Spring Break Extra Credit Option-My Spring Break

For me, bird watching is both a passion and a hobby. This spring break I was hoping to boost my eBird rankings-Both for Ingham county and the great state of Michigan. The photographs hyper linked to are not mine. I will post some photos of less-common birds from earlier in the year at the bottom. 

Thursday, April 3rd, 2014
      Well waiting at the bus stop I was happy to see an early migrant Ruby-Crowned Kinglet sitting in a small tree and a Ruddy Duck flying over, both FOYs [First of year] for me.
               After getting on the bus I noticed a robin-sized bird called a Brown Thrasher, a relative of Mockingbirds foraging with some robins on the schools front lawn, my third FOY of the day, how could this get better?
               Well here is how. After school my mother and I went over to Sycamore Creek Golf Course to look for the Cackling Goose [and before you say I've seen one of these in Michigan consider that Cackling Geese look like miniature Canada Geese slightly smaller than a mallard]-which I saw at that location on the 29th and Ross's Geese, which have been reported there for almost two weeks now. When there we easily tracked down a Cackling Goose, however the Ross's Goose was refusing to show it's face. Well looking at a blackbird. I noticed a Tufted Titmouse playing on a stump in the flood waters. After seeing the Titmouse-my personal favorite species of chickadee I started to scan the tall flooded grasses for any other elusive and odd passerines [the taxonomic order of perching birds]. I was rewarded by a Winter Wren, a FOY. After pretty much giving up on the Ross's Goose we started to head back and saw a pair of hooded mergansers [see pics below]. On the way out I heard the classic American Woodcock "peent" and found the secretive little sandpiper in a pile of brush. Then, far off on the other side of the floodplain I saw a flash of white and I pulled up my binoculars quicker than you can say Chen rossi. Sure enough far off was a Ross's Goose, making the trip a complete success.

Friday, April 4th, 2014
      During my daily [on weekends and breaks] hour-long front-yard bird count I saw a Barn Swallow and a rare Brewer's Blackbird. Both were FOYs for me 
               Right after I got up from Typing the first part of this a Cliff Swallow flew by. yet another FOY.

Saturday, April 5,2014
      Today nothing of note (unless you count the second year bald eagle) turned up during my morning bird count. 
             Around ten my family headed up to Sleepy Hollow State Park to geocache, and I of course wanted to see some new birds. I was hoping for an Eastern Towhee (which unfortunately I did not see). About half way there well passing a marsh our car flushed a Great Egret, my first FOY of the day. Once there I began to wander the marshes and brambles to see what I could find, nothing too interesting popped up until we got to the horse staging area, well we were looking for the nearby cache, I wandered down to a nearby bog, I took my binoculars and scanned the shoreline, I had nearly given up when I  looked into a flooded area away from the bog, standing in it were a Greater Yellowlegs and a Lesser Yellowlegs, both FOYs

Sunday, April 6,2014
       This morning after Wisconsin lost to Kentucky last night, in an attempt to lift our spirits, I skipped my mourning watch and headed over to Green Acres Turf Farm to see a flock of American Pipits, of which we only saw one. This afternoon my father and I went to the historical village. There we finaly tracked down an Eastern Towhee. On our way home we pulled into the Tom's Food Center Parking Lot, when we saw a large, light bird of prey overhead, it turned out to be an Osprey. later that night, we returned to the historical village to watch wood cock, was rather uneventful.


Monday, April 7,2014
Uneventful

Tuesday, April 8,2014
Today, my mother,sister and I went up to the MSU inland lakes state research area. I recorded my first Double-Crested Cormorant,  Bonaparte's Gull, Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, and Savannah Sparrow. 

Wendnesday, April 9,2014
Today my family and I began the car ride from here to Madison, WI. Despite the number of FOYs I picked up on the way I was extremely disappointed because I fell three species short of a centennial run (100 species in one day, would be my first outside of Florida). On our way down through Michigan I picked up my FOY  Black-Crowned Night-Heron, Pectoral Sandpiper and Glaucous Gull. In Indiana I saw my FOY Carolina Chickadee (very similar to our Black-Capped Chickadee, song being key difference needed to separate the two), Swainson's Thrush, Eared Grebe, and Least Sandpiper. On top of that I saw my LIFER Surf Scoter and Trumpeter Swan. In Illinois I saw my FOY American White Pelican, Snowy Egret, Thayer's Gull, Iceland Gull, Forster's Tern, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Western Meadowlark, and Yellow-Headed Blackbird. We stopped at the Lincoln Park Zoo well in chicago, here I came across the most surprising wild bird of the day, a Brown Creeper in front of the Gibbon exhibit. The chances of seen a Brown Creeper in an urban area-very low. Nothing new turned up in Wisconsin that day.

Thursday, April 10,2014
This morning I hit what most of you would consider an all time low- Bird watching at a waste water treatment plant. Hooray! Or rather the ponds where the waste water gets dumped(it claims to be a NATURAL AREA). Here I saw a Baird's Sandpiper (LIFER) and Bank Swallow, both FOYs. Later that afternoon we went to Vilas Park zoo and Vilas Park, about 80% of the zoo was under renovation-boring. Lake Wingra, in Vilas Park was a different story, there I saw my FOY Spotted Sandpiper (also the first Wisconsin record of the year) and Caspian Tern.

Friday, April 11, 2014
This morning my family went up to Indian Lake, to look for Whooping Cranes and to see the 200 year old monument to god that a man built after his family survived a diphtheria epidemic. Here I saw my FOY Virginia Rail, Blue-Gay Gnatcather, Purple Martin, Veery, and Wood Thrush. That afternoon I went with my family to the Midwest Horse Show, which was great but not really my cup of tea, I mean ya sure seeing Capuchin Monkeys riding Border Collies was neat. However, the biggest part of this for me was seeing the world's biggest horse. Well not necessarily that, but rather it filled me with sympathy to see someone try to clean up after it in the rain. After that, I couldn't resist the temptation of another visit to the "natural area". Nothing cool turned up this time. 

Saturday, April 12, 2014
Today, on the way back I didn't see anything because we where caught in a rain/hail storm the whole way back.

Not really (although we where stuck in a storm the whole way), I actually pulled of a centennial run, seeing my FOY Greater White-Fronted Goose, Common Tern, Dunlin, Smith's Longspur, Northern Mockingbird, Cattle Egret and Long-Billed Dowitcher. 

Sunday, April 13, 2014
Today my Dad and I went up to fish at the Waterloo State Recreation Area, we got skunked but I had perhaps my best birding moment over all of break-picking up an ABA (American Birder's Association) code three in the form of a European Goldfinch (most likely escapee).

Snowy Owl at Capitol Area International Airport-January 31

Northern Shrike in my front yard-February 17

White-Winged Scoter at Potter Park-February 23

Snowy Owl Flying-Early March

From left to right: Graylag Goose[escapee domestic], Canada Goose, Canada Goose-March 29th

A Secretive Vesper Sparrow at Sycamore Creek Golf  Course-March 29th

Common Loon at Frances Park-March 29th

Hooded Merganser at Sycamore Creek Golf Course-April 3rd