Graduation Trip: Day 1

Indiana Dunes, IN

Tuesday 6 June 2023 80 °F

SATURDAY, MAY 20:

As I have now graduated with honors and a Bachelor’s in Music (opera)—

I rewarded myself with a multi-day, multi-faceted birding and herping trip to Indiana Dunes and southern Illinois. The itinerary would be something like this: 1 day in Indiana guiding around Kim and friends in the Dunes, 1 day to find my lifer Prairie Chickens near Kinmundy, IL, and several days of herping the hell out of southern Illinois!

Before I dive into day 1, I will include a few photos with special people from my graduation, including mom, my beloved voice teacher Marlena, the president of MSM James Gandre, piano teacher Jiayin, and my friends Ed and Madeleine. It has been such an incredible five years and though there were ups and downs, of course, I would not have traded this experience for the world. It has been AMAZING to study opera, in NYC!

Now, onto the birds! Today, (Saturday, May 20), and much closer to home, I guided Kim and friends around the Indiana Dunes area. We had a phenomenal day and hit a few stops. Other than these CASPIAN TERNS:

Michigan City beach was quiet, so we continued on to Heron Rookery Preserve a bit further south. Here the action picked up a bit with BALTIMORE ORIOLE:

EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

RED-EYED VIREO:

PHILADELPHIA VIREO was wonderful to find:

YELLOW WARBLER:

LINCOLN’S SPARROW was nice as well:

SWAINSON’S THRUSH:

At our next stop, Brincka Crossgardens, we searched for a fledgling Barred Owl and came up empty on that front but did find these interesting galls on the ground, created from the decomposed structure of oak trees, by Oak Wasps (each one contains a single wasp larvae in the center). No, I didn’t know this already, I had to look all this up because we had no idea what these were!

Luckily, our bad luck with the owl was made up for in a BIG way when I heard a CONNECTICUT WARBLER singing, and after about twenty minutes of thorough searching and spishing, Kim and I got FANTASTIC views — my second-best ever of this elusive species!!! Super cool!!

RED-TAILED HAWK:

HOUSE WREN:

Another nice bird here was YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER:

Beautiful male INDIGO BUNTING:

Next, after a delicious mushroom soup lunch (thanks Kim!) we hit the Richardson Preserve where I quickly spotted this Green Frog sticking its head barely out of the water, showcasing the golden glow to its eye in the sun:

CANADA WARBLER was really nice here:

As was quite the uncommon migrant, this OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER:

Indiana Dunes State Park was our last stop of the day where I had this BLUE-WINGED WARBLER on the way in:

Brief views of this PILEATED WOODPECKER on a stump:

And the PROTHONOTARY WARBLER was back at its usual nesting site!

Male EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

After saying goodbye to Kim for the day, I hit a few spots in south Cook County, IL before starting the looong southward journey downstate. Bartel Grassland/Killdeer Wetland was first on my agenda — scouting for my upcoming June Big Day! NORTHERN FLICKER:

Beaver in one of the irrigation canals:

EASTERN MEADOWLARK:

GREAT BLUE HERON:

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT:

SAVANNAH SPARROW was nice to see; this one can be tough for big days:

SONG SPARROW:

BARN SWALLOW:

I was ecstatic to see this BLUE-WINGED TEAL in another irrigation ditch; really hoping this tough bird sticks around for the Big Day, too!

My final birding stop for the day was Helmick Preserve further south where I only photographed a FIELD SPARROW:

But my best bird of the entire afternoon (since the Connecticut was the best of the day) was an unseen, crowing RING-NECKED PHEASANT which was calling from south of the bike trail. This is a heck of a bird for Cook County and my county lifer — and it would be absolutely incredible to get on the Big Day.

Bird-of-the-day to the Connecticut Warbler with runner-up to the Ring-necked Pheasant.

I wrapped up the day by driving all the way down to Kinmundy, IL so I could wake up early and find my lifer Greater Prairie-Chickens. To say I was excited would be a massive understatement!

Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1150 Species

Posted by skwclar 15:47 Archived in USA