The Long Road Home

February 02, 2019

Getting to Michigan from the Philippines is fun because Suttons Bay manages to be nowhere near to an affordable airport, and even farther away from an airport that has flights to and from Asia. In the case of my final (for now) return to the country, that meant flying into Chicago, taking the train to Ann Arbor, and then making the 6-hour drive up to Leelanau County with my uncle.

Thankfully, I had a few hours between when my flight landed in Chicago on August 16 and when I had to board my train, and I decided to spend that time out looking for birds (of course!). I took an Uber to Montrose Point, Chicago's most famous birding spot and an area known for accumulating an impressive list of rarities (though as a Michigander I feel obligated to point out that some much more remote areas have even more impressive lists, despite having a fraction of the visitors). Of course, it was the middle of the day in the middle of the summer, so I wasn't expecting to see anything terribly impressive and, well, I didn't. Still, it was a pleasant way of spending a couple of hours before continuing on my journey.

One of the first birds I saw was actually a lifer- a couple of Cape May Warblers in the pine trees next to the parking lot, as well as a Yellow Warbler.

Cape May Warbler

What about 80% of my warbler pictures end up looking like

In the flowery field nearby the famous "Magic Hedge" (which had approximately 0 birds in it that day), there was a flock of American Goldfinches, some of the males in their beautiful summer plumage. I was almost positive I heard the insect-like buzzing of a LeConte's Sparrow, a regular visitor to Montrose Point during migration time and one of the very few New World Sparrows that are worth seeing, but eBird told me it was rare at that time of year, so I didn't call it to be safe. There were, however, some nice actual insects in the field, including some beautiful Goldenrod Soldier Beetles in the Wild Bergamot flowers.

American Goldfinch

Goldenrod Soldier Beetle in Wild Bergamot

I walked around on the forest trails and saw a grand total of about 3 species of bird, including some Northern Cardinals and a Downy Woodpecker. I had a bit more luck in a clearing in the woods, with a Swainson's Thrush deep inside a bush, a chattering House Wren, and a lovely Ruby-throated Hummingbird that sat calmly on an open branch as I took pictures. American birds in general can't hold a candle to birds in the Philippines, but nothing in the Old World can quite compare to hummingbirds.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

House Wren

Northern Cardinal

Monarch Butterfly

The beach area at Montrose Point apparently often has some good shorebirds, but there wasn't much there that day except for a very distant Spotted Sandpiper on the end of the pier. I also saw a few Herring Gulls and a Warbling Vireo in the willows by the beach, but there wasn't much in the way of bird activity- though there were some good insects to keep me busy.

Herring Gull

Warbling Vireo

Common Buckeye

Cabbage White, a terrible name for an annoyingly common butterfly

Red-spotted Admiral

Hairy-necked Tiger Beetle

After another scan of the beach showed essentially nothing of interest, it was time to return to the train station and continue on towards Ann Arbor. My uncle picked me up and drove me to his house outside of Ann Arbor. On the way we happened to pass by the pond on the corner of Scio Church Road and Parker Road. That pond became famous later in 2018 when an absurdly rare Spotted Redshank showed up there, the second time one had ever been seen in Michigan. There were no Redshanks this time, but there was a large flock of Sandhill Cranes and the resident family of Trumpeter Swans, as well as some other waders like Least Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper.