Easter Bittern

Over Easter, I took a quick trip home to Michigan, in part to enjoy home for a while since I have no plans to return in the summer, and in part to spend some time with our sweet but ailing dog. It was just a four-day trip, but thankfully I was born into the right family and lots of it involved time outdoors (as well as good Easter food!). For me, this also involved some very good birds, mostly seen from the side of the road- as I've discussed before, Michigan has the best roadside birding.

My first morning walking around Suttons Bay got me a lovely pair of Common Mergansers on the lakeshore, as well as a few winter migrant American Tree Sparrows, my first time photographing one. There was also a very cute Downy Woodpecker, and an American Red Squirrel (not found in DC!) in the top of a tree.

American Tree Sparrow

Common Mergansers

Downy Woodpecker

American Red Squirrel

I was working most of the first day there, but I decided to take a quick afternoon break and take a walk along the Leelanau Trail before sunset. In one of the sewage ponds next to the trail I found a flock of Canvasbacks and Redheads, both new county birds for me. On the walk back, I finally saw a Rusty Blackbird, a lifer for me and one I'd been looking for for quite a while. Rusty Blackbirds are one of the few birds that are harder to ID in their breeding plumage, but thankfully the very short tail on this one made it a fairly clear call.

Redheads

Rusty Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird- a much more common icterid.

That Saturday, my parents and I spent the afternoon in the western part of the county- my mom for work, my dad for an ill-fated bike ride, and me to look for some birds. I decided to spend the afternoon on the back-country roads near Pyramid Point. I stopped by the end of a closed-off road, and almost immediately heard a loud "glunk-a-LUNK" from the marsh. It was a sound I'd never heard before, but I immediately knew what it was- American Bittern! This was another bird I'd been hoping for for quite some time, so I was excited. It took a bit of searching, but I finally found one poking its head above the cattails, booming away. It was certainly the best bird of that trip to Michigan.

American Bittern!

A little further down the road, I (figuratively) ran into a pair of Sandhill Cranes, one of the best breeding birds in Leelanau. Sandhills are stupidly tame this time of year, and I was able to get the best pictures I've gotten of this species yet. They're amazing birds, and experiencing them up close like this just makes me angrier that some chuds in the Michigan legislature want to legalize crane hunting. 

Sandhill Crane

Also in the crane fields were some Eastern Meadowlarks, which I was able to get pictures of the first time. Meadowlarks, like Belted Kingfishers, are unreasonably skittish (chill out guys, nobody's even hunting you!), so they weren't great pictures, but I was still happy. 

Eastern Meadowlark

The last pair of Sandhills was the tamest yet, and it was nearly impossible to get full-body pictures with my prime lens!

After I had my fill of crane pictures, I continued on towards the Sleeping Bear Dunes, stopping along the way a couple of times, once for a beautiful pair of Common Mergansers and once for a flock of Wild Turkeys. 

Male Common Merganser 

Female Common Merganser

Male Turkey

I stopped at Little Glen Park, where the first thing I saw was a herd of White-tailed Deer. There were also a number of Vesper Sparrows, an American Beaver in the beaver pond, and another American Tree Sparrow by the parking lot. Just before sunset, I stopped by the shore of Lake Michigan, where there were huge rafts of Horned Grebes and Red-necked Grebes far off shore. Once the sun had set, I returned to Glen Arbor for pie and a beer at Cherry Republic, where my dad was warming up after biking into a water-filled culvert.

The next day, my parents and I took a mini-road trip south to Benzie County for some hiking and a mountain bike ride (for my parents!). We started at the Baldy Dunes, an undemanding loop trail with a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. Birding here wasn't spectacular, although we did see a very friendly Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Spring flowers were just starting a bloom in the woods, a nice bit of greenery as Michigan was otherwise much grayer than Washington DC that time of year. 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

The view over Lake Michigan

Red-necked Blister Beetle on a Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Mining Bee (Andrena sp.) on a hepatica

While my parents went on a mountain bike ride somewhere nearby, I elected to take the car and head to the Acadia Marsh in Frankfurt town, the best birding spot around. It was indeed as good as its reputation! There was a pair of Trumpeter Swans nesting near the path, while Tree Swallows flew overhead. I heard a Sora calling, while along the path were lots of inquisitive Common Grackles and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. 

Trumpeter Swans

Common Grackle

Tree Swallow

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Out in the deeper part of the lake was a raft of ducks, including Lesser and Greater Scaups, Red-breasted Mergansers, Ring-necked Ducks, and a Horned Grebe in beautiful breeding plumage. The marsh area held a couple of pretty but flighty Blue-winged Teals, only the second time I've seen them in Michigan, and another American Tree Sparrow. A Bald Eagle flew overhead just as I was about to leave to pick up my parents and head to a brewery. 

Greater Scaup

Red-breasted Merganser

Ring-necked Duck

Hooded Grebe

Blue-winged Teal

Red-winged Blackbird

American Tree Sparrow

Muskrat in the pond!

Bald Eagle

I returned to DC the next day, satisfied with an Easter weekend full of good outdoor time and family time, but also excited to get back to proper spring weather and warmer temperatures!