While June would prove to be a month of recovery, I wouldn’t have guessed as much on June 1st when a Black-bellied Whistling-Duck was found at Gallup Park in Washtenaw county. I made the drive for the bird, which was not a Lifer but did bring me to 304 for the year, and while there enjoyed conversations with a host of local birders.
Over the next few days I would go back to my general gameplan of the start of the year – staying local. Aside from a trip to the Lapeer State Game Area and some birding up in Michigan’s “Thumb” in Sanilac county I travelled very little in the first few weeks of the year, with my only trip being one as a passenger in my dad’s car on a two-day camping trip in the eastern Upper Peninsula.
While in the UP we tried to track down my dad’s second nemesis of the year in LeConte’s Sparrow (the first having been the Cinnamon Teal). Unfortunately I was nearly sidelined as I was hit by the worst bout of allergies I have ever experienced, and taking my allergy medicine put me in a delirious stupor such that I was barely able to stay conscious, let alone productively bird. Eventually the drowsiness wore off and we were able to get some quality birding in, but while I was able to hear LeConte’s Sparrow at their typical spot in the Munuscong WMA Potholes my dad, who is very hard-of-hearing, was not able to pick them out over the ringing in his ears.
By the time we made it home on the evening of the 20th I found myself at 146 species for June, but unlike every previous month I did not make any serious push to reach the Big Month record of 200 and instead just spent every available moment working, picking up boatloads of shift and taking advantage of my boss’s open-ended offer of “if things need to be done and you want to come in early or stay late to do the, you are welcome to.” When June finally came to a close I found myself back on relatively stable financial footing, at least enough to make it through the chases that would soon come when the year picked back up in July.
At the time I remember feeling very demoralized by the total absence of “good birds”, but in hindsight there is no way the rest of my year would have been possible financially or mentally had I not had the respite provided by a slow month. My experience in June did leave me with the misguided impression that June was barely a month worth birding in – a thought that would stick with me until this past June when my good friend Isaac Polanski and I both set out to do a Big June, but that is a story for another day – one I will likely tell at some point in 2025 when I have a day not particularly conducive to birding, along with the story of my Lapeer 2023 Big Year.
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!
All Patrons will receive my "Daily Notes" 12-36 hours after the end of each day, and Patrons subscribed to the "Sponsor" tier will receive monthly postcards, mailed out between the 25th and end of each month.
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 at 5pm EST and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
