuli Buntin

Flame-colored Tanager
Elegant Trogon
Elf owl (by chance happened to shoot right while flash from a professional photographer's camera went off!)
Lesser Earless Lizard
Jumping Cholla (don't touch!)
Botteri's Sparrow
Black-headed Grosbeak
Acorn Woodpecker
Broad-billed Hummingbird (female brooding young)
A mandatory Western treat- the best!

More AZ photos

2008-05-11T00:00:00.000-07:00

AZ trip is still going great- 12 life birds so far, great scenery, great wilderness. In the interest of time I'll be sparse on captions, but here are some highlight digiscoped/digibinned photos from the past 3 days.
Gould's Wild Turkey (note strange white tail band and uppertail/rump!

Thick-billed Kingbird

Scott's Oriole

Ruby Rd (on way to California Gulch)

Northern Beardless Tyrannulet

Montezuma Quail

Lucifer Hummingbird female

Hooded Oriole

Hermit Warbler (rare migrant at lowland habitats, such as this one north of Nogales)

Greater Roadrunner

Gambel's Quail- omnipresent and abundant

Five-striped Sparrow (best I could manage!)

Cassin's Kingbird
Brown-crested Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Arizona Woodpecker

Quickie from AZ

2008-05-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

I find myself at a hotel in Nogales, AZ, currently, on a weeklong adventure for birds in Arizona. Due to a series of fortunate events, I was able to see and photograph an extremely rare bird for the U.S. this morning, a Tufted Flycatcher, near Portal, AZ. Despite missing it for several hours at daybreak I (and many others) were able to get on the bird around 10AM for stunning views. Here's one of my 300+ shots to whet the appetite. Now off to bed to prepare for more birds tomorrow AM.

Neotropic Cormorant, Grand Haven (1st state record)

2008-05-06T06:59:00.001-07:00

Michigan's first Neotropic Cormorant (8 photos below) was first reported yesterday morning by Chip Francke but not seen the remainder of the day. I arrived at the tip of the s. jetty at Grand Haven this morning (6 May) at 7 AM and Adam Byrne was already on the bird. What a fantastic find!

Crane Creek, OH weekend highlights, May 3-4

2008-05-04T21:20:00.001-07:00

This weekend I had the fortune to bird Crane Creek, OH both Saturday and Sunday. The boardwalk delivered, as usual, with 23 species of warblers (and 27+ reported for the weekend total) and many seemingly early migrants. Photo ops were often spectacular, which I took advantage of with my Sony Cybershot W-80 shot through my Leica 8X32 Trinovid binoculars. Here are my favorite shots from the weekend, left unidentified for your viewing pleasure (can you pick out the Blue Grosbeak shot (hint: worst photo here by far, but best I got of this rarity):

Carmine Glory

2008-03-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I have been unable to find a Pine Grosbeak in the southern lower peninsula. Not that they're common there, but enough do show up from time to time that one would expect to see it over a fifteen year birding career. Today, while visiting family in Lapeer I decided to take a stab at seeing a flock which has been reported throughout the winter visiting berry trees in the Lapeer State Game Area. I was rewarded.

A flock of no fewer than 17 of these gorgeous birds came in and began feasting on the last remaining berries in a several hundred meter long row of trees (more below on which species of tree this is). The flock was incredibly obliging, allowing my Dad and I to stand within 30-40 feet without disturbing the birds. This made for incredible digiscoping conditions, and by far the best photos I've ever captured of the species:

The mantle of the males is beatifully scalloped:
And females are beautiful in their own right!We watched as the birds busily tore apart the dry, fleshy pulp of these berries, discarding the majority of the berry and eating whatever their first bite garnered them.We noticed that there were some trees with larger berries (left) than the much more numerous small berries (right). Could someone relieve me of my ignorance and tell me what species of trees these berries come from? Is the small berry Highbush Cranberry?

Audubon's (type) Warbler New Photos & Sound Files

2008-02-24T17:05:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week Adam Byrne and I attempted to photograph and record the putative Audubon's Warbler in Lowell, without luck. In the frigid single digit temperatures of the early morning, we merely got fleeting glimpses at the bird in the treetops, and failed to record it. Today (24 Feb) however, we waited until mid-day before we arrived, and we were well-rewarded for it. At 2:23PM the bird came into the feeders while Adam, Curtis Dykstra, Bob Tarte, and 3 Lansing area birders watched. The bird was hyperactive and difficult to photograph, but it did allow these much awaited photos:If you look carefully, you can see that at least one mantle feather has a grayish (not brownish) fringe and very thick black center. It's probable that this represents a newly-grown alternate feather amongst a backdrop of older feathers (molted last fall). The prealternate molt in this species may occur from Dec-Mar according to Pyle. It may also be that the thicker black motling in the forward and rear flanks represent new feathers as well, but I will defer to anyone who knows this species better than I.Note the flecking on the undertail coverts and yellow on the crown, two features not observed before this day. Copyright Curtis Dykstra 2008. Here you can see the suggestion of an eyeline behind the eye, something which is visible in the field as well.

After much effort to record this frustratingly quiet bird, today I finally got one chip note on tape using my Saul Mineroff starting recording package- at the time the bird was distant and there was a lot of background noise, but using Raven Lite software I was able to generate this sound spectrogram of the chip note I recorded (click on photo for larger versions):You can recognize the chip as the inverted "V" shaped mark in the lower left corner, between 4 and 6 kHz. For comparison, here are the sound spectograms of the Stokes eastern Myrtle chip note and Stokes western Audubon's chip note. First, Myrtle:Second, Audubon's:I am not an expert in sound spectrogram analysis, but we can start to look for patterns regardless. First, frequency range: the Myrtle recording from Stokes centers in the 3-6 kHz range, while the Audubon's recording is similar, but seems to show several parallel lines, perhaps harmonics (anyone who understands this better than I, your clarification is solicited!), which creep into the frequencies higher than 7 kHz. I assume this accounts for the "scratchier" tone of Audubon's chip note. The Lowell bird's sound spectrogram lacks the parallel lines (perhaps due to low recording quality?), and seems to occur in a narrower range of frequencies.

Second, the shape of the "inverted V". That of the Lowell bird seems closer to the Audubon's recording in that the right (descending) half of the V is nearly vertical, while in the Myrtle recording it is more angled.

Third, the thickness of the line. The Lowell bird is clearly in closer to the Audubon's recording in this regard- a very thin line, rather than the wider line of Myrtle. Perhaps this is how the qualities our ears and brains utilize to so easily distinguish these species in the field are represented in the spectrogram.

This analysis is certainly preliminary, but as I've indicated before, in the field this bird sounds much more like the Audubon's chip than the Myrtle's chip. The spectrogram here appears to show many similarities to that of Audubon's, and some key differences with Myrtle. Comments or observations on these musings would be very welcome here.

Audubon's Warbler (?) in Michigan

2008-02-17T16:21:00.001-08:00

A week ago I noticed this photo of a Yellow-rumped Warbler from a backyard near Grand Rapids, MI. I immediately noticed the yellow throat and suspected it may be an Audubon's Yellow-rump, not the familiar Myrtle which is the normal form here. Today I finally was able to make an effort to see this bird, and I was rewarded with the following photos. There are only 2 accepted records of Audubon's Warbler in Michigan. Although most of the time this bird looked very plain-faced, there was at times a very slight suggestion of an outline to the auricular, something perhaps suggestive of a Myrtle X Audubon's intergrade. I would really appreciate the thoughts of those familiar with this species in all its forms.
My field notes mention a faint pale spot on the supraloral as well as a rearward and upward extending pale mark from the top eye arc, and that the throat appeared not to have a rearward extension coming up behind the auricular.
From most angles, the throat appeared uniformly yellow, concolorous with the flank spot, but the brief views I had seemed to suggest some whitish admixture of color along its anterior and lateral borders.

My field notes also mention the suggestion of a pale eyeline posterior to the eye, extending a very short distance rearward.
Copyright Bob Tarte 2007. In this photo, the face appears extremely plain.
Copyright Bob Tarte 2007. Here the exposure is slightly different, creating the appearance of a more contrasty head pattern.
Copyright Bob Tarte 2007.
Copyright Bob Tarte 2007. Here the pale supraloral and rear top eye arc extension can be seen, although they appear more pronounced here than in many of my views in the field today.
This map shows the location of the bird from today. It is certainly on a winter territory and should be present for several more weeks should it survive. The left arrow shows the residence at which the bird is very infrequently seen at a suet feeder. Today I first located the bird at the right arrow- about 1/4 mile east of the property in a band of woodland between Fulton (M-21) and the Grand River. The plot is either state or county owned according to Bob Tarte, the homeowner, and he felt birders could park on the roadside without much trouble. Traffic is fast here, however, so be careful. NOTE: be sure to wear rubber boots as the snow is deep and wet here!

Directions: Take I-96 to the Lowell exit and go north into downtown Lowell. Turn left at M-21 (Fulton) and go about 3-4 miles west of town. After crossing Cumberland, look for a blue house with a red barn on the south (left) side of the street, address 10696 (difficult to see the numbers near the front door frame). The homeowner and finder of the bird is Bob Tarte, who can be reached at 897-9202 if you want to ask him whether the bird is being seen. It is seen between zero and a few times per day at the suet feeder directly behind the house, and on the green lawn chair beneath it. However, there have been periods up to a week or more where it isn't seen here, and you should be prepared to walk east along the river listening for mixed species flocks. I found it all by itself (no other Yellow-rumps), only loosely associating with titmice, chickadees, creepers, and nuthatches. It was very high in the treetop, and was only attracted down by use of an iPod and Audubon's Warbler chip notes. Had I not had the iPod and speakers I certainly would not have been able to get a respectable look at this bird.