USA - 14th and 15th May..

On leaving our hotel in Grayling, MI at 07.30 we had a bit of a shock as the temperature had gone down to 3 degrees and felt like March. This effect was even more exacerbated when almost our first bird of the day was a male Lapland Bunting that flushed from a rough ground area beside the main road.

While waiting for the chaps to gather, John and myself loitered around the hotel looking at the woods at the back. Here we heard an owl call quite loudly that, when Richard played the calls back to us, was certainly a Northern Saw-whet Owl. We tried to look for it, but with so much pine forest it was futile so we headed on to our journey into the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, locally know as the U.P ( Yew-pee).

UP wetlands...

Wide open space....

The lads have no idea that a bear is stalking them...

Now thats a lake. With Canada in the distance.

Beaver work...

Birding was quite good en-route with 2 American Bitterns flushed from a roadside ditch and flying next to the car for a short way, male and female Northern Harriers, Red breasted Merganser and Goosander ( Common Merganser here). A stop near a large wooded lake had 2 Ring necked Ducks, Northern Harrier and Belted Kingfisher while the woods were quiet with only Hermit Thrush ( the first of many) and Blue headed Vireo noted.

What really struck me was how big and empty the place is. Huge good wide roads straight as a die for miles with little traffic on them.

We had a stop at Taquemanon Falls River Mouth and happened upon a nice Northern Mockingbird here at the northern end of their range. Some maps show them as only going up as far as Ohio, but they seems to be expanding range. Also here Richard found a Vesper Sparrow that we all missed, Swamp Sparrow and a Beaver lodge.

Northern Mockingbird

We arrived at Whitefish Point at noon in a bitterly cold northerly wind but at least it was bright and sunny. Most birds were gathered at feeders behind the obs building - 30+ White crowned Sparrows, 1 Lincoln's Sparrow, 3+ White throated Sparrow, 1 Chipping Sparrow, 20+ Blue Jay, 4+ Raven over head, 1 Osprey over, 3 Sharp shinned Hawks in to the feeders, 4+ Black capped Chickadee and 1 Chipmunk.

Whitefish Point, Michigan

A very cold, Whitefish Point

Vast open spaces at Whitefish Point looking over to Canada.

And yes that is fresh water....

Black capped Chickadee

Alvin....

Killdeer, maybe the best bird photo I've ever taken....

We checked a few places around the Paradise / Newberry area but the wintry weather had us beat. Birds remained elusive..

Overnight was spent in Newberry. The temp dropped to -2 and when I got up there was a light grass frost. Later it was fine with odd snow flurries remaining cold.

First stop was an old airport called Raco Airfield. This was an excellent stop for birding until we came to leave and found we had been locked in! I removed a fence post, temporarily, allowing Richard to drive us out, then replaced it. No one was any the wiser.

The entrance to the airfield was quite good with several Vesper Sparrows and 2 Evening Grosbeaks around the gate.

Vesper Sparrow, a bit like an Ortolan Bunting from Europe.

Hermit Thrush, the commonest of the brown thrushes up here.

Further over we stopped the van and raked around a bit seeing - 3 Sharp tailed Grouse ( all flushed), 4+ Vesper Sparrows, a pair of Pine Warblers, 3 Brown Thrasher, 5+ Dark eyed Junco, 1 Savannah Sparrow, 1 Sandhill Crane over, 1 male American Kestrel, 1 Northern Flicker, 2 Upland Sandpipers on the edge of a runway and several Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Raco Airfield

After escaping our temporary confinement we stopped at Eckerman where we found the famous Bear Butt Bar was now closed. Luckily a house next door also had feeders including a huge dustbin winched up a flagpole to keep critters off. On this were 10+ Purple Finches, 6+ Evening Grosbeak, 10+ Blue Jay and a Northern Flicker.

Continuing on a theme, the rest of the day was spent driving remote roads and stopping occasionally to see what turned up. We did alright with some perseverance.
6+ Ruffed Grouse at various spots, 1 Red breasted Nuthatch, 1 Yellow bellied Sapsucker,  2 Pine Warbler, 1 Blue headed Vireo and a Palm Warbler were all seen. A small warbler flock held Cape May, Black throated Green and Yellow rumped but generally passerines were very hard to find.

In the McMillan Forest we came across a nice male Golden crowned Kinglet that gave some reasonable views.

We ended the day exhausted  and decided we needed to regroup and try something different tomorrow....

Houses in the forest.

Red breasted Nuthatch.

Swainson's Thrush

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drumming on a road sign. It was deafening.

A Blue headed Vireo, 'pished' in....

Click on this and you can see in there is a Ruffed Grouse....

Now thats a feeder!

USA ....13th May

Hello again, sorry about the delay, we've been away to Suffolk on holiday last week, but more of that to come, first though lets crack on with the American trip....

Yesterdays visit to Magee Marsh was our final look at the migration hotspot. Today we are taking in a new type of habitat ( and species) before heading north to follow the migrants up into Michigan.

We arrived at Oak Openings around 8am on a lovely cool, bright sunny morning. As with all sites here, the birding was quite easy, walking on road surfaces next to good bird spots...

Oak Openings Preserve

This area is a large prairie / mature woodland location and as a consequence it holds some birds that are difficult to find elsewhere. We soon found some targets - 6+ Lark Sparrows, 8+ Red headed Woodpecker inc one excavating a nest hole, 5+ Field Sparrows, 1 White breasted Nuthatch and 1 Grasshopper Sparrow were all new additions. Also we saw 3 Yellowthroats, and a large flock mobbing a red phase Screech Owl that tried to shake its attackers by swerving through the tree trunks in the bright sunshine. In pursuit were 3 Hairy Woodpeckers, 4+ Bluebirds, many Blue Jays and an American Crow. A Meadowlark was seen near the Grasshopper Sparrow too.

Tree Swallow

Fox Squirrel, much larger than Greys.

Red headed Woodpecker

White breasted Nuthatch

Time to get the pedal to the metal and we moved north. On route we took in a bizarre mini twitch for a summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper! Now we hadn't taken leave of our senses, Curlew Sandiper is an annual sighting back home, but if this site held the Curlew Sand, what else may be here...in fact it was just a small flooded field but it held 60 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Wilsons Snipe, 1 drab fs male Wilsons Phalarope, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 1 Short billed Dowitcher, 2 Dunlin and 2 Kildeer. Apart from waders we had 2 Buff bellied Pipits, several Purple Martins, 1 Red tailed Hawk and 1 female Northern Harrier.

Angola / Raab Road - Scene of the Curlew Sandpiper...

Onwards and upwards, 200 miles later and we arrived at Hartwick Pines State Park, Grayling, Michigan.

What a change in habitats and even seasons. It was much colder here and the trees still didnt have a leaf on them. It reminded me of the differences between say Minsmere and Loch Garten.

Feeding Station at Harwick Pines State Park. Click on it and you can just see on the feeders stuck on the glass, 2 grosbeak species.

Hartwick Pines State Park

As we didnt get here til 6pm, the centre was closed, so we had a short stroll around. Behind the building was a large feeding station. It was fantastic and for me one of the trip highlights, it was just a shame it was a little bit too dark for the photos. On the feeders were 5+ Evening Grosbeaks, huge illuminous finches that dwarf our hawfinch, 10+ Rose breasted Grosbeak, 1 Pine Siskin ( cant tell if male or female, they all look like our female siskins) 1 Mourning Dove and 2 Red breasted Nuthatches tooted their distinctive toy trumpet call note, a bit like a zebra finch.

Racoon

Porcupine

Evening and Rose breasted Grosbeaks

Evening Grosbeak

Further into the woods were Scarlet Tanager, Bay breasted Warbler, Black throated Green warbler and 2 Chipping Sparrows. American Robins were everywhere. Near the track a pair of Yellow bellied Sapsuckers were nest building and a Brown Creeper crept around the car park.

A few mammals here - 1 huge Porcupine in a tree above our bus, good numbers of Chipmunks, American red Squirrel, Grey Squirrel and Fox Squirrel including some black ones.

A great day out....

12th May contd...

I hope all of this 'across the pond' stuff isn't boring you. Please bear with me, I would like all of my posts together in a batch...

So, back to 12th May. After the migrants of the morning, by 2pm we were back at Magee Marsh car park. What a place too. Every day is different at this time of year and today is no exception. The crowds seem bigger than previously and there is a certain 'buzz' to it. The reason - a Twitch. Word has it that the one everyone hopes to see has turned up - a Kirtland's Warbler. One of the rarest of the yank warblers, it only breeds in Michigan and Canada in low Jack Pine forest.

At one stage madness seemed to take over the crowds, as middle aged women, young girls as well as your usual demographic, just strode up to common warblers as if to grab them, peer down through bins even though they were too close to focus, in the hope of success. I've never seen the like.

But would we see it? The trees, leaves, crowds etc all conspired against us but with a lot of frustration and perseverance, we all managed a decent look at the bird, a nice male.

Above three, mobbed from all sides hoping for a rare yank, just like the Scillies in its hey day!

This lad from Pennsylvania has it sussed.

I was very pleased to grab this shot through trees and bodies along the boardwalk. Kirtlands Warbler. Male.

But, being Magee, its not all about the one bird. There were warblers everywhere, plus many other species too -
1 Yellow billed Cuckoo, 1 Yellow throated Warbler, a male Hooded Warbler, 1 male Prothonotary Warbler, 3+ Tennessee Warblers, 2+ Parulas, 4+ Bay breasted, 3+ Blackburnian, 3+ Magnolia, 10+ Yellow, 2+ Black throated Green, 3+ Black throated Blue, 3+ Cape May, 2 American Redstart, 1 Veery, 1 Grey cheeked Thrush, 2 Swainsons Thrush, 3 Rose breasted Grosbeaks, I've stopped counting Baltimore Orioles yesterday, American Woodcock on its nest in the car park, 4 White crowned and 1 White throated Sparrow, 2 nests of Bald Eagle only a couple of hundred yards apart...Phew.

Black throated Green Warbler

Hooded Warbler

Tennessee Warbler female.

Thursday 12th May - Various sites....

There was some heavy rain at first this morning but then things soon brightened up.

We began the day looking for migrants at Maumee Bay State Park. This is quite a large area ( aren't they all) of wet woodland and reeds with a nice boardwalk running through it for ease of access.

As we left the bus, first birds up were a large colony of Purple Martins in a dove cot like structure at the visitor centre. There were loads, easily watched down to point blank range although 2 flushed Meadow Larks weren't so accommodating.

Today will best be remembers for the huge numbers of Blue Jays on the move. We had thousands going over all morning. A nearby ringing station estimated 25,000 before lunch. There were flocks of up to 500 at a time going overhead, looking for all the world like our own Fieldfares in the autumn.

A busy feeding station behind the info centre gave us good views of Brown headed Cowbird, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Rose breasted Grosbeaks along with the ubiquitous Red winged Blackbirds and Grackles.

Along the boardwalk, migrants became more obvious with 1 male Indigo Bunting, 2 American Redstart, 13+ Yellowthroats, 1 Yellow Warbler a nice Black billed Cuckoo, 1 Great crested Flycatcher, Blackburnian, Chestnut sided, Yellow Rumped and Magnolia Warblers all flitting about. Nearby a Bluebird, Downy Woodpecker and Red bellied Woodpecker added to the variety.

Two nest boxes near the path held broods of Eastern Screech Owls, one of the red form and one of the grey. At one box, a young one could be seen so I thought maybe the adult was sitting nearby? No chance of finding that. Then I turned, and right next to us was an adult posing as a snapped log, dozing with one eye open!

Almost back at the visitor centre we found a pair of Tufted Tits, 1 Broad winged Hawk, 1 Sharp shinned Hawk and a Coopers Hawk all soaring overhead, while 10+ Turkey Vultures formed a 'kettle'.

Outside were a nice little colony of 8+ Cliff Swallows under a culvert, 2 Eastern Phoebes were flycatching near the pond while Chipping Sparrow and American Goldfinch sang in the car park.

Stalking a Green Heron in the reeds.

Brown-headed Cowbird, male.

The 'grey form' Eastern Screech Owl. Showing well.

Purple Martins.

After Maumee, we moved down the coast (?) to  Metzger Marsh. Here was a tiny woodlot at the road end car park that holds migrants.

The trip reports dont really give you a clue of numbers of birds around these sites. At first arrival, it seemed quieter here, but give it an hour or two and you get a sizeable list-

2 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern Harrier, 2 Ospreys, 6 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Lesser Scaup, 8+ Cedar Waxwing, 3+ Warbling Vireo, 2+ Red eyed Vireo, 1 Philadelphia Vireo, 1 Blue headed Vireo, 1 Blackburnian, 1 Black throated Green, 2 Black throated Blue, 3 Yellow rumped, 1 Cape May, 1 Bay breasted, 1 Nashville, 1, Black and White, 1 Yellow Warblers, 2 American Redstart, 4 Eastern Kingbird, 1 Great crested Flycatcher, 1 Least Flycatcher, 2 Swainsons Thrush, 1 Veery, 1 Song Sparrow.

All in an area the size of a car park. I like that kind of 'quiet' spot.

Metzger Woodlot. Yep this is all there is to it, a car park and tiny bit of wood.

Facing the opposite direction.

Eastern Kingbird

Song Sparrow.

Right, it was off to Magee...contd....