By this Author: skwclar

More of Michigan with Kim

Warren Dunes State Park

Monday 3 August 2026 70 °F

SATURDAY, MAY 10:

This morning, Kim, myself, and a friend of hers headed over to Warren Dunes State Park in search of a lifer for Kim: Prairie Warbler! They are known to breed in the scrubby dunes there.

A nice male SCARLET TANAGER greeted us on the way in:

And a male EASTERN BLUEBIRD:

And the dunes themselves were beautiful!

Then, I heard the buzzy, upwards-chromatic-scale song of the PRAIRIE WARBLER itself and we followed its telltale song until we located a beautiful singing male, which, characteristic of this species, responded well to some light spishing.

A great lifer experience for Kim!

Then, I got a Michigan lifer in the form of a FISH CROW that flew over!!! Was stoked about this surprise bird, as well!

Migrants were scarce, though, so we headed to the northern end of the park that is more deciduously wooded. Unfortunately, migrants were still few and far between; however, we were delighted to get a fleeting glimpse of this HOODED WARBLER seeming to be on territory. Awesome!

Then, we twitched some Long-billed Dowitchers that had been seen in a nearby agricultural field and unfortunately came up empty, but did see these dying catfish floundering around in the drying-up, shorebird-less fluddle. Bizarre are sad, and must be from the recent flooding starting to dry up.

Bird-of-the-day to the Prairie Warbler with runner-up to the Fish Crow and Hooded Warbler. Great stuff even though the birds were rather few and far between today — migration is very delayed.

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1504 Species

Posted by skwclar 17:24 Archived in USA Comments (0)

Indiana and Michigan with Kim

Sunday 2 August 2026 68 °F

FRIDAY, MAY 8:

Today, I took a day off school and drove with my friend Kim H to Indiana. She had to attend to the dogs so she dropped me off at Indiana Dunes State Park where I did a bit of morning birding from the observation tower. It was fairly slow but there were a few things around like this male INDIGO BUNTING:

Male YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

TURKEY VULTURE:

Male ORCHARD ORIOLE:

Nearby WILD TURKEY foraging some seeds strewn about on the path:

SONG SPARROW:

Activity picked up just barely before Kim picked me up — YELLOW WARBLER:

And the first BLUE-WINGED WARBLER of the year that I photographed:

Then, Kim and I continued on to Cowles Bog where we got a CANADA WARBLER that was just about a week early. This is one of the best places to observe this species in migration in my opinion, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some males try to stick around and breed at this spot too.

It was only moderately birdy but there were a few things such as MAGNOLIA WARBLER:

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS:

We were looking for a vagrant Black-bellied Whistling-Duck that had been reported in the marshland adjacent to the trail and failed to find it, but did find this SANDHILL CRANE instead.

And a MUTE SWAN:

Male BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER:

And a NASHVILLE:

Later, we birded from the hot tub back at Kim’s place which was divine. There were a few birds around such as RED-HEADED WOODPECKER:

TURKEY VULTURE:

We went to a garden center across the state line in Indiana and I managed to find a few birds like this flyover BALD EAGLE:

YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER:

And a CAPE MAY WARBLER:

An evening walk with the dogs continued our theme for the day which was fairly slow activity as it has been a pretty delayed spring migration so far with few bumper crop nights of southerly winds bringing migrants. A single Yellow-rumped Warbler will be the sole photographed representative from that walk:

As well as a gorgeous sunset.

Birds-of-the-day to the Cape May and Blue-winged Warblers photographed today. Hopefully we have some nights soon with southerly winds bringing migrants!

Happy birding,
Henry
World Life List: 1504 Species

Posted by skwclar 21:38 Archived in USA Comments (1)