Tag Archives: Shorebirds

May 1, 2013, Finally

Montrose was really hopping this morning. It never ceases to amaze me what a couple days of south winds can do in spring. In about an hour and a half I saw the following birds (not a complete list):

Piping Plover – 1, the unbanded male
American Avocets – 2, flew in from the south and landed on the beach around 6:30
Little Blue Heron – 1 adult flying south over Lake Michigan with 2 Great Blue Herons
Green Heron – 1
Red-headed Woodpecker – 1 near the golf course pond
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Least Flycatcher – 1
Great Crested Flycatcher – 1
Eastern Kingbird – 3
Sedge Wren – 1 in the meadow
House Wren – ~5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 2
Veery – ~4
Swainson’s Thrush – 3
Gray-cheeked Thrush – 1
Gray Catbird – 3
American Pipit – 1
Orange-crowned Warbler – 2
Nashville Warbler – 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler – ~40
Palm Warbler – ~20
Black-throated Green Warbler – 1
Yellow Warbler – 2
Hooded Warbler – 1 female in the Magic Hedge
Ovenbird – 1
Yellow-breasted Chat – 1 near the water feature
American Redstart – 1
Field Sparrow – 1
Henslow’s Sparrow – 1 in the meadow
Savannah Sparrow – ~30
Swamp Sparrow – ~40
Lincoln’s Sparrow – ~10
White-throated Sparrow – +
White-crowned Sparrow – ~10
Bobolink – 1 male
Purple Finch – 1

I probably missed a few things but you get the idea.

Goose Pond, Indiana Spotted Redshank!

Spotted Redshank. Note the prominent whitish supercillium and reddish base to the lower mandible. (click to see the larger version)

Karen Mansfield and I drove down to Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area in Greene County, Indiana on March 30 to look for the Spotted Redshank that had been found there a couple days earlier. Spotted Redshank is a code 4 ABA rarity, with only a handful of inland North American records, as well as a lifer for Karen and I, so we were doubly excited about seeing this bird.

When we got near the town of Dugger, not far from Goose Pond, a thick fog developed, possibly the worst fog I’ve ever encountered, with visibilities down to about 100 yards at best. The fog didn’t let up when we arrived at Goose Pond and my heart sank a little as I realized we wouldn’t be able to see the bird in such conditions.

When we arrived at County Road 400S we saw cars from several different states parked along the side of the road and a large contingent of birders lined up on the levee at area E, one of two areas where the bird had been seen. We joined the group and waited for the fog to lift. We could hear Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers and other shorebirds in the field but the fog reduced most of these to nothing more than shadowy silhouettes. After about an hour and a half the fog started to lift and we could visually identify the birds we were hearing. Within a few minutes someone yelled out that the redshank was in field B, about a half mile from where we were, so we picked up our gear and walked as fast as we could to what was going to be our experience-of-a-lifetime Spotted Redshank. When we neared the area we saw people walking towards us, saying and gesturing that the bird had flown back to area E. Undaunted, we turned around and raced back to area E and found the bird at some distance in the same field we had just been scoping. Not more than 2 minutes later the bird got up and flew off to the north, apparently back to area B, so back to area B we raced. By this time I was working up a good sweat and a good irritation that the bird was playing so hard to get, but it settled down and gave us nice long looks and a few distant photos. All’s well that ends well.

American Woodcock, March 29, 2013

I flushed an American Woodcock from the shrubs on the south side of Montrose this morning. This is my first American Woodcock of the year. I saw nothing else of note but the harbor and inshore areas of Lake Michigan are starting to refreeze, which is a bit unsettling. The warmup forecast for this weekend should bring in some migrants, and melt the snow and ice once and for all.

Ross’s and Snow Geese, February 25, 2013

Snow Goose

Snow Goose (click to see a larger version)

The Ross’s and Snow Geese were still present this morning. They were feeding in the grass just south of the parking lot near the bathrooms on the south side of the harbor. The Ross’s Goose has been present for almost 2 weeks now.

I also saw 2 Killdeer at the east end of the beach, my first of the year, and a sure harbinger of spring. Most of the beach is still covered with ice and snow so it was a bit strange (though not unappreciated) to see these shorebirds there.