Birding Update: Now 131 Species!

Yellow-throated vireos are gorgeous, eh?

Amazing that this, of all years, would be the one I chose to do a little Big Year. Without birding as my primary purpose I've dodged back and forth from the two farthest corners of the continent. From the Pacific northwest to the southeast and back. Well, now my pursuit of biology as a career has brought me to the midwest, under the Great Lake Michigan. My list is rising rapidly and I have a good feeling about making it to 150. Maybe I should raise the bar to 200, eh?

Bird 123: Sandhill Crane on May 28th
Although this bird was only seen for a fleeting moment as it flew over a farmers field on a tile drain water sampling trip for my ecology internship, it made a great impression. It seemed to be suffering under the constant and determined harassment of a blackbird. Why a blackbird would have any reason to give a gentle crane a hard time I haven't any idea. I only very rarely see cranes in the wild, and they always seem to be high in the sky flying in formation. I love they way they fly with their necks outstretched. Very unlike herons and egrets which fly with and S-curve in their necks.

Bird 124: Black-crowned Night-heron on May 29th

I think if I was a female yellow-throated
vireo, I'd be all over this guy.
He's a beauty!

I'll be honest; I didn't expect to see this bird so far north. Last time I saw night-herons it was in a hot muggy Texas swamp. He did seem a little out of place; at a suburban lake putting up with a lot of human foot traffic and noise from some kind of giant generator on the lakeshore of the University of Notre Dame. When I entered this bird into my list on eBird, they notified me it was a rare bird for that area, but I double-checked my pictures and there can be no doubt that it is a black-crowned night-heron.

Bird 125: Chipping Sparrow on May 29th
This is one of those birds you hear a lot about from different people and I kind of thought I would see one long before now. There were a couple under a young hardwood of some kind on the lawn of one of the academic building's on Notre Dame's campus near the lakes. It's about time I saw a sparrow besides the introduced house sparrows which are all over campus.

Bird 126: Chimney Swift on May 30th
Another American classic. I have seen several of these darting around the campus skies.

Bird 127: White-breasted Nuthatch on May 30th
I kind of thought that this bird was already on my list somewhere, but there is no record of it in eBird so I must just be remembering last year. Nuthatches are some of my favourite birds; they bounce around tree trunks and limbs with no regard for gravity. I don't think it matters to them which side is up.

Bird 128: Yellow-throated Vireo on May 30th
Another one nailed at the lakes on campus at Notre Dame. First time EVER that I've been able to identify a vireo positively to the species. I'm getting better at this.

Bird 129: Orchard Oriole on May 30th
Actually, eBird doesn't know it, but I saw this bird about four minutes before the vireo, so they should really swap numbers. Anyways, it was a pretty rough looking young male of its species. Kind of frazzled and obsessed with preening.  Just like a teenager.

Wood ducks are always a pleasant find and there must be
3 or 4 pairs of them living on the lakes at Notre Dame.

Bird 130: American Woodcock on June 1st
Flushed out of the bush Sunday evening when I went looking for deer off trail in Potato Creek State Park. One deer. The woodcock might have been a bonus but I am fascinated by these woodland sandpipers and, if I'd known it was there in the first place, I would have sneaked more lightly to perhaps see some behaviour of this shy bird.

Bird 131: Yellow Warbler on June 1st
I didn't even realize that this was a new bird for my list. I've seen yellow warblers before and I figured they were already on my list. However, this was the first time this year I'd seen one, eBird informed me. I'm happy about that because it puts me over 130. Now I have to get to 150. Things have been to good to let down my search. I have a haunch that I will make it to 200 if I'm aggressive.