beautiful and lush [250 – 252]

Pole in Galien

Pole in GalienWe left Gaylord this morning and decided to visit Michigan’s Dunes area, which is off the lake and close to Chicago. Driving south on Route 196, Pole spotted a MUTE SWAN on her side of the car. No luck for me. It was a four-lane highway, and I was going about 80, so pulling over wasn’t an option. Our first regular stop was Warren Dunes State Park where we walked the Yellow Birch Trail. Beautiful and lush, but no new birds. Next it was Warren Woods State Park. Beautiful and lush, but no new birds. Last stop was the Galien River Floodplain, which isn’t an actual park, but merely a place to park your car and walk around. Beautiful and lush, and two new birds: a RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD and an AMERICAN REDSTART. Only Pole saw the hummer; all I saw was a small smudge that shot into the woods. Thus ended our Michigan trip, and to our surprise, we were back in Chicago in about an hour. These sites were new to us, and it’s good to know there are such fine places — beautiful and lush — so close to home.

the kirtland’s, feathered and plastic [245 – 249]

Soft focus makes the Kirtland's sexy

After a long drive north, we made it to Gaylord, Michigan this morning at 1 am. We came to see the endangered Kirtland’s Warbler, one of the rarest birds in the States. It only breeds in a small area in northern Michigan, so if you want to see it, this is where you come. You can only view its breeding grounds on official tours run by rangers, and we met ours this morning at 11 am at a hotel in Grayling, a little south of Gaylord. We had two guides, the master (Chris) and the apprentice (Sean). The viewing season started today, so Sean was just learning the ropes. There was just one other birder on the tour, so we made a three-car convoy to the site.

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nothing fancy [229 – 244]

Pole in Pelee, seeing no lifers

Today commemorates the First Little Year International Birding Expedition. We went to Point Pelee, Ontario, which is about an hour south of Detroit. We plan on going to northern Michigan tomorrow to see the rare Kirtland’s Warbler, so this trip is truly global in scope. We left yesterday and stayed overnight in Motown at my sister’s house. Even though we left Chicago kind of late, we couldn’t resist stopping at the Indiana Dunes. We drove around for about an hour, and all we got out of it was a CHIPPING SPARROW.

It was raining on and off as we drove to Pelee. It’s a spit of land that points south into Lake Erie and is reputed to be one of the best migrant traps on the continent. So we were pretty excited. It was crowded when we got there, and we saw dozens of crazy-looking people with dopey Tilley hats, expensive bins, and repulsive birding vests bulging with God-knows-what useless crap. We, on the other hand, travel pretty light. Or at least Pole does. Because of some vestigial sexism in her chromosomes, I have to carry the scope, the field guide, the notes, and the camera. Not a lot, really, but still more than nothing, which is what she carries. Today, though, I didn’t carry the scope because we were looking for warblers.

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a little local magic [228]

Today after work, we headed to the Magic Hedge. There wasn’t much going on, but we did see a BROWN THRASHER. This was a bit of a relief because we thought we saw one in Texas, but decided it was a long-billed instead. So in some strange way, I was glad to be able to fulfill the brown thrasher’s Little Year Destiny.

no me gusto tejas [222 – 227]

Today was our last day birding Texas. Once again, we started out at the Convention Center and were lucky enough to have some super birder point out a PRAIRIE WARBLER. This guy is a bird photographer, and he told us this was the worst season for birding Texas in the last 10 to 15 years. Dry dry dry. (He’s the one who came up with the name “Laguna del Morte,” which I appropriated for a previous post.) His recommendation: Arizona. So we’ve added to our list, and we shall see. Driving out, we once again took old Port Isabel Road and saw a CASSIN’S SPARROW and BEWICK’S WREN. Then onward to today’s main event, the Santa Ann NWR.

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