MI - Warblers in Spring Part II

Kirtland's Warbler - male, Grayling, Crawford Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

After six brilliant days in Ohio birding along the Lake Erie shore, it was time to head north-west and focus on some of the breeding in birds in central-north Michigan. Passing through Jackson County, we couldn't resist trying another site for Henlsow's Sparrows followed by a mid-morning visit to some surrounding Oak woodlands. Here we found our only Cerulean Warblers and Acadian Flycatchers of the trip along with a singing male Golden-winged Warbler, and several Hooded Warblers and Yellow-throated Vireos. By the afternoon, we'd already reached Grayling where we lucky enough to watch numerous singing Kirtland's Warblers showing superbly well in the evening sunlight.

Kirtland's Warbler - male, Grayling, Crawford Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

Cerulean Warbler - Jackson Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

Cerulean Warbler (female) - Jackson Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

Henslow's Sparrow - Jackson Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

North American Porcupine - Grayling, Crawford Co., MI. May 16th, 2019.

MI - Kirtland's in the snow

We had just a single morning to try for Kirtland's Warbler near Grayling so were not too pleased to wake up to 32 degrees fahrenheit and fresh snow! Our chosen site was eerily quiet when we first arrived at 7am but as the sun broke through the clouds the first bursts of Kirtland Warbler song could be heard across the Jack Pines. By 8am singing males seemed to be all around us despite the bitter cold. On a tour that included no less than 31 species of North American warbler, this species (and the experience) was the highlight of the trip for me, hands-down.

Kirtland's Warlber - male, east of Grayling, MI. May 16th, 2014. 

Exceedingly rare and exceedingly beautiful. 

OH/MI - Kirtland's Warblers

Kirtland's Warbler - male, Huron NF, Crawford Co., MI. May 20th, 2013.

Every once in a while a bird species captivates my interest more than others. Looking back I can think of the multiple Firecrests that I found in my local woodland in Sheffield when I lived in the UK, beginning with the first way back in 1980. Then Pallid Scops-owl really caught my imagination when I found several individuals wintering in remote Acacia wadis in the southern desert of Israel in the late 90s, subsequently resulting in two successive winter surveys of that species. Those surveys discovered at least 23 individual birds in each season.

My recent experiences with Kirtland's Warbler have had a similar impact on my imagination. Of our recent nine day tour to Ohio/Michigan with Birdfinders, we saw Kirtland's Warblers on four days including two individual migrants on the beaches at Magee Marsh in NW Ohio, and several singing birds on territory in the Huron National Forest to the east of Grayling, Michigan. Handsome, sharp-looking, ultra-rare and with strict habitat preferences, Kirtland's has an extremely charistmatic song which adds even more to the mystique of the species from my perspective.

Here's an image selection from the four days in which Kirtland's Warblers were encountered on our tour;

Kirtland's Warbler - female, East Beach Trail, Magee Marsh, Lucas Co., OH. May 14th, 2013.

Kirtland's Warbler - female, East Beach Trail, Magee Marsh, Lucas Co., OH. May 14th, 2013.



Kirtland's Warbler - migrant, first-summer male, West Beach, Magee Marsh, Lucas Co., OH. May 15th, 2013.

Kirtland's Warbler - migrant, first-summer male, West Beach, Magee Marsh, Lucas Co., OH. May 15th, 2013.

Kirtland's Warbler - migrant, first-summer male, West Beach, Magee Marsh, Lucas Co., OH. May 15th, 2013.

Kirtland's Warbler - male on territory, Huron NF. Crawford Co., MI. May 18th, 2013.

-Kirtland's Warbler - male on territory, Huron NF. Crawford Co., MI. May 20th, 2013.



OH - What?! Another Kirtland's at Magee Marsh!! 05/15

Each new day in NW Ohio seems to upstage the previous one as the Birdfinders tour seems to find itself in the right place at the right time with the most incredible fortune. The day began stormy with winds out of the SW and it was clear from the outset that huge numbers of birds were dropping into and around Magee Marsh. Large flocks of Blue Jays, Cedar Waxwings and Pine Siskins filtered along the Lake Erie shore for most of the first two hours of the morning. The trees and bushes were heaving with American Redstarts, Magnolia Warblers and Northern Parulas. Indeed, during the course of the day we tallied an almighty 27 species of wood-warbler including no less than 22 in the tiny woodlot in the end of Bono Road at Metzger Marsh. Miraculously, another Kirtland's Warbler was found today just 100 yards west of our lunching spot on the beach at Magee. This bird, likely a first-summer male, was a tad brighter than yesterday's female at the East Beach which had apparently been seen again in the morning. To round off yet another brilliant day we enjoyed a female Golden-winged Warbler, an Orange-crowned Warbler and a roosting Eastern Whip-poor-will all in the tiny woodlot at Metzger Marsh.

Canada Warbler - male, Metzger Marsh, NW Ohio.

 

 

Kirtland's Warbler - first-summer male, West Beach, Magee Marsh, NW Ohio.

 

Eastern Whip-poor-will - Metzger Marsh, NW Ohio.

 

Orange-crowned Warbler - Metzger Marsh, NW Ohio.

 

 

 



OH - Kirtland's tops 26 species of warbler at Magee Marsh today 05/14

Crane Creek WMA - This morning (May 14th) my group and I found a female Kirtland's Warbler on the East Beach Trail at Magee Marsh. The bird (pictured below in the first four images) topped a stellar cast of 26 species of warbler tallied by our Birdfinders group during the day. In the afternoon we wrestled with a distant Bairds/White-rumped Sandpiper at the Crane Creek Estuary and had to walk away leaving it unidentified for the time being. And then there was the two Philadelphia Vireos on the boardwalk at Magee to round off another incredible day - both of these birds could be seen at arms-length (quite literally) and seemed oblivious the assembled admirers.