Tawas Point Birding Festival

I'm going to have a very difficult time putting into words just how wonderful the Tawas Point Birding festival was last weekend. It was quite possibly one of the best weekends, ever. Tawas and Lake Huron are gorgeous, the weather was amazing, the birding was remarkable and I was there, soaking it all in :)

I left work around 3pm and it was smooth sailing (with one little slowdown for construction) all the way to Tawas State Park. I rolled in around 5:30pm and was reunited with the great birders of the Grand Travers Audubon Club that I met on a previous birding trip to the UP in February. I don't have enough kind things to say about every member of that club. They are all great birders, friendly people, and a joy to hang out with.

The first task of the weekend was to pitch my NEW (used) tent (Mountain Hardware, LightPath 3). The wind made things a little tricky, but my first ever solo tent pitching went better than expected! Check it out!

TA-DAA!

The next order of business was to take a trip to Tuttle Marsh for views of the Purple Gallinule that was seen the previous day. We arrived hoping there would be someone there watching the Gallinule, but alas, no one was there, so we needed to work a little to spot the bird. After some searching across the water on the far shore, Carol, a fellow birder, spotted the bird bedded down in the grass, not TEN FEET from us! Like I mentioned, it seemed he was bedded down for the night, but moved his head around a bit giving us a couple good looks at his face/beak.

Probably the worst pic I'll ever post, but you can see the beak in this picture, it looks like a rainbow!

The other highlight of the trip to Tuttle Marsh that evening was getting a chance to see a Sora! Since I first heard the Sora call the night I saw woodcocks, I wanted desperately to see that bird. Light was fading fast, so I didn't get any pictures, but I got to see the little guy scurry out from one clump of reeds to another, then to another. Such a small bird to be making such a loud sound :) After views of the Sora, it was time to head back to the campsite. I cozied up in my tent and indulged in a little Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. What a perfect book to be reading while on a birding trip for the weekend!

Saturday May 15th will forever be known as the best day in my short birding history...that is, until something better happens ;) Twenty-two birds were added to my life list that day and I loved every minute of it. The day started with an alarm that wouldn't wake me up, I think it must have gone off for 20 minutes, but alas, at 5:30 I was up and getting ready and at 5:45, I was off with Leonard, my Grand Traverse Audubon (GTA) buddy. The plan was to bird til 7:30am, then we were supposed to take off to Tuttle Marsh again, so I didn't have my camera with me (poor decision in retrospect). Leonard and I headed out to the point and scanned for shorebirds while admiring the Caspian and Common Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls flying overhead. After spying a Piping Plover and several Short-billed Dowitchers, we birded our way back to the campsite. There were many warblers hanging out in the trees and singing away. A Northern Parula was perched an arms reach away and wouldn't stop singing. We saw Cape May, Magnolia, Palm and Blackburnian warblers, just to name a few.

Northern Parula from later in the day, when I had my camera

We were getting close to the campground and Leonard was joking that he was going to have to call in sick for the Tuttle Marsh trip, the birding on the point was just too good. Thankfully, soon after this we got word that we were going to head to the marsh later in the afternoon. We were free to enjoy all the warblers we could handle :) And, I was finally able to grab my camera!

Moments later a Michigan Audubon employee, Caleb, rushed passed us with a large group of birders, calling out that there was a Kirtland's Warbler singing by the lighthouse. Needless to say, we all hightailed it over to the lighthouse and were treated with some GREAT views of the difficult to see in migration Kirtland's Warbler. He had an incredibly powerful voice for such a small bird.

Kirtland's Warbler. Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea :)

Views of this Kirtland's Warbler made the weekend, for sure. This guy hung around all day on the point, singing like crazy. I think I got a chance to see him on 3 separate occasions :)

After the Kirtland's I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. As Caleb was leading his birding group out to the point, he stopped to ask Leonard if he'd heard about the Western Kingbird that was seen that morning on the point. Leonard hadn't heard about it, but they exchanged information as well as assurances to alert the other if the bird was seen again. As they chatted, I couldn't keep from smiling. A Western Kingbird? In Michigan? I also couldn't help but think I had something to do with the appearance of this bird by my selection of reading material in the tent the night before :)

The early morning sun persisted, it was a beautiful day. As we walked back out to the point, Leonard and I were racking up warblers. Indigo Buntings and Scarlet Tanagers were mere trashbirds by noon ;) Not finding anything new up at the point, we turned back to take the Sandy Hooke Trail on the east side of the point back to the campsites. This trail was where the Western Kingbird had been seen earlier this morning. All morning we'd been hearing Clay Colored Sparrows, but I had yet to see one. As we wandered up the trail, there was another Clay Colored calling. Leonard, Bruce (a GTA birder we'd picked up at the point) and I stopped to scan for the sparrow when my bins came to a stop at something else, gray on top, black beak, dark eyeline...and buttery yellow underneath!? "I-I've got it!" I stammered.

Leonard turned around and asked, "The Clay Colored?"

"No, the Kingbird!" Bruce and Leonard both got looks at the bird before it took of toward the end of the point. Just as it was taking off, we heard a shout just behind us on the trail. It was Caleb, calling out to his group where the Kingbird was. I don't think I stopped smiling for the rest of the day.

After a quick lunch, we caravaned out to Tuttle Marsh again. The Purple Gallinule was apparently being difficult to spot that day, but we were off looking for Bitterns and Rails. After some looking and listening, we flushed an American Bittern from just off the side of the road, back deep into the marshy grass. I was disappointed I didn't get a great look at the bird before he disappeared into the grass, but as we walked a little further up the road in search of a Green Heron someone had spotted, we flushed another from on pond to the next and I got a great look. I still have yet to hear them give their call, which is one of the oddest sounding bird calls I've heard (recordings of) so far. We also managed to get looks at this Virginia Rail before leaving the Marsh.

He came out from the reeds and swam across this open water before hiding in some more grass

The best birding day ever ended with good birding conversations while gorging myself on Chinese food and happily sipping (several) Oberons.

Sunday morning we were back at it. Leonard, Bruce and I were up and at the beach at 5:45am, scanning for ducks and shorebirds. Sunday wasn't going to end up being as great of a day for warblers, but it was a stellar day for shorebirds. Throughout the day I was able to see Ruddy Turnstones, Least Sandpipers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers and a Sanderling among some others. Many of the same warblers from yesterday were back, but the warbler highlight for the day was a Blackpoll Warbler. I sat at a stand of pine trees, hearing the Blackpoll calling and calling, but not showing himself. Finally, after about an hour, I found him hiding in the shadows. He popped around and eventually made his way out into the sun for some nice looks.

And before I knew it, we had to pack up and head out from the campsite. My first migration birding trip was a whirlwind of life birds...34 when I left Tawas! I was hoping to make it an 'even' 35, so I stopped on my way home to check out a location where Yellow headed Blackbirds have been known to nest.

Look what I found!

What a wonderful end to a great birding weekend!

Sunset on Lake Huron

Tuning in to the sounds of the forest

My first attempt at learning bird songs did not go well at all.

After getting the songs uploaded to my iTunes, I just selected some of the groups of birds - like warblers or sparrows - and listened to all of them, retaining nothing only to get more confused.

For round 2 I decide to attack the task with more method to the madness. I asked my very patient birding mentor, Bruce, if he could get me a short list of some of the migrants that I might expect to see the following week. That way, I could try to listen to those calls, become familiar with them and potentially be able to pick them out in the coming week or two. Of the 21 birds that made my new and improved list, I felt confident in about 5 (!) of them when I took to the woods with Bruce that weekend. It turns out that knowing a song from a recording and *actually* picking that song out in a forest of chatty birds are two totally separate monsters. But, after just an hour or two out in the woods, I was beginning to feel more confident with some of the more common migrants with distinctive calls like yellow warblers and blue-winged warblers. And I also realized that cardinals and titmice are much too chatty for my liking :) Particularly frustrating in their similarity is the American Robin, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak trifecta. I start to think I have these guys all figured out, then I hear one I'm sure is a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and it turns out to be an American Robin :(

Overall, I really like being able to listen to the forest and get some idea of the birds that are singing in the trees. Being able to make some time to get out in the woods frequently also gives me a chance to keep hearing the same birds over and over, increasing my chances of actually being able to recognize their calls when I hear them. I will admit I was *super* intimidated at the idea of being able to learn all the different songs of so many birds, but breaking up the calls into some manageable groups has proved to be very helpful.

The bottom line is that I am well on my way to being able to ID birds by sound (YAY!), and with a lifer list of 38 birds for this month (and it's only the 9th!), learning their songs is proving to be a very helpful way to keep all these new birds straight!

Happy Birding!