Coming off a week that was one of the year’s lowlights, Week Twenty-six didn’t need to do much to be an improvement. Despite the low bar and the high heat, however, Week Twenty-six would prove to be a highlight of its own right – not quite as spectacular as Week Twenty-four, but still sandwiching the misery of time spent sidelined by allergies quite nicely with excellent birding on either end.
To kick off the week I began making my way north through southeastern Ohio, where I had spent the night just inside Ohio close to the West Virginia border. My first stop of the day at Jefferson Lake State Park was relatively slow but still yielded a handful of solid birds including Carolina Chickadee, Acadian Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Northern Mockingbird, and Scarlet Tanager. From there I made my way to the Highlandtown Reservoir for a short stop before continuing on to Beaver Creek State Park. By the time I reached Beaver Creek the heat was getting fully cranked up well into the 90s, but the stop was still worthwhile as it produced Hooded Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Blue-headed Vireo, Pileated Woodpecker, and Common Merganser.
After Beaver Creek I didn’t do any more birding on Monday, instead spending much of the day driving up towards the Mentor area just east of Cleveland, where I met Sarah Preston and Adam Preston at their house, where I was accepting their generous offer to stay for the next couple nights and with whom I planned to go birding. I was especially thankful for the circumstantial timing of their hospitality as the brutal heat had, the previous two nights, been nearly unbearable in my car and it was supposed to be even worse the first night I stayed in their guest room.
After settling in and enjoying a homecooked meal, Sarah and I made plans for our birding on Tuesday, with her suggesting that we meet up with a couple of the other local Lake County birders and go kayaking – a plan which would hopefully keep us out of the worst of the heat.
The next morning we got up relatively early and headed to the Mentor Lagoons to kayak the swamp, where we were joined by Sarah’s regular birding friends, Jim Smallwood and Roger Beuck. Immediately upon arriving the new birds started pouring in: Warbling Vireo, Purple Martin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Wood Duck, American Coot, Mallard, Spotted Sandpiper, Virginia Rail, Green Heron, Red-headed Woodpecker, Cliff Swallow, Least Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and more! I haven’t birded by kayak very many times, but every time I have it’s been an exceptional experience. The heat wasn’t nearly as bad right on the water and the birds always seem far less reactive – though there was one particular bird during our outing that certainly was not less reactive. A Wood Duck mother with her chicks was very loud and put on a display I have previously only seen in shorebirds: a wounded-wing display, acting as if she was hurt to try to lure potential predators (us) away from where her young were.
Once we wrapped up our kayak outing the four of us headed over to the nearby Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve for a short walk to see if we could track down Sedge Wren and just see what else was around on the out-and-back boardwalk – such as the singing Orchard Oriole and Baltimore Oriole we had there. After parting ways with Jim and Roger, Sarah and I headed back to her house, where I spent the rest of the day staying out of the heat.
The next morning Sarah and I headed back Headland Dunes State Nature Preserve, the hotspot with the second highest total species count in the state (second behind Headland Dunes State Park, which is directly adjacent to the preserve). We were joined there again by Jim, and our hour-and-a-half walk produced Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Brown Thrasher, and a smattering of other species. From Headlands we drove to Fairport Nursery Road to try to track down a nesting Common Nighthawk, though unfortunately it seems as though the very exposed nest along some grassy gravel was predated in the days prior. We also didn’t have any luck with American Kestrel there or at the nearby Painesville Township Park. but Northern Mockingbird, Bobolink, and Willow Flycatcher made the two stops worthwhile.
After Painesville we decided to make a bit of a drive to the southeast corner of the state to the Hell Hollow Wilderness Area to try for Louisiana Waterthrush and any other potential Ohio targets I might still have. Of those targets we did manage Dark-eyed Junco and Black-throated Green Warbler, but dipped on Louisiana Waterthrush and anything else new. Shortly after arriving at Hell Hollow, Sarah and Jim got word that Lake County birding legend Jerry Talkington had found an Upland Sandpiper back at Fairport Nursery Road, on a chunk of the property not publicly accessible – but Jerry was willing to stick around and take us to the bird when we got back. Once we finished our unsuccessful try for the Waterthrush we raced back and hopped in Jerry’s car, and within a couple minutes we were on the Upland Sandpiper, having also spotted a Northern Harrier on the way to the bird. We spent a short while driving around the fields (otherwise publicly inaccessible but which Jerry has access to) with Jerry and afterwards headed to Scooter’s World Famous Dawg House for lunch.
That wrapped up my time spent with Lake County birders, whom I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know and birding with, and after packing up my stuff I’d left at Sarah’s I hit the road headed west towards only the fourth area I’ve visited this year with which I have preexisting familiarity, the general Magee Marsh area (the other three being Albuquerque, the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and Cape May).
Rising early in the morning I headed to Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge with hopes to spend the first part of the morning on the Wildlife Drive, but unfortunately the drive is only open on weekends and so instead I just spent some time around the Visitor’s Center and a bit along the other spots still open. Aside from Great Egret – which was somehow still a new bird for Ohio – and Snowy Egret there wasn’t much of note around, and so after a couple hours spent there I made my way to the nearby Howard Marsh Metropark.
Isaac Polanski is a name I have mentioned a handful of times throughout the past six months between my blog and my Patreon Daily Notes, usually in offhand references to a birding buddy of mine or digs about him dipping on Mississippi Kite. The very first time I met Isaac I didn’t really meet him; at a stakeout for the Wayne County Gyrfalcon in 2022 I stood chatting with a few of the other birders I knew there, and Isaac was also nearby and later talked about how he didn’t introduce himself to us “serious birders” as we stood there chatting. A long-time stormchaser and photographer, Isaac had just began his birding journey the winter prior when some friends took him to Sax-Zim Bog to see Great Gray Owls and he realized birds were pretty cool, and the Gyrfalcon was one of his first rare bird chases.
A couple months later we would again not really meet eachother when a Limpkin showed up on the Grand River on the west side of the state and created an access nightmare, and after I managed to secure access to a kayak from a local I put Isaac, who I’d now met through the Michigan Birding Discord server but never in person, in touch with her and he was able to head out shortly after I got back and he got the first state record as a result. Finally, on September 22nd – a day now known as “Jaegerfest”, I met Isaac properly when he joined the dozens of other birders there to try for Jaegers. That day got off to a hot start with Parasitic Jaeger, Sabine’s Gull, and Little Gull – but eventually it died down around noon and by the late afternoon only a handful of us remained. Throughout that time I repeatedly talked about how it was going to pick back up around 4:30 to 5, and one person decided to stick primarily because of how relentlessly optimistic I was – that person being Isaac. Had Isaac not stuck around to get incredible photos of the Long-tailed Jaeger that made two passes at 4:40 and 5:00 then it would have made the ID and the subsequent approval by the Michigan Bird Record’s Committee a much tougher task.
Over the course of the rest of 2022 and through 2023 and 2024 Isaac and I would become close friends and would bird together many times, including many lakewatches for Jaegers, time spent at Whitefish Point and looking for Great Gray Owls, and finding Michigan’s fourth state record Tropical Kingbird together. He blames (or credits, depending on how you look at it) me for his 2023 and 2024 Michigan Big Years, as I was constantly needling him to chase everything that showed up. One of the last times I saw him before this year was last November when he took me to my first ever University of Michigan football game at The Big House – a game that served as a rare highlight in last season’s drudgery when the Wolverines finally got everything together and beat the absolute brakes off of Northwestern.
Back to the present, I hadn’t had plans to bird with anyone while in the Toledo area, but as I got closer to my time there I realized that I would be just over an hour away from many of the birders in the Detroit Metro area, and so I shot Isaac a message and he met me at Howard Marsh at 9am, and we enjoyed a relatively slow walk catching up on the ongoings of the first half of the year. Howard Marsh wasn’t birdless, of course, producing Common Gallinule, Blue-winged Teal, Greater Yellowlegs, Black-crowned Night Heron, and Dickcissel at the main property and Trumpeter Swan and Black-necked Stilt across the road at the chunk on the west side of Howard Road. After the walk at Howard Marsh we headed over to the nearby Buffalo Wild Wings where Isaac treated me to lunch, and after a brief trash-talking exchange with an Ohio State fan on the way out we headed to Magee Marsh – my first time visiting the spot when it wasn’t loaded with people. In addition to a bagillion deerflies and mayflies, Isaac and I picked up Prothonotary Warbler and heard an Eastern Screech-Owl along the boardwalk there, and were caught in a wicked stormfront that drenched us and threatened to hit us repeatedly with the wildly swaying foliage along the boardwalk. Before parting ways we headed to the nearby Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, where Common Tern closed out my Ohio list at 112 for the year.
After parting ways with Isaac I headed towards Indiana, spending the night just inside Ohio with plans to get started on Indiana on Friday morning and being there until Sunday, after which I would spend a few days in Illinois before finishing up Indiana and heading home to Michigan. As June drew to a close, however, I began to consider the idea of changing those plans. Back on June 18th Saginaw Bay area birder Dan Duso found a Black-headed Gull in Bay City, and unlike every other Black-headed Gull Michigan has had (that I’m aware of) this one decided to stick not just for a couple days, but a couple weeks. A potential Lifer, I was seriously tempted by the prospect of picking up the bird and adding one last tally to my Michigan Life List. So far this year I hadn’t changed my plans to chase a rarity even a single time, though, and I was hesitant to do so even for the gull, but as I got closer and closer to Michigan I deliberated more and more. Eventually I came to the decision that I would spend Friday and Saturday in Indiana no matter what, and that if the Black-headed Gull continued through Saturday I would head to Michigan Sunday morning.
So, on Friday I headed into Indiana as planned, kicking off my time in the Hoosier State with a visit to Loblolly Marsh Wetland Preserve. Loblolly treated me well with Red-headed Woodpecker, Wood Thrush, and Dickcissel being the highlights, and from there I made my way to the nearby Limberlost Swamp Wetland Preserve where I had Marsh Wren and Eastern Meadowlark in Jay County and American Kestrel, Willow Flycatcher and more in Adams County. I wrapped up my Friday birding with a midday walk in the heat at the Upland Trailways, where I was successfully able to track down a resident Bell’s Vireo – a first-of-year bird and only the second I have seen in my life. Unfortunately on Friday it seemed the Black-headed Gull may have moved on, though, as the only report to come in on Discord was a negative one and eBird showed a few people had birded the area later in the day but no Black-headed Gull was reported.
On Saturday morning, I had a decision to make. Yes, I was going to be in Indiana for the day, but if the gull was gone I probably should head south before turning west and making my way to Illinois. If I did that, however, and the Gull showed back up I would be kicking myself. As such I spent my morning procrastinating the decision after first visiting Eagle Marsh for a host of birds such as Trumpeter Swan, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Sedge Wren, Carolina Wren, and American Redstart and then the Merry Lea Environmental Center where I found Wild Turkey, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Sandhill Crane, Acadian Flycatcher, and Northern Parula.
While at Merry Lea I got a Discord notification: Black-headed Gull continues in Bay City! Deciding I was definitely heading up for it in the morning I went to check and see how long my drive would be and… what’s that? It’s only a three hour drive? Oh… Well… I mean I am going to come back to Indiana anyway…
After heading back to my car I raced north, soon crossing the border back into Michigan and after what felt like a lot less than a three hour drive finding myself in Bay City, chasing a bird found by Dan Duso – I think this makes three such chases? The Black-headed Gull wasn’t the most cooperative bird I’ve chased, but eventually I got satisfactory looks at Lifer #602 in direct comparison to a nearby Bonaparte’s Gull.
Once I finally had the gull I got back in my car and made another drive, this time northwest into Gladwin County to meet up with my dad, Daryl Bernard, at the Molasses River Flooding to close out the day. In addition to an insanely cooperative Veery that posed out in the open we had a decent variety of birds there, including an American Woodcock on the way out, but didn’t pick up any of the spot’s specialties in Black Tern, Blue-winged Warbler, or Golden-winged Warbler.
On Sunday morning my dad and I made a circuit through Gladwin County, with most of the stops not being especially noteworthy but still serving to build up my Michigan Year List nicely. The highlight of the morning was certainly the Shell Rd. mixed fields, where we had Sedge Wren, Eastern Meadowlark, Horned Lark, and at least eleven Clay-colored Sparrow – only my second time seeing the species this year (both during June). After the morning birding I spent some time hanging out my parents and their new dog Stormy, an eleven year old Border Collie they adopted a few months ago who I hadn’t met until Saturday evening. Eventually we all headed out to make our way back to Lapeer, where my parent are currently in the process of moving out from the house at Seven Ponds Nature Center (and moving into the house in Gladwin). On the way home I made a few stops, first at Nayanquing Point State Wildlife Area where I was successful in tracking down one of the local Yellow-headed Blackbird, and then I made my way to the Wildlife Drive at Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge. Shiawassee is one of my favorite places to bird in Michigan, and the 58-species list I racked up in an evening, low-effort checklist out of the prime season there is a testament to why. Ring-necked Pheasant, Common Gallinule, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Red-headed Woodpecker, Prothonotary Warbler, and a handful of other new pickups brought my Michigan year list close to 100 already after just over 24 hours spent birding in the state.
From there I made my way back home and settled into what has more or less been vacation mode (I know, I know, it’s basically a vacation from the vacation this year has been, but this year has been an exhaustive vacation where as the past week has been a relaxing vacation). Next week’s post will be late – not as late as this week’s post, but instead coming out Friday at 2pm EST instead of Wednesday at 5pm EST; after that though I should be back on schedule. In the meantime, Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/392488
First and foremost - thank you to anyone who chooses to support me in this insane adventure of mine. When I initially had this idea and began planning I didn't even consider the possibility that others would want to support me, but I am extremely grateful to those who have reached out to do so. For those who are interested in supporting me, I have set up a Patreon, which can be accessed by clicking the logo to the left (or you can send me a message via the contact page). Again, thank you for your incredibly generous support!
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
