Michigan's Upper Peninsula Trip June 25th-27th
June 25th
Erik Enbody, Craig Bateman and Mr. Enbody along with myself went on a
trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We stopped at Pt. La Barbe
and found Sedge Wrens, Common Terns and a Black-billed Cuckoo. We
arrived at Three Lakes campground in Hiawatha National Forest just as
the sun was starting to set. We walked around the campground and
found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker nest with several babies that could be
heard. After camp was made, at least two Whip-poor-wills were heard
through the night.
June 26th
We made an early run to Forest Road 3344 to pick up some target birds.
Although we thought it was too late in the season, we did end up
hearing and then seeing a Connecticut Warbler around 1.6 miles in. We
then stopped at multiple spots where Le Conte's sparrows have been seen
but no luck. Other birds we saw around the area include Black-backed
Woodpecker, Lincoln's Sparrow and plenty of Olive-sided Flycatchers.
After this stop, we drove east across the highway across from 3344 and
had another great look at Olive-sided Flycatcher before turning on Dick
Road. Once we were on Dick Road, we made a stop along some drainage
pipes and heard a Mourning Warbler and Canada Warbler. We also had
around 20 species of butterflies.
We made a stop at Raco Airfield where we found 3 Upland Sandpipers.
From here we stopped at Grand Marais where we saw 3-4 baby Piping
Plovers and one adult.
Next stop was Seney where we met with Skye Haas. We saw one American
Bittern fly over the parking lot and Trumpeter Swans were plentiful.
I saw one Black-backed Woodpecker for a few seconds before it
vanished into the pines. We were unsuccessful in our quest for Le
Conte's again.
Seney concluded our trips for the day as we headed back to camp.
At least one Whip-poor-will was calling sometime during the night.
June 27th
Still determined to find a Le Conte's Sparrow, we drove Forest Rd.
3344 again. We stopped where we heard the Connecticut Warbler and
sure enough he was singing away. We tried the typical Le Conte's
stops without hearing/seeing any until our trip back. We had great
looks with the bird coming within 10 feet of us or even closer at
times.
Now since it was so early in the day and we had to make our way home
anyway, we decided to quickly pack up camp and try to make it to the
11 a.m. Kirtland's Warbler tour in Grayling. We were the only ones
at the tour at this time and out we headed. We were rewarded with
at least 5 singing males and 1 female. We also saw Brewer's Blackbirds,
one Upland Sandpiper and one very cooperative singing Clay-colored
Sparrow. As the tour ended so did our birding trip and home we headed.
We really could not have asked for a better trip. Our main target birds
were seen and seen well and there were even a few surprises.